Columbia University Protests of 1968 - Aftermath

Aftermath

The protests achieved two of their stated goals. Columbia disaffiliated from the IDA and scrapped the plans for the controversial gym, building a subterranean physical fitness center under the north end of campus instead. The gym's plans were eventually used by Princeton University for the expansion of its athletic facilities.

At least 30 Columbia students were suspended by the administration as a result of the protests.

At the start of the protests, professor Carl Hovde served on a faculty group that established a joint committee composed of administrators, faculty and students that established recommendations for addressing disciplinary action for the students involved in the protests. Appointed as dean while the protests were continuing, Hovde stated that he felt that the "sit-ins and the demonstrations were not without cause" and opposed criminal charges being filed against the students by the university, though he did agree that the protesters "were acting with insufficient cause".

Many of the Class of ’68 walked out of their graduation and held a countercommencement on Low Plaza with a picnic following at Morningside Park, the place where it all began. The student demonstration that happened on Columbia’s campus in 1968 proved that universities do not exist in a bubble and are, in fact, susceptible to the social and economic strife that surrounds them. These 1968 protests left Columbia University a much changed place, with, as historian Todd Gitlin describes, “growing militancy, growing isolation growing hatred among the competing factions with their competing imaginations. The Columbia building occupations and accompanying demonstrations, in which several thousand people participated, paralyzed the operations of the whole university and became “the most powerful and effective student protest in modern American history.” A wide variety of effects, both positive and negative, occurred in the wake of the demonstrations.

Students involved in the protests continued their involvement in protest politics in varied forms affecting the movement at large. Their many activities included forming communes and creating urban social organizations. Several Columbia SDS members combined with the New York Black Panther Party to create Weatherman, a group dedicated to the violent overthrow of the government.

Columbia became much more liberal in its policies as a result of the student demonstrations Classes were canceled for the rest of the week following the end of the protest. Additionally, a policy was soon established that allowed students to receive passing grades in all classes with no additional work. In the place of traditional class, students held “liberation classes, rallies, concerts outside” which included appearances by Allen Ginsberg and the Grateful Dead.

Columbia suffered quite a bit in the aftermath of the student protest. Applications, endowments, and grants for the university declined significantly in the following years. “It took at least 20 years to fully recover.” The protests left Columbia in a bad spot financially as many potential students chose to attend other universities and some alumni refused to donate any more to the school. Many believe that protest efforts at Columbia were also responsible for pushing higher education further toward the liberal left. These critics, such as Allan Bloom, a University of Chicago professor, believed, “American universities were no longer places of intellectual and academic debate, but rather places of ‘political correctness’ and liberalism.”

Racial divisions had also been strengthened as a result of the protests, made worse by the separate deal that the administration, to prevent a riot in Harlem, made with the black students of the SAS who had occupied Hamilton Hall. These black activists were permitted to exit the building through underground tunnels before the New York Police Department came. Black students maintained their own separate organization with a particular agenda: to foster the relationship between Columbia and the Harlem community and modify the curriculum to include black studies courses.

A University Senate was established as a result of the protests. This council, with representation from the faculty, administration and student population, gave students the opportunity to positively restructure the university. It was a way to produce positive dialogue between students and authority figures. From here on out, university administration would be attentive to student concerns about university policies. Another result of the protests was an improved relationship with the Harlem community. The university was forced to approach neighboring Harlem with a certain respect. Instead of continuing expansion into Harlem, Columbia shifted its focus for expansion to the Riverside Park area.

Columbia’s relationship with the United States military and federal government was forever changed. There would be no more federal sponsorship of classified weapons research and international studies that had been occurring since World War II, as Columbia severed ties to the Institute for Defense Analysis, which had been created in 1955 to foster the connection between Columbia University and the defense establishment. In addition, the ROTC left the Morningside Heights campus as CIA and armed forces recruiters.

According to Stefan Bradley in his book Harlem vs. Columbia University: Black Student Power in the Late 1960s, through the results of the protests, the SAS showed that Black Power, which refers to the ability for African-American students and black working-class community members to work together despite class differences, on an issue affecting African-Americans, could succeed as it had done in the Columbia University protests of 1968.