Protests of 1968

On the 40th anniversary of the Columbia student protests, alumni returned to campus for a series of events to commemorate the dramatic events of 1968 and debate their relevance today.

A great debate continues to be waged over the legacy of the ’60s. Bitter neoconservatives talk as if the barbarians have captured the academy and pharisaical liberal critics dismiss these events as the narcissistic yearnings of a spoiled generation. Those of us who participated in those events have a profoundly different view.

I am so very bored with the 1968 unpleasantness, which people have been talking about more or less incessantly for the last 40 years—but dues have to be paid. This week: praise. Next time: scorn.

We participated in the protests of 1968, and we are dismayed and angry but not surprised about the recent noose incident.