Protestors Roam Offices in Low

From the archives of April 25, 1968: The following is part of a web-only series featuring select articles from the Spectator during the spring of 1968. Read the next article in this series here: Three Day Rebellion on Campus.

At 6 a.m. this morning, the white students participating in the Hamilton Hall demonstration left the building at the request of the black students and in the words of Mark Rudd, chairman of SDS, went "looking for their own building."

The group of approximately 250 students immediately headed for Low Library , the target of the previous day's march. The protestors, led by Rudd, knocked down the door to the southeast entrance and flowed past the University security office into the rotunda.

Once on the rotunda level, Rudd explained that the black students had asked the whites to leave because they had not been "solid" in their stand.

Rudd stated that, "for some of us, our academic careers are ruined," and that the only thing they could do was "to take a stand, and try to win our fight."

The forcing of the door and the sound of breaking glass at first shocked some of the students and drew signs of disapproval. But the act of smashing one of the thin, rectangular windows in the door of President Kirk's office to gain entrance to the Suite did not evoke a similar reaction.

The students poured into the office and began to use the telephones, experiment with the office equipment and help themselves to Kirk's cigars and fruit.

As quickly as they moved into the office, they moved out. The group reassembled in the center of the rotunda to discuss their next move.

Some advocated leaving, others wanted to stage a sit-in in the middle of the rotunda, while still another group suggested that they attempt to close off all entrances to the building.

The students finally accepted a proposal from Rudd barricade themselves in Kirk's office, and one hundred fifty of the protesters returned to the suite and began to barricade the doors with office furniture.

The students then broke up into two discussion groups, to plan the next stage of the Low sit-in. One group gathered in Kirk's private office and another formed in one of the large secretarial offices.

The protesters could not come to a clear-cut decision as to the kind of stand they would take when the police came.

Except for these two talks there was no coordinated activity in the offices. Students wandered through the eight rooms lounging on the plush chairs and couches, and peering out the window looking for police.

Some students then began to rummage through the files, looking for confidential information about the University's relations with the government. There was, however, no vandalism per se. The word was passed not to maliciously destroy property.

At approximately 7:30 a.m., the protesters were told the police would soon break in. Roughly 130 students jumped from the windows to avoid arrest. In the midst of the confusion, a second meeting was held, and one student expressed the sentiments the twenty who chose to remain all day in Low the rest of the day: "We ran from the gym site, we ran from Hamilton, let's not run from here-let's make our stand."

The police tore down one of the barricades at 7:45, closed off all the rooms, and limited the demonstrators to one of the secretary's offices.