ed the nickname "Harvard of the West," which became commonly parodied in reverse after John F. Kennedy referred to himself as "a graduate of the Michigan of the East, Harvard University" in his speech proposing the formation of the Peace Corps while on the front steps of the Michigan Union.[12] During World War II, U-M's research grew to include U.S. Navy projects such as proximity fuzes, PT boats, and radar jamming. By 1950, enrollment had reached 21,000, of whom more than one third: 7,700 were veterans supported by the

 Campus.[7] The first classes in Ann Arbor were held in 1841, with six freshmen and a sophomore, taught by two professors. Eleven students graduated in the first commencement in 1845.[8] By 1866 enrollment increased to 1,205 students, many of whom were Civil War veterans. Women were first admitted in 1870.[9] James Burrill Angell, who served as the university's president from 1871 to 1909, aggressively expanded U-M's curriculum to include professional studies in dentistry, architecture, engineering, government, and medicine. U-M also became the first American university to use the seminar method of study.[10]
From 1900 to 1920 the university constructed many new facilities, including buildings for the dental and pharmacy programs, chemistry, natural sciences, Hill Auditorium, large hospital and library complexes, and two residence halls. In 1920 the university reorganized the College of Engineering and formed an advisory committee of 100 industrialists to guide academic research initiatives. The university became a favored choice for bright Jewish students from New York in the 1920s and 1930s when the Ivy League schools had quotas restricting the number of Jews to be admitted.[11] As a result, U-M gained the nickname "Harvard of the West," which became commonly parodied in reverse after John F. Kennedy referred to himself as "a graduate of the Michigan of the East, Harvard University" in his speech proposing the formation of the Peace Corps while on the front steps of the Michigan Union.[12] During World War II, U-M's research grew to include U.S. Navy projects such as proximity fuzes, PT boats, and radar jamming.
By 1950, enrollment had reached 21,000, of whom more than one third: 7,700 were veterans supported by the G.I. Bill. As the Cold War and the Space Race took hold, U-M became a major recipient of government grants for strategic research and helped to develop peacetime uses for nuclear energy. Much of that work, as well as research into alternative energy sources, is pursued via the Memorial Phoenix Project.[13]
Red brick plaza, surrounded by trees with green leaves, with two white tents and an American flag flying from a flagpole in the center

The Central Campus Diag, viewed from the Graduate Library, looking North
Lyndon B. Johnson's speech outlining his Great Society program was given during U-M's 1964 spring commencement ceremony.[8] During the 1960s, there were numerous protests against the Vietnam War and related to other issues at the U-M. On March 24, 1965, a group of U-M faculty members and 3,000 students held the nation's first ever faculty-led "teach-in" to protest against American policy in Southeast Asia.[14][15] In response to a series of sit-ins in 1966 by Voice–the campus political party of Students for a Democratic Society, U-M's administration banned sit-ins. In response, 1,500 students had a one-hour sit-in the LSA Building, which housed administrative offices.
Former U-M student and noted architect Alden B. Dow designed the current Fleming Administration Building, which was completed in 1968. The building's plans were drawn in the early 1960s, before student activism prompted a concern for safety, but the Fleming Building's narrow windows, all located above the first f