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On April 23, 1968 students at Columbia University in New York began a demonstration protesting university involvement in the US war effort and corporate university manipulation of the surrounding community, including the seizure of public parks for its private purposes. The events led to a general student strike involving the occupation of 5 university buildings for seven days and the eventual arrest of over 1000 students following an invasion by police units. While I was not a member of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) or the Columbia Strike Coordinating Committee, I was deeply involved in the occupation of the buildings and the violent conclusion. For years afterwards, much of my work tied back to this formative event.
On this page are two of the primary documents resulting from these events. While the occupation ended following the mass arrests, the impact of the Columbia Strike echoed on for decades in world culture.
"Why We Strike", published by the Columbia Strike Committee during the course of the strike. It explains the "six demands" and how they relate to the larger military/industrial institutions within which Columbia University was embedded.
Columbia Liberated, published in September 1968 at the beginning of the school year following the strike, recapitulates the events, the background to the issues, and the political analysis of what had gone on so far. It's intent was to keep the movement and the issues alive.
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