Before he had even formally received his BA, he became the first supervisor of the Black Student Division in the university's Office of Minority Affairs.

While still working for the University of Washington, he was involved in the occupation of a former Seattle public school that ultimately became El Centro de la Raza.

His continued involvement in civil disobedience led to a request to "cool it", from the head of the Office of Minority Affairs, Samuel E. Kelly.

Gossett has admitted in recent years that he was a long time member of the Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party.

[12][13] Gossett's office in the King County Courthouse is in the same location that his prison cell was in 1968 when he was arrested for unlawful assembly during a sit-in at Franklin High School on March 29.