Terry Robbins - Jesse James Gang (1968)

Jesse James Gang (1968)

Working in partnership with Jim Mellen from the Revolutionary Youth Movement, Ayers, Oughton, and Robbins began a new faction of the Ann Arbor SDS set out to transform SDS’s identity in their area. They were excited by the idea of militancy and in the words of writer Jeremy Varon, they used “confrontational action, in your face politics and their boisterous, even anarchic, spirit to help build large SDS chapters at colleges and universities everywhere." Robbins and the other founding members recognized that the politics of the old SDS did not command any appeal to their younger student members. The gang felt that the younger students were now being attracted by culture and not by politics. They were in search for validation in their anger over the war. As a main member of the gang, Robbins and the others embarked on a project that included: classroom disruptions, burning exams, public critiques of courses/and professors, and the disruption of the upcoming presidential elections.