Carroll's work on primates and other species has gained the attention of animal rights groups, including the Animal Liberation Front (ALF). Protests were first held outside her lab in 1986. Pictures of animal experiments were later sent to 400 of her neighbors, and her home was picketed. In 1997, Freeman Wicklund of the university's Student Organization for Animal Rights (SOAR) was sentenced to 90 days in jail after occupying the office of the president of the university to protest Carroll's research. Wicklund responded by beginning a hunger strike, which he told reporters would last until he was released; he was released two weeks later and given a year's probation instead. Carroll obtained a restraining order against SOAR, the ALF, and several of the protesters, including Wicklund. In 1998, Wicklund denounced the ALF, his previous activism, and made a proclamation of embracing pacifism; this move largely caused the campaign against Marilyn Carroll's research to deflate.