Charlotte Briggs Papers

Collection

Identifier: RG 30-281

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This is a small collection of materials gathered by Charlotte Briggs during her time as a student at Oberlin College. The materials document student involvement in campus opposition to the Solomon Amendment. At least three students, including Briggs, left the college publicly to protest the amendment. Briggs also co-chaired committees that insisted the College provide financial assistance to students affected by the Solomon Amendment. In response to this and other pressures, the College Board of Trustees approved a program to provide alternative loans to students who chose not to comply with the Solomon Amendment in November of 1983.

The collection also contains a report that is unrelated to the Solomon Amendment, titled “Research on the Impact of a Computerized Circulation System on the Performance of a Large College Library.”

Dates

Creation: 1978 - 1986
Other: Date acquired: 1995 June 16

Creator

Briggs, Charlotte (Charlotte Heineken Lucie Briggs) (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Unrestricted.

Biographical Sketch

Charlotte Heineken Lucie Briggs was born in Maine on August 1, 1962, to David Warren Briggs and Gertraude Heineken Briggs.

Charlotte Briggs enrolled at Oberlin College in 1981. During her time at Oberlin, she was highly involved in the campus opposition to the Solomon Amendment. This federal law required students to sign a Selective Service registration status form in order to receive federal grants or loans. She temporarily withdrew from the College in 1983 in protest of the amendment, which unfairly targeted students in need of financial assistance. Briggs remained on campus and played an integral role in pressuring the college to provide alternative loans to students who lost their federal financial aid as a consequence of their refusal to comply with the Solomon Amendment. She returned to school after the College Board of Trustees announced they would provide students with alternative loans. The Solomon Amendment has since been revised to exclude penalties to financial aid. In its current form, the Solomon Amendment sanctions the denial of federal grants to institutions of higher education that prohibit or prevent ROTC or military recruitment on campus.

In December of 1985, Briggs graduated with High Honors in History, and received the Comfort Starr Prize in History. Following graduation, she won a placement as a Shansi Representative to teach English in Japan. After returning to the United States, Briggs obtained a doctorate degree in Higher and Postsecondary Education from the University of Michigan. During her career she has worked at several colleges and universities as a Professor of Education.