As part of a nationwide campaign to recruit students to work for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, two National Organization of Women (NOW) representatives visited Simmons College.
On December 8, 1965, Simmons professors, including Tilden Edelstein, Frederick Anderson, and Lawrence Langer voiced their opinions against U.S. policy in Vietnam at a panel held at Simmons College.
Eleven members of the Simmons faculty signed a statment crafted by the former abassador to India, John Kenneth Galbraith, defending the right of students to protest the draft and the war in Vietnam.
Simmons students led a silent sit-in to protest the current level of support for students of color. The students presented President Helen Drinan with a list of Ten Demands.
In 1965, Simmons students founded a Civil Rights Club. The goals of the organization was to increase students and faculty participation in civil rights activities and to discuss possible misconceptions about civil rights.