Amid the plethora of events commemorating the 40th anniversary of the 1968 student demonstrations, faculty and students gathered yesterday to discuss political action and civil liberties.
The panel, titled “Students vs. the State: Radical Action & the Defense of Liberty,” featured speakers with perspectives on activism that were for the most part academic as well as experiential: former Weather Underground member Cathy Wilkerson, former Students for a Democratic Society president and Journalism School professor Todd Gitlin, associate professor of anthropology Neni Panourgia, and New York Civil Liberties Union executive director Donna Lieberman.
Amy Nazer, CC ’09 and president of Columbia’s chapter of America Civil Liberties Union, moderated the discussion.
“In light of the anniversary of the occupation of Hamilton and issues that have been bouncing around campus, we felt that it was time to look back,” Nazer said.
In discussing student activism, Panourgia referenced last fall’s controversial hunger strike, which she praised for bringing up questions that were “not only legitimate, but needed and required.”
Wilkerson, who was herself a controversial activist in the 1960s and ’70s, said that for students of that era, “The movement was about values, putting those values forth and modeling what those values looked like. We struggled with the vision.”
Wilkerson called on today’s students to continue the dialogue begun in 1968. “It falls to your generation to be part of that process of generating that vision,” she said.
Lieberman echoed the sentiment, arguing that when it comes to activism, “students on college campuses represent enormous potential.”
“Some people say this is a sleeping generation, but it’s not,” Lieberman said. “This is very much a generation that is trying very desperately to do good and is doing good.”
The panelists overwhelming agreed that student activism was necessary and potentially effective, but emphasized the importance of context. Lieberman argued that “political action is always contentious,” but noted that “there’s a difference between civil disobedience and violence.”
When the panel opened up for audience questions, the issue of the draft came up. Gitlin admitted its importance in sparking the intense activism of 1968, but dismissed the notion that the draft was the sole impetus for student protests during the Vietnam War. He also advocated reinstating the draft, calling it “a matter of justice,” adding that “this is a matter of social inequality.”
By the end of the discussion, some still had no clear answer about what works.
“Of course violence doesn’t work, we know that. But I don’t know what does. ... I’m a putting a question mark there,” Panourgia said.
“I thought it was a great panel,” Christina Olenick, CC ’10, said. “Things have changed a lot. I think that being an activist, and activism, is more stigmatized now.”
“It was very interesting to get their perspectives on the current situation, because there are a lot of parallels,” Kevin McKenna, CC ’10, added.
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