A Student Government Association town hall meeting Thursday evening provided an arena for conversation about how activism has changed in the past 40 years as Barnard Dean Dorothy Denburg, BC ’70, and Karla Spurlock-Evans, BC ’71, reminisced on their experiences as students during the infamous 1968 protests.
The town-hall discussion—presented by SGA in association with the New York City Civic Engagement Program—attracted an audience of over 100, the largest turnout for an SGA event this year, according to VP of Communications Kate McNamara, BC ’08.
Denburg said she was part of the “third ring of activists,” since she was not directly involved, and called the riots “a very frightening thing,” adding that campus activism has not been the same since 1968.
“1968 represented a unique moment ... in which social and sexual mores were changing,” Denburg said. “We have never since seen all of those variables collide against each other in the same way.”
Spurlock-Evans, now dean of multicultural affairs at Trinity College, spoke about her experience as an African-American student at Barnard in 1968, describing the riots as “the most pivotal experience in my life.” Spurlock-Evans—who spent eight days protesting in Hamilton Hall—said she was a “reluctant activist,” explaining that she was at first tricked into going to Hamilton Hall by a friend who said her favorite band would be playing there that day.
“I was embarrassed and humiliated into staying in the building ... but I could have left,” Spurlock-Evans said. “It ended up being a transformative experience for me.”
After the speeches concluded, the floor was opened to a forum on the changes in student activism since 1968. Many students at the meeting said they felt there was a lack of solidarity among student activists today. “We’re all part of so many different communities now that it is hard to come together for one cause at a time,” Jamie Prem, BC ’09 and president of the junior class, said.
The discussion also centered on the specific role of Barnard students in activism at Columbia. “I think it’s quite different being a Barnard student that is an activist,” Crystal Tang, BC ’08, said. “You get a different response from administrators [at Columbia] ... They think that they don’t really have to deal with you.”
McNamara said that, overall, the event was “really powerful.”
“I’m so proud of all of the students who were here tonight,” McNamara said. “This event gives me hope that we will branch out and take initiatives on issues that will affect not just ourselves, but also the greater community and the world.”
Discussion of the 1968 protests will continue with the Virginia E. Gildersleeve Lecture on March 26, which will feature Estelle Freedman, BC ’69 a Stanford professor, speaking on the theme of “Coming of Age at Barnard, 1968.”