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35 years later bombing’s legacy casts shadow over campus politics

On the morning of Aug. 24, 1970, a van loaded with explosives detonated next to Sterling Hall, killing a graduate student inside and ending the most turbulent social and political period the UW-Madison campus has ever seen.

The 35th anniversary of the bombing shed light on the historical significance of what happened at Sterling Hall and raised questions about how the bombing affected the tradition of protest at the university.