1968: The Columbia University Protests
As the Vietnam War became more and more unpopular, anti-war protests in the the United States grew in number and in intensity. Among the year's most prominent were the Columbia University protests of 1968. The Columbia protests occurred over the spring of that year after students discovered links between the university and the United States government's involvement in the Vietnam War. The protests resulted in the student occupation of many university buildings and the eventual violent removal of protesters by the New York City Police Department.
In early March 1967, a Columbia University Students for a Democratic Society activist named Bob Feldman discovered documents in the International Law Library connecting Columbia's institutional affiliation with the Institute for Defense Analyses, a weapons research think tank affiliated with the Department of Defense. This had not been publicly disclosed by the University. The RAND Corporation was the military-oriented think tank that had received most of the publicity prior to March 1967. But after Feldman's disclosure in some leftist publications about the Columbia-IDA connection, the FBI began to investigate Feldman.
News of the IDA documents touched off a Columbia SDS anti-war campaign between April 1967 and April 1968. Student support was generated, demanding that Columbia University administration resign its institutional membership in the Institute for Defense Analyses. A peaceful demonstration was held inside the Low Library administration building on March 27, 1968. As a result, the Columbia Administration placed probation six anti-war Columbia student activists, nicknamed "The IDA Six," on academic probation for violating its ban on indoor demonstrations.
A second protest arose at the time, concerning Columbia's plan to construct what activists described as a segregated gymnasium in city-owned Morningside Park. The gym's proposed design included access for residents of Harlem through a so-called "back door" to a dedicated community facility on its lower level. The design was actually a solution to the gym's physical placement on the park's highly inclined slope, at the bottom of which is Harlem and at the top of which is Morningside Heights, where Columbia's campus is situated. But students and community members interpreted this as segregationist. Harlem activists opposed the construction because Harlem residents would get only limited access to the facility. Some facetiously called the project "Gym Crow".
The first protest occurred on March 27, just eight days before the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Protesting the Columbia Administration's attempts to suppress anti-IDA student protest as well as Columbia's plans for the Morningside Park gymnasium, Columbia SDS activists and student activists held a second, more confrontational demonstration on April 23, 1968, (fifty years ago today). The protesting students were prevented from protesting inside Low Library by Columbia security guards. Many of the student protesters marched down to the Columbia gymnasium construction site in Morningside Park, attempted to stop construction of the gymnasium and began to struggle with the New York City Police officers who were guarding the construction site. The NYPD arrested one protester at the gym site. The students then left the gym site at Morningside Park and returned to Columbia's campus, where they took over Hamilton Hall, a building housing both classrooms and the offices of the Columbia College Administration.
The morning after the initial takeover of Hamilton Hall, 60 African American students (the SAS) involved with the protest asked the predominantly white SDS students to leave. Their decision to separate themselves from SDS came as a total surprise to the latter group's members. The two groups held different agendas. SDS wanted to mobilize the student population of Columbia to confront the University's support of the war, while the SAS was primarily interested in stopping the University's encroachment of Harlem. The SAS did not want to see any destruction of files and personal property in faculty and administrative offices in Hamilton Hall, which would have reinforced negative stereotypes of African-American protesters as portrayed in the media. Having sole occupancy of Hamilton Hall thus allowed SAS to avoid any potential conflict with SDS about destruction of university property. The SAS began to meet separately from other protesters and secluded the white protesters, with each group occupying a separate side of the building.
The SDS soon left Hamilton Hall and moved to Low Library, which housed the President’s office. This separation of the SDS and SAS had each using different tactics to accomplish its goals. Only a portion of the occupiers were actual members of the University community. Many outside participants flocked to this newest point of revolution to participate, including students from other colleges, street people and celebrities such as Tom Hayden.
As things were happening so soon after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the administrators were careful in dealing with the demonstrators of the SAS. University administration were unsure of what to do regarding the African-American students who controlled the College’s most important building and had support from off-campus black activists. They worried that any use of force would incite riots in Harlem. The protesters in Hamilton Hall encouraged neighboring African-Americans to come to the campus for their rallies.
Mark Rudd announced that acting dean Henry S. Coleman would be held hostage until the group's demands were met. Coleman was not in his office when the takeover was initiated, but he made his way into the building past protesters, went into his office and stated that "I have no control over the demands you are making, but I have no intention of meeting any demand under a situation such as this." Coleman, as well as College administrators William Kahn and Dan Carlinsky, were held hostage in his office. He was able to leave 24 hours later. The New York Times described his departure from the siege as "showing no sign that he had been unsettled by the experience".
The protest attracted support among the students and junior faculty. But according to polls conducted during the actual event and immediately afterward, a majority of student opposed the manner in which the protest was carried out. A group of 300 undergraduates calling themselves the "Majority Coalition" organized after several days of the building occupation, in response to what they called administration inaction. This group was led by Richard Waselewsky and Richard Forzani. These students were opposed to the occupation of University buildings. They formed a human blockade around the primary building, Low Library, allowing anyone who wished to leave Low to do so, while preventing anyone or any supplies from entering the building. On April 29, a group of protesters attempted to forcibly penetrate the line but were stopped in a violent confrontation.
Columbia administration became concerned that Harlem residents would riot or invade Columbia's campus, and also feared more violence. The Coalition was persuaded to abandon its blockade at the request of the faculty committee, who advised coalition leaders that the situation would be resolved by the next morning.
The protests came to a conclusion in the early morning hours of April 30, 1968, when the NYPD violently quashed the demonstrations, with tear gas, and stormed both Hamilton Hall and the Low Library. Hamilton Hall was cleared peacefully. The buildings occupied by the SDS were cleared in violent clashes as approximately 132 students, 4 faculty members and 12 police officers were injured. Over 700 protesters were arrested. Violence continued into the following day with students armed with sticks battling with officers. Frank Gucciardi, a 34-year-old police officer, was permanently disabled when a student jumped onto him from a second story window, breaking his back.
More protesting Columbia and Barnard students were arrested by New York City police in a second round of protests occurring between May 17 and 22, 1968, when community residents occupied a Columbia University-owned apartment building at 618 West 114 Street to protest Columbia's expansion policies. By May 22, 1968, police had arrested another 177 students and beaten 51 students.
Following the protests, Columbia disaffiliated from the IDA and scrapped the plans for the controversial gym. It decided to build a subterranean physical fitness center under the north end of campus instead. At least 30 Columbia students were suspended by the administration as a result of the protests.
Professor Carl Hovde served on a faculty group that established a joint committee composed of administrators, faculty and students that established recommendations for disciplinary action for the students involved in the protests. Hovde was appointed as dean while the protests were continuing. Hovde opposed criminal charges being filed against the students by the university.
A number of the Class of ’68 walked out of their graduation ceremony and held a counter-commencement on Low Plaza with a picnic following at Morningside Park. The Vietnam conflict would spawn other campus protests. Several Columbia SDS members combined with the New York Black Panther Party to create Weatherman, a group dedicated to the violent overthrow of the government.
Columbia suffered quite a bit in the aftermath of the student protest. Applications, endowments, and grants for the university declined significantly in the following years. The protests hurt Columbia financially as many potential students chose to attend other universities and some alumni refused to donate any more to the school.
The protests focused attention on the growing anti-war sentiment. By this time, Lyndon Johnson had announced his decision not to seek re-election to the presidency. But his continued effort to convince the nation that victory in Vietnam was still attainable became increasingly difficult, emboldening those who sought the presidency on a platform critical of Johnson's conduct of the Vietnam War,
In early March 1967, a Columbia University Students for a Democratic Society activist named Bob Feldman discovered documents in the International Law Library connecting Columbia's institutional affiliation with the Institute for Defense Analyses, a weapons research think tank affiliated with the Department of Defense. This had not been publicly disclosed by the University. The RAND Corporation was the military-oriented think tank that had received most of the publicity prior to March 1967. But after Feldman's disclosure in some leftist publications about the Columbia-IDA connection, the FBI began to investigate Feldman.
News of the IDA documents touched off a Columbia SDS anti-war campaign between April 1967 and April 1968. Student support was generated, demanding that Columbia University administration resign its institutional membership in the Institute for Defense Analyses. A peaceful demonstration was held inside the Low Library administration building on March 27, 1968. As a result, the Columbia Administration placed probation six anti-war Columbia student activists, nicknamed "The IDA Six," on academic probation for violating its ban on indoor demonstrations.
A second protest arose at the time, concerning Columbia's plan to construct what activists described as a segregated gymnasium in city-owned Morningside Park. The gym's proposed design included access for residents of Harlem through a so-called "back door" to a dedicated community facility on its lower level. The design was actually a solution to the gym's physical placement on the park's highly inclined slope, at the bottom of which is Harlem and at the top of which is Morningside Heights, where Columbia's campus is situated. But students and community members interpreted this as segregationist. Harlem activists opposed the construction because Harlem residents would get only limited access to the facility. Some facetiously called the project "Gym Crow".
The first protest occurred on March 27, just eight days before the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Protesting the Columbia Administration's attempts to suppress anti-IDA student protest as well as Columbia's plans for the Morningside Park gymnasium, Columbia SDS activists and student activists held a second, more confrontational demonstration on April 23, 1968, (fifty years ago today). The protesting students were prevented from protesting inside Low Library by Columbia security guards. Many of the student protesters marched down to the Columbia gymnasium construction site in Morningside Park, attempted to stop construction of the gymnasium and began to struggle with the New York City Police officers who were guarding the construction site. The NYPD arrested one protester at the gym site. The students then left the gym site at Morningside Park and returned to Columbia's campus, where they took over Hamilton Hall, a building housing both classrooms and the offices of the Columbia College Administration.
The morning after the initial takeover of Hamilton Hall, 60 African American students (the SAS) involved with the protest asked the predominantly white SDS students to leave. Their decision to separate themselves from SDS came as a total surprise to the latter group's members. The two groups held different agendas. SDS wanted to mobilize the student population of Columbia to confront the University's support of the war, while the SAS was primarily interested in stopping the University's encroachment of Harlem. The SAS did not want to see any destruction of files and personal property in faculty and administrative offices in Hamilton Hall, which would have reinforced negative stereotypes of African-American protesters as portrayed in the media. Having sole occupancy of Hamilton Hall thus allowed SAS to avoid any potential conflict with SDS about destruction of university property. The SAS began to meet separately from other protesters and secluded the white protesters, with each group occupying a separate side of the building.
The SDS soon left Hamilton Hall and moved to Low Library, which housed the President’s office. This separation of the SDS and SAS had each using different tactics to accomplish its goals. Only a portion of the occupiers were actual members of the University community. Many outside participants flocked to this newest point of revolution to participate, including students from other colleges, street people and celebrities such as Tom Hayden.
As things were happening so soon after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the administrators were careful in dealing with the demonstrators of the SAS. University administration were unsure of what to do regarding the African-American students who controlled the College’s most important building and had support from off-campus black activists. They worried that any use of force would incite riots in Harlem. The protesters in Hamilton Hall encouraged neighboring African-Americans to come to the campus for their rallies.
Mark Rudd announced that acting dean Henry S. Coleman would be held hostage until the group's demands were met. Coleman was not in his office when the takeover was initiated, but he made his way into the building past protesters, went into his office and stated that "I have no control over the demands you are making, but I have no intention of meeting any demand under a situation such as this." Coleman, as well as College administrators William Kahn and Dan Carlinsky, were held hostage in his office. He was able to leave 24 hours later. The New York Times described his departure from the siege as "showing no sign that he had been unsettled by the experience".
The protest attracted support among the students and junior faculty. But according to polls conducted during the actual event and immediately afterward, a majority of student opposed the manner in which the protest was carried out. A group of 300 undergraduates calling themselves the "Majority Coalition" organized after several days of the building occupation, in response to what they called administration inaction. This group was led by Richard Waselewsky and Richard Forzani. These students were opposed to the occupation of University buildings. They formed a human blockade around the primary building, Low Library, allowing anyone who wished to leave Low to do so, while preventing anyone or any supplies from entering the building. On April 29, a group of protesters attempted to forcibly penetrate the line but were stopped in a violent confrontation.
Columbia administration became concerned that Harlem residents would riot or invade Columbia's campus, and also feared more violence. The Coalition was persuaded to abandon its blockade at the request of the faculty committee, who advised coalition leaders that the situation would be resolved by the next morning.
The protests came to a conclusion in the early morning hours of April 30, 1968, when the NYPD violently quashed the demonstrations, with tear gas, and stormed both Hamilton Hall and the Low Library. Hamilton Hall was cleared peacefully. The buildings occupied by the SDS were cleared in violent clashes as approximately 132 students, 4 faculty members and 12 police officers were injured. Over 700 protesters were arrested. Violence continued into the following day with students armed with sticks battling with officers. Frank Gucciardi, a 34-year-old police officer, was permanently disabled when a student jumped onto him from a second story window, breaking his back.
More protesting Columbia and Barnard students were arrested by New York City police in a second round of protests occurring between May 17 and 22, 1968, when community residents occupied a Columbia University-owned apartment building at 618 West 114 Street to protest Columbia's expansion policies. By May 22, 1968, police had arrested another 177 students and beaten 51 students.
Following the protests, Columbia disaffiliated from the IDA and scrapped the plans for the controversial gym. It decided to build a subterranean physical fitness center under the north end of campus instead. At least 30 Columbia students were suspended by the administration as a result of the protests.
Professor Carl Hovde served on a faculty group that established a joint committee composed of administrators, faculty and students that established recommendations for disciplinary action for the students involved in the protests. Hovde was appointed as dean while the protests were continuing. Hovde opposed criminal charges being filed against the students by the university.
A number of the Class of ’68 walked out of their graduation ceremony and held a counter-commencement on Low Plaza with a picnic following at Morningside Park. The Vietnam conflict would spawn other campus protests. Several Columbia SDS members combined with the New York Black Panther Party to create Weatherman, a group dedicated to the violent overthrow of the government.
Columbia suffered quite a bit in the aftermath of the student protest. Applications, endowments, and grants for the university declined significantly in the following years. The protests hurt Columbia financially as many potential students chose to attend other universities and some alumni refused to donate any more to the school.
The protests focused attention on the growing anti-war sentiment. By this time, Lyndon Johnson had announced his decision not to seek re-election to the presidency. But his continued effort to convince the nation that victory in Vietnam was still attainable became increasingly difficult, emboldening those who sought the presidency on a platform critical of Johnson's conduct of the Vietnam War,