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The 1960’s were known across the United States as the decade of social change and student led protests. Young people formed a crucial majority in the fight for social change due to the post World War 2 “Baby Boom”. Young people in both high schools and universities were taught that they could be the voice of reason and that their actions could, and would make a difference if they decided to take a stand. Student activism played a key role in bringing antiwar ideas to the broader public. An activist group, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) arose and immediately became an integral part of the New Left movement. SDS was founded on the idea of a participatory democracy, where the people take part in making the decisions that affect their lives. The Port Huron Statement strongly related to students as it stated, "Men have unrealized potential for self-cultivation, self-direction, self-understanding and creativity. It is this potential that we regard as crucial and to which we appeal…"1 One of the main components that SDS campaigned against was the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. SDS grew increasingly militant, especially about issues relating to the war, such as the drafting of students. Tactics included the occupation of university and college administration buildings on campuses across the country.2
On April 23, 1968 SDS sponsored a protest at Columbia University. Tom Hayden, one of the student strikers at the Columbia University protest, reported in an interview with Third World Newsreel that “There was rising awareness of the fact that students themselves, everywhere in the country, had no rights, no real power on campus, were treated like children.”3 Over a thousand students launched a demonstration in protest of the university’s connection to the Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA). What was supposed to be a non-confrontational protest quickly shifted into one of the longest and largest student led protests in the United States. Columbia students seized five of the campus buildings for a week and after negotiations failed the university sent police officers in. The officers arrested almost 700 students in their endeavors. This protest served as a catalyst for years of national unrest, as campuses around the country erupted in radicalization. Both SDS and the Columbia protest set a precedent for campuses as students today are granted the right to freely express their ideas and beliefs.
1"Primary Documents Perspectives in American Social History." In Vietnam War Era: People and Perspectives, edited by Michael Hall, 204. Santa Barbara: Library of Congress, 2009.
2The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. "Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) (American Organization)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. September 25, 2013. Accessed November 10, 2014. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/569902/Students-for-a-Democratic-Society-SDS.
3 Goodman, Amy, and Juan Gonzalez. "Forty Years After Historic Columbia Strike, Four Leaders of 1968 Student Uprising Reflect." Democracy Now! April 5, 2008. Accessed November 11, 2014. http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/25/forty_years_after_historic_columbia_strike.
On April 23, 1968 SDS sponsored a protest at Columbia University. Tom Hayden, one of the student strikers at the Columbia University protest, reported in an interview with Third World Newsreel that “There was rising awareness of the fact that students themselves, everywhere in the country, had no rights, no real power on campus, were treated like children.”3 Over a thousand students launched a demonstration in protest of the university’s connection to the Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA). What was supposed to be a non-confrontational protest quickly shifted into one of the longest and largest student led protests in the United States. Columbia students seized five of the campus buildings for a week and after negotiations failed the university sent police officers in. The officers arrested almost 700 students in their endeavors. This protest served as a catalyst for years of national unrest, as campuses around the country erupted in radicalization. Both SDS and the Columbia protest set a precedent for campuses as students today are granted the right to freely express their ideas and beliefs.
1"Primary Documents Perspectives in American Social History." In Vietnam War Era: People and Perspectives, edited by Michael Hall, 204. Santa Barbara: Library of Congress, 2009.
2The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. "Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) (American Organization)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. September 25, 2013. Accessed November 10, 2014. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/569902/Students-for-a-Democratic-Society-SDS.
3 Goodman, Amy, and Juan Gonzalez. "Forty Years After Historic Columbia Strike, Four Leaders of 1968 Student Uprising Reflect." Democracy Now! April 5, 2008. Accessed November 11, 2014. http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/25/forty_years_after_historic_columbia_strike.