HIGHER LEARNING IN AMERICA
HISTORY DEPARTMENT
BARNARD COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

COLUMBIA '68

 

I.  The Long Fuse, 1945 -- 1965

1945

April -- 83-year old Nicholas Murray Butler resigns as Columbia's 13th and longest serving president (44 years); Provost Frank Fackenthal named acting president

August -- Japan sues for peace, following nuclear attack upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki; Columbia physicists I.I. Rabi, Enrico Fermi and chemist Harold Urey figured prominently in development of rader and construction of atomic bomb

December -- United Nations Charter Convention held in San Francisco; several Columbia faculty and administrators figured prominently in proceedings; Barnard Dean Virginia Gildersleeve is the only American woman delegate

1947
September -- General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower named 14th president of Columbia University

1948
May -- Eisenhower assumes presidency; formal inauguration in October

1949
March -- Eisenhower given leave of absence from Columbia to head Allied forces in Europe; Provost Grayson Kirk named acting president; remains in position when Eisenhower secures Republican nominataion for US presidency and is away campaigning throughout 1952

1953
January -- Grayson Kirk named 14th president of Columbia upon Dwight Eisenhower's taking office as US President

1954
Year-long celebration of Columbia's Bicentennial on the theme, "Man's Right to Knowledge and the Free Use Thereof"; festivities attended by leading world figures and royalty

1955
Department of Defense created Institute for Defense Analysis [IDA] to coordinate defense research among five founding universities; Columbia intially not among them

1956
Ivy League football inaugurated; Columbia one of eight teams in league

1958
University and NYC officials [Robert Moses] begin discussions on a CU gym in Morningside Park

1959
Columbia joins Institute for Defense Analysis [Trustee William Burden and President Kirk on IDA Board]

1960
NY legislature approves plan for Columbia to build gym in Morningside Park; plan calls for sharing some of the facility with neighborhood groups

1961
Spring -- Columbia College students vote in referendum to abolish their student government

August -- City and CU agree on construction of gym in Morningside Park, following uneventful public hearings; $10,000,000 fund drive initiated by Trustee Harold McGuire

Fall -- Morningside Renewal Council formed; generally critical of CU expansion in neighborhood

1962
June - Students for Democratic Society [SDS] organized at University of Michigan; Tom Hayden issued Port Huron Statement

1963
November -- President John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas; Lyndon Johnson assumes presidency

1964
January -- Administration prohibits picketing of officiial guests on camous in anticipation of visit of Queen Fredericka of Greece

April -- President Kirk rejects suggestion of Columbia University Student Council to form a tripartite committee on student life; cites administrative workload

June 23 -- Columbia buys apartment building at 618 W. 114th Street, intending site for School of SocialWork

July - Harlem experiences rioting and store-front destruction; one of many urban disruptions that summer

September - About 25 Columbia College black students formed Students Afro-American Society [SAS]; Hilton Clark, CC '67, among leaders

September - Student protests at UC, Berkeley, ban on on-campus political activity; disruptions through most of the academic year; emergence of Free Speech Movement.

November -- Lyndon Johnson overwhelmingly elected to full term, defeating Barry Goldwater

II. Heightening Tensions

1965
January -- US military involvement accelerating in air and on ground in Vietnam; organized protests begin on campuses; first "Teach-Ins" critical of Administration policies; Columbia faculty not conspicuously involved in these protests

May -- NROTC Awards ceremony disrupted by protesters; NYC Police called on campus for first time in memory

September -- First public opposition to Mornigside gym expressed by some Harlem residents and Morningside Community activists

November -- John Lindsay elected Mayor of NYC; his campaign had raised issue of park incursions by private organizations

1966
January -- New NYC Parks Commissioner Thomas Hoving declares his opposition to CU gym in Morningside

February -- Columbia College students form SDS chapter; John Feurst, CC '67, chair

February -- Columbia receives a $10,000,000 grant from Ford Foundation to study urban problems

February -- Administration confirms plan for gym in M/Side Park -- estimated cost increased to $9,000,000; $5,000,000 pledged by alumni

March - CU Student Council announces its opposition to construction of gym; Dormitory Council petition favors gym

April -- Faculty Civil Rights Group formed by Prof. Immanuel Wallerstein; to focus on local Harlem community

April -- 1966 ACE rankings of graduate programs shows sizable drop overall in CU rankings since 1957

May -- Harlem legislators Percy Sutton and Basil Patterson oppose CU gym project: Columbia allies in Albany keep state support for project

September -- Student referendum opposes submission of class rank to draft boards; CC Faculty quickly endorsed action, as did Trustees; class rank not thereafter calculated/submitted

October 31- Trustees launch $200 million capital campaign; first in Columbia's history

November 15 - 200 students, led by SDS members, protest Columbia involvement with CIA outside Low Library

1967
February - Sit-in by 18 SDSers in Dodge Hall against CIA recruiters; first sit-in on campus

February -- Formation of Committee for Defense of Property Rights by conservative students favoring open recruitment on campus

March -- SDS elections; select Ted Kaptchuk (CC '68) as chair; advocate of base-building and education, not confrontation

March 24 -- 500-student vigil on steps of Low Library to protest submission of class rank to Selective Service Boards

April 20 -- 300 SDSers protest Marine Corps on-campus recruiting in John Jay

April 21 -- 800 demonstrators opposed to military recruiting countered with 500 anti-protesters; first clash between students supporting and opposing SDS protest tactics

April 24 -- Associate Dean of Graduate Faculties (and political science professor) Professor Herbert Deane reported in Spectator as giving no more credence to student views on public issues than to whether they like "or don't like strawberries."

June -- Surprise administrative shakeup effected: Columbia College Dean David Truman becomes Provost and VP; Jacques Barzun and Lawrence Chamberlain out as provost and VP; Henry Coleman as acting dean of CC; Truman seen as likely successor to Kirk as CU president

July -- University, at urging of Medical School officials, endorses Strickland filter as increasing safety of smoking by reducing nicotine; University stands to make millions from patent rights

September -- Student referendum overwhelmingly (67% in favor) open recruiting on campus, despite SDS opposition

September 25 -- President Kirk anouncement that "picketing or demonstrations may not be conducted within any University building."; response to Marine Corps-recruitment disruptions in the previous spring

September -- Administration announced tougher policy on tuition payments; once-easy deferrals now subject to interest charges

October -- College COI [Professor Alan Silver] support open recruiting on campus

October -- SDS protest of University involvement in Institute of Defense Analysis (IDA)

October -- Editorial in Science critical of CU involvement with Strickland filter

October 30 -- University announced its largest fundraising year in 1966-67 -- $59,000,000

October 30 -- Columbia Spectator editorializing on ineffectiveness of SDS

November 19 -- Student picketing of University guest Japanese Premier Sato requires apology from President Kirk

November 29 -- Football coach Buff Donelli fired after team's first winless Ivy season

December -- University abandons Strickland project; considerable embarrassment

December -- Black activist H. Rap Brown denounced gym construction in Morningside; urged Harlem to" burn it down" if built

1968
January -- Committee on External Relations [Louis Henkin, chr.] appointed by Kirk to look into Columbia links with defense agencies (especially IDA)

January -- University announced a 9% tuition increase announced; the fifth in nine years

February -- Chemistry Professor George Fraenkel named Dean of Graduate Faculties; position empty since July when Ralph Halford resigned

February 18 - Groundbreaking ceremonies for Morningside Park Gym

February 20 - Demonstrations by community-action student groups on gym site against construction; 12 students arrested; SDS not involved

February 28 -- 200-strong student demonstration against Dow Chemical recruitment in Low Library; 80-student splinter group conducted sit-in at Dodge; Administration decided against disciplining protesters despite Kirk prohibition against indoor demonstrations

March 4 -- Columbia students and some community people disrupt Congressman John Fitz Ryan conference to protest gym construction in Morningside Park; Ryan announces opposition to gym

March 6 -- Columbia Spectator editorially endorsed going ahead with the gym

March 13 -- CC Junior Mark Rudd, just back from trip to Cuba, elected chairman of CU SDS; known to favor confrontation tactics as against organizing and educational efforts of his predecessors

March 27 -- 100-student SDS protest IDA activities in Low Library in open defiance of Kirk guidelines; disciplinary action announced by Administration limited to 6 students, all SDS leaders

April 4 -- Martin Luther King assassinated in Memphis; extensive urban rioting in its wake, especially in Washington D.C.; Mayor Lindsay, the NYC police and Harlem political leaders effective in containing local disruptions

April 9 -- SDS chair Mark Rudd disrupts Martin Luther King Memorial Service in St. Paul's Chapel, calling service an "obscenity"; his actions defended by CU Chaplain John Cannon

April 12 -- President Kirk speaks against US acceleration of military effort in Vietnam in speech at University of Virginia; also decries violent tactics used by student protesters

April 12 -- 25-member SDS Steering Committee endorses spring demonstration; to focus on racism on campus and the gym

April 17 -- SDS General Assembly (90-100 participants) endorse demonstration for April 23rd

April 19 -- SDS published "Letter to Uncle Grayson"in which several demands were enumerated; publication highlighted by Mark Rudd's "Up Against the Wall, Motherfucker" statement

April 22 -- SDS Mark Rudd met with SAS president Cicero Wilson (CC '69) in first attempt at inter-racial cooperation in protesting University policies

IV.  THE EIGHT DAYS OF COLUMBIA '68  (April 23 - April 30)

Day I -- April 23 -- (Tuesday) Sunny and warm

Noontime -- 300-person rally at Sun Dial addressed by both SDS Mark Rudd and SAS Cicero Wilson, followed by attempt to enter Low Library to confront Administration with demands; Library locked and steps occupied by 200 student anti-demonstrators; Provost Truman offered to meet with rally leaders in McMillan Theatre

1:00 PM -- Protesters leave Low steps and proceed to gym site in Morningside Park; one protester, Fred Wilson, arrested by police in scuffle; other protesters, at Rudd's urging, return to Sun Dial

2:00 PM -- Protesters move their rally in Hamilton Hall, where they are joined by anti-protesters and normal class comings and goings; Acting Dean Henry Coleman restrained from leaving his office by protesting students; President Kirk, off campus when informed of developments, proposed calling in police; Provost Truman advised against so as not to escalate situtaion

5:00 PM -- Reports of Harlem political activists in Hamilton; later reports of presence of weapons; Dean Coleman advisesd Provost against calling in police because of potential for violent confrontation

Evening -- SAS and SDS form separate steering committees to consider further action; several hundred students -- and three deans -- stay in Hamilton throughout the night, though access to building not blocked

Day II -- April 24 -- (Wednesday) Rainy

4:00 AM -- SAS leaders inform SDS that they intend to barricade Hamilton; want all whites out

5:00 AM -- 500 white students vacate Hamilton at SDS urging, leaving building to black students; Coleman remained detained

5:30 AM -- 250 of Hamilton Hall's evicted white students break into Low Library and occupy presidential suite

8:30 AM -- Police enter presidential suite to recover Rembrandt painting from Kirk's office; all but 25 of occupying students (including Rudd) leave through the windows.

10:00 AM -- Faculty with offices in occupied Hamilton Hall begin congregating in 301 Philosophy

3:00 PM -- Columbia College Faculty meeting held in Havemeyer; adopt resolutions proposed by Sociologist Daniel Bell calling for evacuation of Hamilton and Low by occupying students and creation of a tripartite (faculty-student-administration) committee to deal with disciplinary matters consequent on these evacuations; Motion by Anthropologist Marvin Harris that gym construction be suspended also adopted; Poliical Scientist Warren Schilling resolution backing Administration tabled

3:45 PM -- Dean Coleman appears at faculty meeting, having been directed out of Hamilton by its occupying black students; greeted with applause and relief that his safety no longer in doubt

Afternoon -- SDS meeting rebuffs Rudd's call for occupying more buildings; Rudd temporarily resigns as chairman; the handful of student protesters in Low are joined by others, who spread their partial occupation beyond the presidential suite on the 2nd floor; Administrators operating mostly out of basement offices

5:00 PM -- Students opposed to occupation of Hamilton Hall threaten to dislodge the occupiers; an open fight averted by efforts of College deans and a timely downpour

6:00 PM -- 70 architecture graduate students defy directive to vacate Avery Hall; decide instead to remain in the building indefinitely, making Avery the third building occupied by protesting students

Evening -- Students opposed to the building occupations, now declare themselves the "Majority Coalition," (on basis of securing 2000 signatures to a petition opposing the occupations) call upon Administration to reclaim the buildings and discipline occupiers; CC senior Mark Vilardi emerges as spokseman for Majority Coalition; athletes and fraternity members prominent among its members

Evening -- Black students in Hamilton Hall reject Administration offer to suspend gym construction and assure no suspensions if they leave Hamilton; offer conveyed by Harlem leaders Percy Sutton and Basil Patterson

Evening -- SDS/Strike Coordinating Committee set up "Strike Central" in CCC offices in Ferris Booth Hall

Day III -- April 25 -- (Thursday) Clearing weather

Morning -- Large numbers of faculty resorting to 301 Philosophy as gathering place and information center

Morning -- Three members of Mayor Lindsay's staff -- Jay Kreigel, Sid Davidoff, Barry Gottehrer -- now regularly on campus to keep City Hall in touch with developments

Noontime -- Some 200 protesters, mostly graduate students in the social sciences, occupy Fayerweather Hall; it becomes the fourth campus building to be occupied

Noontime -- Gathering of athletes in gym opposed to occupations consider moving against them; retaliatory proposals shelved at urging of basketball coach Jack Rohan

1:00 PM -- Restive faculty members in 301 Philosophy get themselves invited to upcoming press conference by the Administration; faculty not heretofore in contact with Administration; at press conference, President cancels classes until Monday

3:00 PM -- Following press confernce, Provost Truman provides a gloomy update for faculty gathered in 301 Philosophy; his performance increased misgivings among some faculty as to the administrative handling of the crisis

4:00 PM -- Upon Truman's departure, faculty in Philosophy 301 decide to constitute themselves as the Ad Hoc Faculty Group, chaired by Political Scientist Alan Westin and directed by a AHFC steering committee; membership in AHFG initially on basis of support for three resolutions: immediate suspension of gym construction; the establishment of a tripartite disciplinary mechanism; a commitment by faculty signere to interpose themselves between police and students should police be called on campus

4:30 PM -- Majority Coalition demonstrators outside Fayerweather Hall threaten to dislodge occupiers; dissuaded by AHFG members Seymour Melman and Sidney Morgenbesser

Evening -- Professors Lionel Trilling, Eugene Galanter and Carl Hovde begin drafting a tripartite disciplinary procedure at urging of AHFG

Evening -- Administration decides to call on NYC Police to retake student-occupied buildings later that night

Evening: Representatives of AHFGroup speak with Majority Coalition in McMillan; Majority Coalition leader Paul Vilardi talks with AHFGroup in Philosophy; each group increasingly wary of the other; some faculty -- C. Lowell Harriss and Warner Schilling -- more clearly supportive of Majority Coalition

Evening -- SDS-dominated Strike Steering Committee restructured to permit representation from occupying buldings; SDS leadership still in charge; Hamilton occupiers maintain their autonomy

11:00 PM -- Mathematics Hall occupied by students from Low and more radical elements among occupiers of Fayerweather; the fifth and last building to be occupied by students; SDS national leader Tom Hayden becomes building leader; Mathematics quickly emerges as the most militant of the five occupied buildings

Day IV -- April 26 -- (Friday) Sunny

1:00 AM -- At urging of Professors Trilling and Galanter, Provost Truman went to Philosophy 301 to inform the gathered faculty of imminent police action imminent; announcement roundly booed

1:30 AM -- Faculty protesting decision follow Truman back to Low Library, where some encounter incoming group of plainsclothes officers; during scuffle at SEast door to Low a French instructor, Richard Greenman, is injured; faculty confront Truman with bleeding colleague and threaten interposition should police be sent to clear buildings

2:00 AM -- Provost Truman calls off police, indicating that he did so at faculty urging and in interest of allowing faculty mediation a chance to resolve the crisis by persuading students to vacate buildings

Noontime -- Several dozen black high school students on campus; seek admission into Hamilton but
not allowed in by occupying students; depart campus peacefully

Afternoon -- A quorum of Columbia trustees meet privately downtown; support Administration's traditional view that all disciplinary responsibility resides with the president

Afternoon -- President Kirk endorses efforts of faculty [Trilling, Galanter, Hovde] to develop tripartite disciplinary procedures

5:00 PM -- Black activists Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael on campus; coolly received in Hamilton and left quietly

Evening -- AHFGroup representatives meeting with student leaders in Hamilton and Mathematics, and then with Rudd and Strike Coordinating Committee on 3rd flr. Ferris Booth; unsuccessful in attempots to persuade occupiers to vacate the buildings

Nite -- Meeting of Fayerweather occupiers temporarily dissociates itself from SDS demand for amnesty and appears ready to accept AHFG proposals

Day V -- April 27 (Saturday)

1:00 AM -- Mark Rudd appears before AHFGroup in Philosphy and declares any mediative effort short of including amnesty for protesting students as "bullshit"

3:00 AM -- Fayerweather occupiers realign themselves with amnesty demand; prospects of their splitting from other buildings lessened

Noontime -- CU Trustee Chair William Petersen issues hardline statement backing presidential authority and not ruling out police action; announcement of a Joint Faculties meeting for Sunday morning

Afternoon -- Fayerweather occupiers again favoring modification of amnesty demand, despite pressure from other buildings and Strike Committee to hold firm

Nite -- Five members of AHFSCommittee -- Immanual Wallerstein, Daniel Bell, David Rothman, Robert Fogelson, Alan Silver -- draw up "bitter pills" conditions for the resolution of the crisis; calls upon students to vacate buildings, in exchange for Columbia withdrawing from IDA; the cancellation of the gym construction; the imposition of tripartite disciplinary procedures;and the provision for collective and uniform disciplinary action. This last provision  intended to preclude serious reprisals against protest leaders, who would be subject to the same disciplinary action as the least involved protester. Failure to accept these stipulations by either party to result in the faculty's disavowal of the non-accepting party

Day VI -- April 28 -- (Sunday) A lovely spring day

9:00 AM -- Ad Hoc Faculty meet and endorse the "bitter pill" resolutions; call for response from the Administration and the Strike Ccoordinating Committee

9:45 AM -- AHFG leaders present bitter pill resolutions to Proviost Truman; indicates he would resign if they were to be adopted by faculty; AHFG agree not to bring them up for a vote at the Joint Faculties meeting

10:00 AM -- Joint Faculties meet in law school; adopt moderate resolutions proposed by Professor Peter Kenen (drafted by Professor Sigmund Diamond) that had tacit support of Administration; "bitter pill" resolutions discussed but not voted upon, despite support for doing so from some AHFG members

5:00 PM -- Majority Coalition form cordon around Low Library to prevent resupplying of occupiers after AHFG commitment to do so not being observed

Evening -- Administration seeks mediative services of labor negotiator Theodore Kheel and black psychologist Kenneth Clark; their discussions with black students in Hamilton friendly but do not lead to evacuation accord

Evening -- CC Dean Coleman acknowledged efforts of Majority Coalition to cordon off Low Library occupiers by "trooping the line" outside Low Library

Day VII -- April 29 (Monday)

Morning -- AHFG leadership assuming this was "the day of decision," and that, short of acceptance of their resolutions or some outside intervention, the police would be coming in that night; this assumption not shared with ADHF rank and file

Morning -- Majority Coalition maintains its cordon around Low; efforts supported by Columbia College Alumni Association

10:00 AM -- Inauguration of new Barnard president, Martha Peterson

1:00 PM -- President Kirk issues equivocal response to Ad Hoc Faculty "bitter pill" resolutions, though implies willingness to discuss all resolutions

2:00 PM -- Steering Committee for students occupying Low, Avery, Fayerweather and Mathematics categorically reject AHFG resolutions; so does leadership of Hamilton Hall occupation, but separately

Afternoon -- Some members of AHFG seeking outside arbitration from Mayor Lindsay or Governor Rockefeller

11:00 PM -- Majority Coalition reluctantly accepts AHFG resolutions and withdraws its cordon from Low Library

Day VIII -- April 30 (Tuesday)

2:00 AM -- Police, under the operational control of Sanford Garelick, peacefully remove black students from Hamilton, after entering through tunnels; students alerted to imminent police action; decide against resistance; 86 occupying students arrested;

2:15 AM -- Police similarly remove students from Low Library; little resistance and no violence; 93 arrests

2:30 AM -- Avery Hall cleared of students by police entering through main doors; modest resistance and some injuries; 42 arrests

2:45 AM -- Fayerweather Hall cleared by police entering through main doors; scattered resistance outside the building and within; 268 arrests

3:00 AM -- Mathematics Hall cleared in face of strongest resistance; sveral injuries of occupiers and police; 203 arrests

3:15 AM -- Police on Low Plaza loading vans with arrested students charge spectators gathered in South Field; resultant stampede caused worst violence of the night -- and the greatest subsequent reaction.

4:00 AM -- Police had cleared all five occupied buildings; made 712 arrests; 148 reports of injury

Columbia '68 Images and Archives

V. THE IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH OF COLUMBIA '68

April 30 [Post Bust]  -- Morning -- Strike Steering Committee called for student strike and the firing of Kirk/Truman

Columbia University Student Council (CUSC) call for support of strike;  Columbia Spectator also supports strike, while demanding  ouster of Kirk, Truman, Fraenkel and Trustee Chair William Petersen

11:00 AM -- AHFGroup convened in McMillan to vote to support strike and censure Administration; Chair Alan Westin left meeting rather than bring these measures to a vote; those remaining  reconstituted themselves as Independent Faculty Group and voted to support strike

Noon -- Classes suspended by University from May 1st to 5th; to reopen Monday, May 6th.

3:00 PM -- Joint Faculties met in St. Paul's Chapel; President Kirk turned chair over to Law School Dean William Warren; Pro-Administration resolution put forward by Richard Hofstadter and resolution condemning the Administration and supporting the student strike by Professors Morton Fried and Marvin Harris; Faculties then adopted moderate resolution [305 to 205] from law professors Maurice Rosenberg to create a Faculty Executive Committee, with Alan Westin and law professor Michael Sovern co-chairs

May 1 -- Faculty Executive Committee call the dropping of criminal charges against arrested students; urge quick release of the Henkin Report on External Relations; call for an outside fact-finding commission

Graduate Faculties and Journalism students support strike; call for ouster of Kirk and Truman

Trustees appoint Special Committee on Structure of the University; Alan H. Temple and Ribert Lilley as co-chairs

May 2 -- 450 law students sign petition calling for ouster of Kirk/Truman

May 2 -- Meeting of Columbia Concerned Parents in Riverside Church broken up by fight between parents supporting arrested students and those identified with Majority Coalition

May 2 -- Joint committee on Disciplinary Affairs established along lines proposed by Trilling.Galanter/Hovde; English professor Quentin Anderson as chair

May 2 -- Faculty Executive Committee urged creation of an outside fact-finding commission

May 3 -- Columbia College Alumni Association call for immediate expulsion of all arrested students; The band Grateful Dead played on campus;

May 4 -- Majority Coalition reorganized as Students for Columbia oppose strike

May 4 -- Alumni for a New Columbia organized; opposed to Kirk Administration and College Alumni Association

May 5 -- Letters sent to six students identified at March 27 demonstration in Low Library, directing them to report to College dean for disciplinary action

May 6 -- University officially reopened, but widespread boycotting of classes disrupts   normal arrangements in College and Graduate Faculties; professional schools resume classesl

May 6 -- Striking students split into SDS-dominated Strike Coordinating Committee, intent on spreading the protest beyond CU, and Students for a Restructured University, focused on campus issues

May 7 -- Five-member Fact-Finding Commission convenes; Harvard law professor Archibald Cox as chair; SDS and SAS refuse to cooperate with Cox Commission

May 9 -- Committee on Discpline [Q. Anderson, chr.] call for dropping of criminal charges against those arrested on April 30th; President Kirk's initial response equivocal, later more accepting

May 13 -- Cox Commission begins taking testimony; hearings continue to July 25th

May 16 -- 36 members of law faculty oppose their students' demands; publish "A Declaration of Confidence in Columbia's Future" in New York Times

May 17 -- Law School student government condemns faculty action in support of Administration

May 17 -- SDS and community activists occupy empty CU-owned apartment building on 114th Street; police remove occupiers and make arrests

May 21 -- Evening -- SDS-led students reoccupy Hamilton Hall to protest disciplinary proceedings against SDS leaders

May 22 -- 2:00 AM -- Police empty Hamilton Hall after clearing campus; fires in two buildings reported; some roughing up of spectators on campus; 138 students arrested, including Mark Rudd

May 22 -- Mark Rudd suspended for involvement in March 27 demonstration

May 29 -- Suspensions of 7 more students for earlier infractions, plus 66 others for reoccupation of Hamilton Hall; students on Strike Coordinating Committee break off to form Students for a Restructured University

May 31 -- Committee on External Relations, chaired by Professor Louis Henkin, submits report urging CU to forego the little classified research currently being conducted and to withdraw from IDA

June 1 -- President Kirk sent "A Message to Alumni, Parents and Other Friends of Columbia," declaring the restoration of order at Columbia

June 4 -- 214th Commencement held at St. John the Divine Cathedral; Richard Hofstatder delivered the commencement address; some seniors walk out; others boycot with counter-commencement on Low Plaza

June 5 -- Presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy, afterr narrowly defeating Eugene Mccarthy in California Democratic primary. asassinated in Los Angeles hotel

June 24 -- August 15 -- Strike Coordinating Committee holding  Liberation School in 536 W.114th St.

July 18 -- English professor Carl Hovde appointed Dean of Columbia College

July 25 -- Cox Commission concludes 21 days of open sessions; heard 3900 pages of testimony from 79 witnesses

August  5 -- Ppresident Kirk informed Trustees of his wish to retire

August 12 -- CU Alumni Association opposed creation of a faculty senate and election of faculty members to Board of Trustees; warn Administration about "appeasement"

August 23 -- Trustees accept President Kirk's retirement; SIA dean Andrew Cordier named acting president

September 5 -- Cordier asks that trespass charges against 400 occupying students be dropped; disciplinary charges to stand against 154 others, including Mark Rudd

September 12 -- Faculties meeting convened by Faculty Executive Committee adopts "Interim Rules" on student discipline; Committee reports on procedural steps taken to advance discussion on restructuring the University and preliminary proposal for a University Senate

September 18  -- Registration procedures briefly disrupted by appearance of suspended SDS students demanding right to register

September 26 -- Classes open with only minor disruptions

October 1 -- Cox Commission Report [Crisis at Columbia] published; critical of administrative aloofness and the quality of undergraduate life

October 1 -- Mark Rudd in interview with Boston Globe: "We manufactured the issues"

October 10 -- Criminal Court Judge Arthur Goldberg dismissed criminal charges against Columbia students arrested on April 30th.

October 18, 23, 15 -- Joint hearings on University Restructuring Plans as drafted by Faculty Executive Committee, Trustee Committee and   ,

October 25 -- Faculty Executive Committee appoints Presidential Search Committee; to include 15 student representatives as well as faculty; Trustees to have their own committee

November -- Fall issue of Columbia Today published lengthy account of April disturbances, "Six Weeks That Shook Morningside," by editor George Keller; viewed as Administration "white paper"; others condemned it as being anti-semitic

December -- Board of Trustees commissioned outside consultants to prepare a report on "Changes in the Basic Structure of the University"

December -- Provost David Truman, out of consideration for the Columbia presidency,  leaves to become president of Mount Holyoke College

1969

April 9 -- 90% of University voters adopt concept of a University Senate by ; 44% turnout

April 23 -- Occupations of Hamilton and Mathematics by SDSers halted by prompt use of police at Cordier's direction

June -- SDS National Convention marks the emergence of violent "Weatherman" faction; Columbians Mark Rudd and John Jacobs among them

August -- Andrew Cordier named 15th president of Columbia as search for his successor is announced

1970
January -- William McGill, Chancellor of UC, San Diego, and CU psychology professor from 1956 to 1963,
named 16th president of Columbia University; began responsibilities in September

March 23 -- Civilian Review Board of NYPD conclude police used "unnecessary force" in Spring 1968 actions on Columbia campus

April 15 -- 200 students supporting Black Panthers engage in window breaking on campus; 200 police called onto campus to disperse rioters