December 11, 2020
By Karen Hunt and SESRC Staff
The Social and Economic Sciences Research Center (SESRC) is celebrating 50 years of conducting social science research for Washington State University and others in need of information on people’s opinions and behaviors.
The 50th anniversary celebration comes during a year with a “perfect storm” of seemingly intractable problems: racial injustice, climate change, and a global pandemic. The SESRC was created during another turbulent year: 1970.
The SESRC began in response to student protests that temporarily closed down WSU. The Vietnam War had created enormous frustration and division, and the U.S. invading Cambodia in 1970 unleashed waves of criticism nationwide. The focus of frustration shifted after a number of racially charged events from January 1969 to May 1970 involving Black WSU students.