In 1968, protests forced Columbia University to change graduation. Here’s what happened next

NB: I am proud to say I belong to the 1968 generation. 1968 was one of a very few moments of radical utopia in the twentieth century. We protested the imperialist war in Vietnam then; and those of us still alive will protest injustice today. I salute the students in the USA and all over the world who are resisting the Israeli state’s genocidal activities in Gaza. And I ask all those who respect truth and human dignity to counter the vicious propaganda unleashed by the Western establishment. We are not antisemitic, you are. The Palestinian Arabs are being made scapegoats for the horrific violence of the Holocaust. Speak the truth. Stop the killing. DS

By Chelsea Bailey, CNN

Columbia University’s graduating class of 1968 was no stranger to protests. The college years of its student body were marked by the anti-Vietnam War movement and the fight for civil rights.

In the spring of that year, a series of events – including the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – inflamed long-simmering tensions between students and school administrators and in April, the campus erupted as students occupied buildings during a “strike” that lasted more than a week.

In the fallout of the strikes, then-university president Grayson Kirk moved the 1968 commencement ceremony from its traditional location on campus to the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, a few blocks away.

Activist Mark Rudd, center, president of Students for a Democratic Society, addresses students at Columbia University on May 3, 1968. Hulton Archive/Getty Images

It is spring once more, 56 years later, and Columbia finds itself at a similar crossroads now that the administration canceled the class of 2024’s university-wide graduation ceremony in response to student protests over Israel’s against Hamas in Gaza. Where Columbia goes from here could depend on whether it hears the echoes of past protests.

Columbia University’s library details the events that led to 1968’s controversial commencement in an online exhibit called “1968: Columbia in Crisis.” In the months leading up to graduation, protests roiled the university’s campus as students from various groups led demonstrations against what they perceived to be the administration’s racist policies and pro-war stance.

In April 1967, a dispute at a US Marine Corps recruitment event sparked an “hour-long melee of fist fights and name-calling,” according to the Columbia Spectator. The brawl led Kirk to ban all demonstrations and protests within campus buildings. Students who violated the ban faced “disciplinary action and possibly dismissal,” according to the Spectator, but it didn’t stem the growing tide of disillusionment and frustration among Columbia’s student body….

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/11/us/columbia-commencement-protests-1968-reaj/index.html

*****************************************************************

DOUG NEISS – Military might, market ideology and moral posturing: A toxic combination that has poisoned America

Victor Jara murder: ex-military officers sentenced in Chile for 1973 death

More Evidence Regarding Henry Kissinger’s Lies About Chile

In Gaza Protest, Columbia Students Occupy Hamilton Hall, Site of Historic 1968 Takeover

I’ve Covered Violent Crackdowns on Protests for 15 Years. This Police Overreaction Was Unhinged

Large police presence at UCLA as protests disrupt colleges nationwide

6-Year-Old Gaza Girl Hind Rajab Found Dead with Massacred Family, Rescue Workers

The Death of Liberal Zionism

The Gaza genocide as explicit policy: Michael Hudson names all names

The End of Innocence