Three Day Rebellion on Campus

From the archives of April 26, 1968: The following is part of a web-only series featuring select articles from the Spectator during the spring of 1968.

For the past three days, the Columbia campus has been in a virtual state of rebellion, as left wing students and black militants seized control of four University buildings.

By late last night, black students and community supporters had barricaded Hamilton Hall, more than 200 white students had occupied President Grayson Kirk's offices in Low Library, and allied groups of student demonstrators had taken control of Avery and Fayerweather Halls.

The University administration responded to the student seige by calling in New York City policemen, who patrolled the campus Wednesday and Thursday. Last night, the administration effectively sealed off the campus after Harlem community groups announced that they would lead a rally to College walk at 7:30 p.m.

The events of the last three days have been quite confused and many unsubstantiated rumors have circulated around the campus. The following report is a brief chronology of the major events at Columbia on Tuesday and Wednesday:

TUESDAY, APRIL 23
Noon-A rally sponsored by Students for a Democratic Society began at the sundial and a number of speakers from SDS and a number of speakers from SDS and Student Afro-American Society addressed the assembled crowd of five hundred. More than fifty counter-demonstrators picketed against SDS in front of Low Library.

12:30 p.m.-The SDS and SAS protesters, who had planned to demonstrate inside Low to protest the University's "political suppression, racist policies," and ties with the Institute for Defense Analyses., rejected an administration offer to meet the Vice President Truman in McMillin Theater. Instead, they proceeded to the now-locked Low Library.

12:45 p.m.-When the demonstrators were turned back by campus guards at the security entrance to Low, the demonstration became disorganized and three hundred of the protesters left the campus and walked down 116 St. to the site of the proposed Columbia Gymnasium.

When the students arrived at the gym site, they began to tear down sections of the dence surrounding construction. New York City policemen, who converged on the area, fought demonstrators and arrested one student, Fred Wilson '70, charging him with two felonies and misdemeanors. Wilson was released late Tuesday night.

1:00 p.m.-The gym demonstration subsided, the demonstrators were joined on Morningside Drive by three hundred re-organized supporters, and the group returned to the sundial.

1:25 p.m.-Mark Rudd '69, chairman of SDS, told the crowd at the sundial that, "We're now going to start now by taking a hostage." The students marched into Hamilton Hall, lured Acting Dean Henry S. Coleman into his office and then surrounded the College administrator, asking him to reply to a list of demands.

Dean Coleman said, "I have no intention of meeting any demands under conditions such as these." He then entered his office with Proctor William A. Kahn.

2:40 p.m-A steering committee, formed during the demonstration inside Hamilton, announced six demands, which were later adopted by demonstrators in other buildings.

4:15 p.m.-The demonstrators voted to keep Dean Coleman in his office. The group inside Hamilton now numbered more than three hundred.

4:30 p.m.-Dean Coleman emerged from his office to announce Vice President David B. Truman had informed him by phone that he would meet the demonstrators in Wollman to discuss their grievances. The offer was quickly rejected, Dean Coleman returned to his office, and the students began to make preparations for an all-night stay.

8:00 p.m.-A SNCC organizer, one of the many militant black community supporters who joined the Hamilton protest through the night, took the microphone and announced that unless the demands were met, "we're going to do whatever is necessary to get them met. The black community is taking over."

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24
5:00 a.m.-The comments of the SNCC leader turned out to be prophetic, as Rudd, clearly shaken, announced to the white students in Hamilton that the black demonstrators had asked them to leave.

6:15 a.m.-More than three hundred white demonstrators filed out of Hamilton, leaving the building entirely in the control of the blacks. The demonstrators proceeded to Low, where more than one hundred black students broke into the building, entered President Kirk's offices, and barricaded the doors.

6:45 a.m.-More than fifty of New York City's policemen converged on the campus and nearly thirty of them moved toward Low. The police had been called a few minutes previous by a University official.

When the commander of the group of police announced that all students in the building should be considered "prisoners," many students jumped out of the back windows of Low to escape. At no point were any arrests made.

7:00 a.m.-Vice President Truman conferred by phone with President Kirk and discussed the problem of trying to remove Dean Coleman from Hamilton.

10:00 a.m.-The city police moved freely around the campus throughout the morning, but they never attempted to gain control of Hamilton or the Low offices. As students and faculty members began their morning businesses and found that Hamilton and Low had been shut down, the situation on campus became very confused.

1:00 p.m.-Heavy rain began to fall making observation and communications very difficult. Prominent black leaders, including Roy Innis, assistant director of national CORE, moved between Hamilton and Low, presumably trying to resolve the impasse between the black occupiers and the University administration.

3:00 p.m.-The faculty of Columbia College called an emergency meeting in Havemeyer Hall and later passed several recommendations to the administration. The faculty asked for an "immediate suspension of on-site construction of the gymnasium facility in Morningside Park." They also asked that the University not grant amnesty to protesters.

3:30 p.m.-A number of SDS sympathizers stood in front of the building. Dean Coleman, who had been in Hamilton for 26 hours, treated during his unscheduled over-night stay. He proceeded hurriedly to the faculty meeting.

3:50 p.m.-While many pro-SDS and pro-SAS students demonstrated in front of Hamilton, a large group of counter-demonstrators grouped behind them in Van Amsquad. During one speech by an SDS member, two eggs were thrown from a window in Hartley Hall.

Associate Dean Alexander B. Platt tried to clear a path between two opposing factions, but many people continued to mill around the front of Hamilton.

4:00 p.m.-Dean Platt received reports that a number of black community residents were planning to march on Columbia and he tried to clear the area around Hamilton. He stated that the University is planning to seal off the campus for the night.

8:00 p.m.-University officials entered Hamilton and offered the black demonstrators a compromise proposal by which the blacks could leave Hamilton and the University would assure them that they would not be suspended. The black students and community leaders rejected the proposal.

9:00 p.m.-The campus was sealed off, although the CORE rally was postponed because of the rain. The police, who had moved off the campus at approximately 2:00 p.m., returned and surrounded Low, preventing students from scaling the walls to join the group.

10:00 p.m.-Students from the School of Architecture refused to leave Avery Hall when the University ordered the building closed. They occupied the building, but allowed free access to it.

THURSDAY, APRIL 25
2:00 a.m.-Students moved into Fayerweather Hall and occupied that building. They set up barricades at the front doors to the building and, at one point later in the morning, struggled to maintain their blockade against a large group of counter-demonstrators, mostly athletes.