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Columbia in Crisis Timeline, 1965-1969 1965 -- January -- US military involvement in Vietnam accelerates sharply, as do the requirements of the Draft. Organized campus protests feature "Teach-Ins" critical of Administration policies. Columbia faculty not conspicuous in these public protests. February -- First University teach-ins on American campuses; opposition grows to Johnson's policy of bombing North Vietnam February 9 – President Kirk promulgates University picketing policy, in response to Queen Fredericka pickets; aimed at non-University picketers March 2 – Faculty petition opposing US policy in Vietnam; Professor of Political Science Brzezinski supports US policy March 10 – Chapter of Students for Democratic Society (SDS) organized at Columbia; the 52nd chapter in the country May -- NROTC Awards ceremony is disrupted by anti-war protesters at Columbia. New York City Police called on Morningside campus for the first time. September -- Some Harlem residents and Morningside Community activists publicly declare their opposition to the construction of Morningside gym for the first time. Fall -- Draft reclassifications of students underway; heightens anxieties on campus October – President Kirk establishes a Committee on Student Life chaired by economics professor Aaron Warner, Eric Foner (CC ’64 and GSAS) a student member. November -- John Lindsay is elected Mayor of New York; his campaign had criticized park incursions by private organizations. December 13 -- President Kirk met with Manhattan Borough President Constance Baker Motley; official seeking to limit Columbia expansion on Morningside Heights 1966 -- January -- New NYC Parks Commissioner Thomas P. F. Hoving declares his opposition to Columbia gym in Morningside Park. January 11 -- President Kirk and Vice President Lawrence Chamberlain meet again with Borough President Constance Baker Motley; hostile meeting January 15 -- Trustee Harold McGuire met with Parks Commissioner Thomas P. F. Hoving over gym; Hoving remains opposed to its being built in Morningside Park February -- Columbia receives $10,000,000 grant from Ford Foundation to study urban problems. February -- Administration confirms plan for gym in Morningside Park for which alumni pledges for projected $13,000,000 facility had reached $5,000,000. February -- Daniel Bell’s report on the College curriculum, The Reforming of General Education, published to mixed campus reviews. February 18 -- Barnard College purchased the “Bryn Mawr, ” on 121st and Amsterdam, from Columbia; to be site of Barnard dormitory, Plimpton Hall. March -- Columbia University Student Council opposes construction of gym. Dormitory Council and Columbia Spectator endorse it. March -- UCLA effects a major raid of Columbia medical faculty April -- Professor Immanuel
Wallerstein forms Faculty Civil Rights Group to focus on local Harlem
community. May -- Harlem state legislators Percy Sutton and Basil Patterson vote against Columbia gym project; other Columbia allies in Albany maintain state support for project. May -- AAUP salary rankings for faculty have Columbia dropping from 9th to 15th in single year; drops even sharper for Barnard and Teachers College; Trustees commit an additional $850,000 for faculty salaries, which produced a projected deficit of $800,000. September -- Student referendum
opposes submission of class rank to draft boards; Columbia College Faculty
endorses the referendum results Fall -- Committee on Student Life Report (“Warner Report”) presented to President Kirk; no response forthcoming over the next 18 months. October 31 -- Trustees launch $200 million capital campaign, the first of its kind in Columbia's history and the largest ever undertaken to date by an American university. November 15 -- 200 students, led by SDS members, protest Columbia's involvement with the CIA outside Low Library. 1967 -- February -- 18 members of SDS hold first campus sit-in at Dodge Hall to protest presence on campus of CIA recruiters. February -- Conservative students, favoring open recruitment on campus, form the Committee for Defense of Property Rights. March -- SDS elect as new chapter chair: Ted Kaptchuk (CC '68), an advocate of base-building and education as opposed to direct confrontation. March 6 -- Trustees take up proposal that CU stop providing class rankings to draft boards; later decide to eliminate class rankings altogether March 24 -- 500 students hold vigil on steps of Low Library to protest submission of class rank to Selective Service Boards. April 20 -- 300 students in SDS-led demonstration protest Marine Corps on-campus recruiting in John Jay. April 21-- 800 demonstrators, opposing military recruiting, are countered by 500 anti-protesters; incident marks the first clash between students. June -- Surprise administrative shakeup effected: Columbia College Dean David Truman becomes Provost and Vice President; Provost Jacques Barzun and Vice President Lawrence Chamberlain resign; Henry Coleman is named acting dean of Columbia College; Truman seen as likely successor to Kirk as University President. Summer -- Deferments for most graduate students eliminated. Graduate students now subject to a national lottery. July -- Medical School deans persuade University to endorse a cigarette filter invented by Dr. Richard Strickman, seen as a means of reducing nicotine intake among smokers. Columbia stood to make millions from patent rights if the filter as effective as claimed. September -- Student referendum votes overwhelmingly for open recruitment on campus (67% in favor), despite SDS opposition. September -- Administration announced tougher policy on tuition payments, making once-easily secured deferrals now subject to interest. September 25 -- In response to disruptions of Marine Corps recruiting the previous spring, President Kirk declared that "picketing or demonstrations may not be conducted within any University building." October -- Report by the College Committee on Instruction (chaired by Professor Alan Silver) supports open recruiting on campus October -- SDS protests University
involvement in IDA. October - Editorial in Science critical of Columbia's involvement with Strickman filter. October 25 -- 400 Columbia students among protesters of Secretary of State Dean Rusk’s appearance at the Hilton Hotel; SDSers Ted Gold (CC ’68) and Mark Rudd (CC ’69) among those arrested October 30 -- University announces that the $59,000,000 in gifts received in 1966-67; the University's largest fundraising year ever November -- Selective Service Commissioner Hershey recommended that draft- protesting university students be targeted for selection November 3 -- Student picketing of University guest Japanese Premier Sato prompts apology from President Kirk November 15 -- College faculty endorsed principle of open recruiting on campus, including that by the military. November 19 -- Students picket University guest, Japanese Premier Sato; demonstration prompts a public apology from President Kirk. November 29 -- Football coach Buff Donelli is fired after Columbia's first winless Ivy season. November 30 -- Columbia Spectator critical of SDS activities as ineffectual; credits Administration with outmaneuvering radical students December -- University dissociates itself from the Strickman Filter project after inconclusive test results; source of considerable institutional embarrassment. December -- Black activist H. Rap Brown denounces gym construction in Morningside and urges Harlemites to "burn it down." December 18 -- Columbia Spectator endorsed proceeding with the gym in Morningside Park. December 21 -- Columbia Citizenship Council (CCC) called for reconsideration of the gym in Morningside Park. 1968 -- January – President Kirk appointed Committee on External Relations with law professor Louis Henkin as chairman; to look into University’s links to CIA and IDA. February 18 - Groundbreaking for Morningside Park Gym February 20 - Demonstrations by non-SDS student groups on gym site against construction February 28 -- 200-strong student demonstration against Dow Chemical recruitment in Low Library; 80-student splinter group conducted sit-in at Dodge; Administration did not charge protesters despite prohibition against indoor demonstrations March 4 -- Columbia students and community people disrupt Congressman Joh Fitz Ryan conference to protest gym construction in Morningside Park March 6 -- Columbia Spectator again endorsed going ahead with the gym March 13 -- Junior Mark Rudd elected chairman of CU SDS on platform calling for direct confrontation with the Administration March 27 -- 100-student SDS protest IDA activities in Low Library; disciplinary action announced by Administration against 6 students, all SDS leaders April 4 -- Martin Luther King assassinated in Memphis; extensive urban rioting in its wake 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 Chaplain John Cannon April 12 -- President Kirk speaks against American acceleration of military effort in Vietnam in speech at University of Virginia April 12 -- 25-member SDS Steering Committee endorses the idea of a demonstration to focus on racism and gym April 17 -- SDS General Assembly (90-100 participants) endorse demonstration scheduled for Tuesday, April 23rd April 19 -- SDS published "Letter to Uncle Grayson" in which its demands were enumerated; included Mark Rudd's salutation, borrowed from poet Leroi Jomes, "Up Against the Wall, Motherfucker." April 22 – Evening -- SDS Mark Rudd met with Students Afro-American Society leader Cicero Wilson in first attempt at white-black cooperation in protesting University policies
Day I April 23 -- (Tuesday) Sunny Noontime -- Rally at Sun Dial addressed by both SDS Rudd and SAS Cicero Wilson, followed by attempt to enter Low Library to confront Administration with demands; Library locked and steps occupied by 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 arrested by police in scuffle; other protesters, at Rudd's urging, return to Sun Dial 2:00 PM -- Protesters continue their rally in foyer Hamilton Hall, where they are joined by anti-protesters amidst the normal class comings and goings; Acting Dean Henry Coleman restrained from leaving his office by protesting students; President Kirk, at a mid-town meeting, suggests calling in police; Provost Truman advises against doing so as not to escalate situation 5:00 PM -- Reports of the presence Harlem
political activists in Hamilton; later reports of presence of weapons; Dean
Coleman advises Provost against calling in police because of potential for
violent confrontation. Evening -- SAS and SDS elements in Hamilton form separate steering committees to consider further action; several hundred students -- and three deans -- stay throughout the night, though access to building not blocked Day II (Wednesday, April 24) Rainy 4:00 AM -- SAS leaders inform SDS that black students intend to barricade Hamilton Hall; want all whites out 5:00 AM -- 500 white protesting students vacate Hamilton Hall at SDS urging, leaving building to black students; Coleman remained detained 5:30 AM -- 250 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 Havermeyer Hall ; adopt resolutions proposed by sociologist Daniel Bell calling for evacuation of Hamilton and Low by occupying students and the creation of a faculty-student-administration committee to deal with disciplinary matters consequent on these occupations; Professor of Anthropology Marvin Harris motion that gym construction be suspended also adopted; Professor of Political Science Warren Schilling offers resolution backing Administration but it is not brought to a vote. 3:45 PM -- Dean Coleman appears at
faculty meeting, having been directed out of Hamilton hall by its occupying black students Afternoon -- SDS meeting rebuffs Rudd's call for occupying more buildings; Rudd temporarily resigns as chairman of SDS. 5:00 PM -- Students opposed to those occupying Hamilton threatening to dislodge the occupiers; an open fight averted by efforts of College deans and a timely downpour 6:00 PM -- Architecture students
defy directive to vacate Avery Hall; decide instead to remain in the building
indefinitely, making it the third building occupied by protesting students. Evening -- Students opposed to the building occupations declare themselves the "Majority Coalition" on basis of 2000-plus petition signings by students opposed to occupations; calls upon Administration to reclaim the buildings and discipline occupiers Day III (Thursday, April 25) Morning -- Larger numbers of faculty resorting to 301 Philosophy as gathering place and information center Noontime -- Occupation of Fayerweather Hall, mostly by graduate students in the social sciences Noontime -- Gathering in gym of athletes opposed to occupations; violent options considered but shelved at urging of basketball coach Jack Rohan 1:00 PM -- Some faculty members in 301 Philosophy get themselves invited to upcoming press conference by the Administration; faculty not heretofore contacted by Administration; President cancels classes until Monday 3:00 PM -- Provost Truman provides a somber update for faculty gathered in 301 Philosophy; increases misgivings among some faculty as to the administrative handling of the crisis 4:00 PM – Faculty in 301 Philosophy Hall decide to constitute themselves as the Ad Hoc Faculty Group, chaired by Professor Alan Westin and directed by a AHFC steering committee; membership to be based on support for following resolutions: suspension of gym construction; tripartite disciplinary mechanism; commitment to interpose themselves between police and students should police be called on campus 6:00 PM -- Counter-demonstrators outside Fayerweather threatening to dislodge occupiers; dissuaded from attempt by Professors Melman and Morgenbesser Evening -- Administration sets in motion plan to have NYC Police retake 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 -- economics professor C. Lowell Harriss and Warner Schilling -- more clearly supportive of Majority Coalition 11:00 PM -- Mathematics Hall occupied by students from Low and more radical elements among occupiers of Fayerweather Day IV (Friday, April 26) 1:00 AM -- At urging of Professors Trilling and Galanter, Provost Truman went to Philosophy 301 to inform the gathered faculty that police action imminent; announcement roundly booed 1:30 AM -- Faculty protesting decision follow Truman back to Low Library, where some encounter incoming group of plainclothes officers; during scuffle at door to Low, Assistant Professor Richard Greenman is injured; faculty confront Truman with their bleeding colleague and threaten interposition should police be sent to clear buildings 2:00 AM – President Kirk calls
off police action at the urging
of Provost Truman, who said he did so at faculty urging and in interest of
allowing faculty mediation a chance to resolve the crisis Noontime -- Black high school students on campus; seek admission into Hamilton Afternoon -- A quorum of Columbia trustees meet privately downtown; support Administration’s stand that disciplinary responsibilities rest with the President 5:00 PM – Black activists, H. Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael, come on campus; coolly received in Hamilton Hall and left quietly Evening -- AHFGroup representatives meet with black leaders in Hamilton and white radicals in Mathematics; later with Rudd and other SFDS leaders in their headquarters in Ferris Booth Hall. Late Evening -- Meeting of Fayerweather occupiers votes to dissociates itself from demand for amnesty Day V (Saturday, April 27) 1:00 AM -- Mark Rudd appears before AHFGroup in Philosophy and declares any conciliatory effort short of including amnesty for protesting students as "bullshit" 3:00 AM -- Fayerweather occupiers realigns themselves with amnesty demand Noontime -- CU Trustee Chairman William Petersen issues stern statement backing presidential authority Afternoon -- Fayerweather Hall occupiers again favoring modification of amnesty demand, despite pressure from other buildings and SDS to hold firm Night -- Five members of AHFGroup Steering Committee set about to draw up conditions for the resolution of the crisis: includes the sociologists Immanual Wallerstein, Alan Silver and Daniel Bell, the historians David Rothman and Robert Fogelson, and later joined by the economist Peter Kenen Day VI ( Sunday, April 28) 8:00 AM -- Ad Hoc Faculty endorse
work of its steering committee, the so-called "bitter pill"
resolutions, which call for both the Administration and the occupying
students to accept the following: 8:45 AM -- AHFG leaders present
bitter pill resolutions to Provost Truman, who indicates he would resign if
they were to be adopted by faculty; 10:00 AM -- Joint Faculties meet in law school; adopt moderate resolutions proposed by Professor Peter Kenen 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 observed Day VII (Monday, April 29) Morning -- AHFG leadership informed that short of acceptance of their resolutions by the occupying students or some outside intervention the police would be coming in night; this information not shared with AHFGroup rank and file Morning -- Majority Coalition maintains its cordon around Low Library; efforts supported by Columbia College Alumni Association 10:00 AM -- Inauguration of new Barnard president, Martha Peterson 3:00 PM -- President Kirk issues equivocal response to Ad Hoc Faculty "bitter pill" resolutions, though indicates willingness to discuss all resolutions 6:00 PM -- Strike Steering Committee representing students occupying Low, Avery, Fayerweather and Mathematics categorically rejects bitter pill resolutions; so does leadership of Hamilton Hall occupation, but separately Afternoon -- Some members of AHFGroup seeking outside arbitration from Mayor John Lindsay or Governor Nelson Rockefeller 6:00 PM -- Another near confrontation between Majority Coalition and supporters of occupying students when latter attempt to resupply Low occupiers with food 11:00 PM -- Majority Coalition reluctantly accepts AHFG resolutions and withdraws its cordon from Low Library Day VIII (Tuesday, April 30) 2:00 AM – Police, coming into building through tunnels, peacefully remove black students from Hamilton Hall. 2:15 AM -- Police removal of students from Low Library nearly without incident, also coming in through tunnels 2:30 AM -- Avery Hall cleared of students by police with modest resistance and minor injuries 2:45 AM -- Fayerweather Hall cleared of students by police, despite some scattered resistance 3:00 AM -- Mathematics Hall cleared of students, with most resistance and some minor injuries 3:15 AM -- Police on Low Plaza
charge spectators gathered in South Field; resultant stampede produces the
greatest violence of the operation. Morning -- Strike Steering Committee calls for student strike, as well as the firing of President Kirk and Provost Truman 11:00 AM -- AHFGroup convened in McMillan Theater; just as they are about to vote in support of the student-called strike, AHFGroup chairman Alan Westin abandoned the chair and left meeting; those remaining reconstituted themselves as the Independent Faculty Group and voted to support a short strike. 3:00 PM -- Joint Faculties meet in St. Paul's Chapel; hear conservative resolutions defending the Administration put forward by history professor Richard Hofstadter; resolutions condemning Administration put forward by anthropologists Morton Fried and Marvin Harris; pass over both to adopt moderate resolution proposed by Law Professor Maurice Rosenberg calling for the creation of a 10-member Faculty Executive Committee. Alan Westin and law professor Michael I. Sovern elected as co-chairs. Immediate Aftermath [May 1968- September 1969] May 1 – All University classes suspended from Wednesday, May Ist to Monday, May 5th. May 2 -- Meeting of Columbia Concerned Parents in Riverside Church disrupted by fistfight between parent organizers supporting the student protesters and parents opposed May 2 -- Joint Committee on Disciplinary Affairs established by the Faculty Executive Committee; Quentin Anderson, chairman. Includes students. May 3 -- Grateful Dead band played on steps of Low Library May 4 -- Faculty Executive Committee urge Trustees to commission an outside investigation of recent events on campus. Harvard law professor Archibald Cox proposed as commission chairman. May 6 -- University reopens but much boycotting of classes through end of term; COI votes to authorize spring grades on Pass/Fail basis May 7 – Radical students split into those supporting the strike and the SDS-controlled Strike Coordinating Committee and those who identify themselves as "student power" advocates who create a new group, Students for a Restructured University May 7 -- 5-member Cox Commission holds its opening session; remains in session hearing testimony for next six weeks May 9 – Joint Committee on Disciplinary Affairs urges Trustees to drop all trespass charges against students. May 16 -- Majority of law faculty vote their opposition to student demands; condemn violent behavior May 17 -- Mark Rudd-led community activists seize CU apartment building on 114th St; police move in and make arrests May 21 -- 200 students reoccupy Hamilton to protest disciplining of 4 SDS students; 138 students arrested, including Rudd May 22 -- Hamilton Hall emptied by police, campus cleared; with some roughing up of spectators; fires in two buildings reported June 4 -- 214th Columbia Commencement held in St. John the Divine, with Richard Hofstadter delivering the commencement address; some seniors walking out; counter-commencement on Low Plaza June 5 – Democratic presidential aspirant Robert F. Kennedy killed in Los Angeles June - July -- Strike Coordinating Committee conduct Summer Liberation School on 114th Street July 18 -- English professor Carl Hovde appointed Dean of Columbia College August 23 -- President Kirk announced his retirement; Andrew Cordier named Acting President September 5 -- Acting President Cordier asks police to drop trespass charges against 400 arrested students; charges stand against 154 others, including Rudd September 12 – Meeting of Columbia
Faculties called by Executive Committee of the Faculty and its chairman,
Michael Sovern, to approve the “Interim Rules Relating to Rallies, Picketing
and Other Mass Demonstrations.” Rules approved by all but 10 or so of the 400
faculty attending the 4-hour meeting. SDS demonstrators outside McMillan
Theater threatened to disrupt the meeting but were not admitted. September -- Classes open with minimal disruption September 28 -- Crisis at Columbia [Cox Commission Report] released by Columbia Trustees in published paperback edition by Random House. Sharply critical of Administration and SDS leadership; more sympathetically disposed toward black protesters 1969 -- January -- Provost Truman resigns to become president of Mount Holyoke College April -- Campus disturbances, including attempted building occupations, halted by Acting President Cordier promptly calling in police May 28, 1969 -- First meeting of
the University Senate; By-laws adopted August - Andrew Cordier named 15th president of Columbia as search for his replacement begins September 26 – University Senate passed resolution allowing the University community to observe October 15 Moratorium on Vietnam War without penalty or prejudice. October 15 – Moratorium on Vietnam War widely observed on campus. Last revised: March 3, 2004 For comments, ram31@columbia.edu Can be continued on F7 Recent Columbia, 1970-2003 |