Give me APUSH or give me death!
Claire Huddleston
University of Columbia Siege
OVERVIEW
The Universtiy of Columbia Siege of 1968 began on April 23. The protests and riots took place inside and outside buildings at Columbia University in New York (Brinkley, The Unfinished Nation). The groups of individuals involved in the siege were the students of the university and other community supporters (Columbia 1968). The SDS, Students for a Democratic Society, and the SAS, Student Afro-American Society, were the major student associations involved in the protests (1968: Columbia in Crisis). The students nonviolently occupied several buildings on the campus for about a week, protesting Columbia's involvement in reasearch and weaponry for the Vietnam War. The students were also wanting the university to stop the construction of a gym in Morningside Park (1968 Columbia Protests...).
SUMMARY
The protests of the Columbia University students began with the opposition to building a university gym in a local park, Morningside Park. Citizens of the area, black activists from Harlem, and students, both black and white, did not support the construction of the gym because they believed the local residents would get limited access to the new building, even though it was being build on public land (1968 Columbia Protests...). About 150 people marched to the construction site, tore down a piece of the fencing, then moved on to Hamilton Hall, where they occupied the building and took a dean of the university as hostage.
Many students at the university also opposed the school's involvement in the Vietnam War. In only a few days, the students had occupied five buildings (1968 Columbia Protests...). When the school realized that the protestors were not willing to negotiate, they called in police forces. Over 700 people were arrested (Columbia University 1968), and more than 100 people were injured in the riots (1968 Columbia Protests...). The arrests and injuries led to a strike that spread across the campus. The university shut down for the rest of the semester (1968 Columbia Protests...).
CONSEQUENCES
These protests at Columbia set a precedent for the counterculture of the late 60s and 70s. After the Siege at the University of Columbia, no university across the nation was safe from unrest, disruption, or riots (Brinkley).
This protests did have some successes. The SAS organization of students was reasonable and understanding with their requests to the administration, and the construction of the gym at Morningside Park was abandoned (1968: Columbia in Crisis). However, overall, the strike was not successful. The university did not stop with all involvement in the War, and there were still issues of race within the community. The strikes and sieges were shut down with several hundred arrests.
These protests showed the main issues woven throughout society in the 1960s and 70s. The students focused on protesting the Vietnam War and the poor race relations between blacks and whites in their community. The two topics were major issues throughout several decades of our nation's history. The vast size of these protests, the unification of the students and the activists of the community, and the array of topics for these protests all contributed to the uniqueness of the University of Columbia Siege.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adler, Margot. "1968 Columbia Protests Still Stir Passion." NPR. NPR News, 23 Apr. 2008. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.
Brinkley, Alan. "Chapter Thirty: The Crisis of Authority." The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People. Sixth ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 789-90. Print.
"Columbia University 1968." Columbia University 1968 RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.
"1968: Columbia in Crisis." Columbia University Libraries Online Exhibitions. Columbia University Libraries, 1 Aug. 2008. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.
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