Barnard Grad Reflects on Past Protests, Discusses Political Activism

In the first of many 40th anniversary commemorations of the 1968 protests, Estelle Freedman, BC ’69, addressed a crowd of roughly 100 in the James Room Wednesday night about her struggle to build an identity in the midst of that politically tumultuous year.

A prominent feminist writer, professor, and historian, Freedman gave her the 2008 Virginia C. Gildersleeve Lecture on “Coming of Age at Barnard, 1968.” The Gildersleeve Lecture is an annual speech given at Barnard, the subject of which varies from year to year.

Having entered Barnard as a self-proclaimed “conventional Jewish girl” who always “believed what [she] read in the New York Times,” Freedman said that her political and social foundations were shaken to the core by the divisive events of the late 1960s, such as the Vietnam War and the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy.

Freedman expressed “distrust of [the] chaos and disorder” that was inherent to the anti-war protests and the outrage of the Columbia student body about issues such as gender, construction of a new gymnasium, and housing restrictions. Yet when forced to decide whether to remain moderate or to join many of her classmates in their demonstrations against school and government authority, she sided with the protesters.

“In that moment, I knew that I had just parted from the world in which I had grown up,” she said. “This was the first time that I placed myself on the line as a participant, rather than an observer, of history.”

Freedman emphasized the role that Barnard played in her evolution into an outspoken feminist and her belief that defiance is justified and often necessary.

“Fortunately I had the privilege of navigating the dilemmas of questioning authority from Barnard, where faculty modeled the intellectual and political engagement,” she said. “This college made bearable the difficult passage of coming of age and set me on the course of becoming a scholar and teacher.”

Stephanie Browne, BC ’10, said that she found Freedman’s stories of political activism particularly captivating because she believes that there is a lack of such passion today.

“Compared to the ’60s, activism on campus today is kind of a farce,” she said. “It’s acting in the tradition of political activism in the University’s history and not necessarily a real passionate response to anything going on. ... We’re kind of lacking in a real heartfelt connection to any issues going on in our society today.”

Barnard College Associate Provost Flora Davidson, also BC ’69, emphasized the lecture’s larger role.

“This is the most important way to commemorate Women’s History Month and the 40th anniversary of 1968,” she said,” which was a pivotal turning point nationally, internationally, and locally at Barnard and Columbia.”

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