Originally from Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, Carl Davidson had joined Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) while an undergraduate at Penn State. In 1965, Davidson became a graduate student of philosophy at the University of Nebraska. Viewing Nebraska as "virgin territory" for SDS activism, he and another student created a new chapter within days of arriving. They immediately set out building the chapter and planning their first events. [10]

Students for a Democratic Society had emerged from an "Old Left"organization, the League for Industrial Society.  Due to conflicts over the exclusion or inclusion of communists and the freedom of the new group to act independently, SDS and LID split.  SDS became the leading organization of a "New Left," which was less labor-oriented, not interested in either communism or anti-communism, and more focused on youth, anti-racism, and cultural alienation.  Later, the New Left would, during and after the break-up of SDS in the late Sixties, provide early ground for the emergence of feminism, gay rights, and more anti-racism movements.

In October, Carl Davidson and others held a Vietnam Teach-In in Love Library to educate people about the war.  The Teach-In, one of many that SDS held across the country, was a huge success, drawing in a large number of students and a great deal of press. Dr. David Trask, an assistant professor of history at the University, discussed the history of American involvement in Vietnam.  Other aspects of the war were discussed, and SDS made sure to include pro-war speakers. [11]

The Vietnam Teach-In was the first event on campus about the Vietnam War since the Student Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy had demonstrated in front of the Military and Naval Science building the semester before. [12] Like the SANE demonstration, the Teach-In garnered press and letters to the editor with much the same arguments.

Then, SDS suffered some trouble. Coming off of the April 1965 March on Washington and the successful nationwide Teach-Ins, SDS had to deal with how to respond to the draft. The matter was put to a vote by all chapters. The vote was in favor of calling for a nationwide program of draft resistance and educating potential draftees on how they could legally avoid the draft. UNL's chapter, however, did not vote. Not having been recognized by a national convention of SDS, held annually, the chapter was not polled. SDS's position on the draft caused the UNL chapter's vice president, Larry Clawson, to resign in protest. [13] Days later, UNL's chapter voted unanimously to support the draft resistance program and distribute a War Resisters League pamphlet telling people to apply for conscientious objector status called "G.I. or C.O.?" [14] Especially after student draft deferments were revoked, by what the Daily Nebraskan called the "Nebraska not-too Selective Service," draft resistance would continue to be an issue on campus throughout the Vietnam War. [15]

Carl Davidson had a talent for organizing, and proved it during the spring semester of 1966. SDS put together a week-long "South African program" featuring a teach-in on South Africa's system of racial apartheid and a demonstration at downtown Lincoln corporations linked with apartheid by their investments. Participating in the teach-in was an extensive list of persons, including Davidson, English Professor Karl Shapiro, History Professor David Trask, Reverend Hudson Phillips, and a Rhodesian student named Gowdin Dubray. [16] The South African program culminated in the two-and-a-half mile downtown demonstration, which protested in front of five businesses for two hours. [17] The protest was led, Davidson says, by the University's star black football players. [18] The demonstration made SDS and Carl Davidson well-known locally.