I had previously completed my military service (USNR 1957 – 1963) and was thus not eligible for the Draft in 1970. But at our UCLA graduation ceremony in June of that year, our entire class refused to wear caps & gowns as an expression of solidarity with the anti-war movement. We each wore a symbolic blank lapel pin.

There were only thirteen (13) of us graduating with a Masters in Architecture/Urban Design from the Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning that year. We used to watch the day & late-night TV war coverage in the design studio at Perloff Hall, while we worked on our thesis projects.  The anit-war sentiment ran very high among everyone including our faculty at the time. I went out and bought a nice suit for the graduation ceremony, which I could barely afford, and then only wore it once again for a job interview a few years later.