The Majority
Coalition formed the week of April 23, 1968 as a response to the protesters taking over
buildings. The name was chosen when a conservative student group circulated a petition
stating their opposition to the strike and got 2,000 signatures. This gave them the right,
they felt, to call themselves the Majority Coalition. Conservative groups had existed
before the '68 strike but did not seem to have a strong presence on campus. As James Kunen
documented in The Strawberry Statement, they "never could get their shit
together: Students for a Free Campus, Students for Columbia University, Students for the
Defense of Property Rights, Majority Coalition. All powerless because totally
disorganized. Called "jocks" by the pukes" (Kunen, 17). A group of
conservative students, before they were known as the Majority Coalition, planned to stage
a counter demonstration at SDS's April 23 protest. The Tuesday, April 22 edition of the Spectator
reported that a leaflet put out by the ad hoc group Students for a Free Campus, which was
"formed in October to promote open-recruiting on campus, urged students who were
unsympathetic to the SDS cause to be present at the demonstration and to be
'prepared'" (Spectator, 1). The leaflet was entitled "TIRED?" and it voiced
the aggravated feelings of conservative students on campus. The pamphlet began with the
question "Tired of a two-standard University that gives virtual immunity to SDS
agitators while you are subject to immediate suspension if you toss a paper airplane out
of a window?" and ended with the statement, "Can democracy survive at Columbia
University? Will Mark Rudd be our next dean? Be there on the 23rd--prepared" (Up
Against the Ivy Wall, 41). Throughout the eight day revolt, the Majority Coalition
continually staged a counter demonstration that at times could have escalated to violence
between the two groups. The Majority Coalition was in favor of calling the police to end
the strike. For more information on the Majority Coalition, see our classmates Derrick and Jason's page on the
role of the Majority Coalition in the strikes of '68.