But I still would tell them to go fuck themselves and sign nothing...and to stop projecting.

but did you go to College during the McCarthy era, the witch hunts for Communists?

Then again, I went to college in the mid-2000s.

j/k .. it was actually a little less progressive than I expected in the Political Science Department. It was the 1980s and the entire country was pretty conservative.

I lived in Madison, it was a fun time to be there.

I distinctly remember that there was an easy to obtain federal college loan program as part of the National Defense Education Act. In order to get it you had to state you were not a member of any group that wanted to overthrow the government. This was a constant worry for kids that belonged to groups like SDS, The Communist Party, and about a dozen other radical campus groups.

In a state university in Texas in 1963. One of the last stops in registration (my grandkids can’t believe how we registered for classes back in the olden days) was a table where I swore I was not a member of a communist organization. I was tired and made some smart comment that ticked off the faculty guy running the desk. He made me read the whole list or organizations. All kinds of groups were on it. Finally I was allowed to sign and got my IBM card as a non-commie. Ne’er made that mistake again

(It was my second degree and I had a degree from Wisconsin) It's entirely possible I had to sign a thing and likely would not have noticed because I was in commuter schools, older and likely griping about other stuff. (Like how backward Texas was. How hot it was. Having to take Texas government and history)

I did two years at Penn State in 79-80, and there was no such requirement.

-- Mal

for a job in 1969 I remember have to answer yes or no on the written applications, "Were you ever a member of SDS?" (Students for a Democratic Society)