Background

         In 1968, Columbia University was a relatively large university, comprised of about 17,500 students. The University was immersed in the dense, urban population of New York, and looked straight down into one of the most impoverished ghettos in the US: Harlem. This would soon be the site of revolutionary unrest: one of the largest and longest student revolts in the history of the United States.

         1968 was a radical year for young people in the United States. The “New Left” was growing in number and influence all the time, and these young Americans were beginning to realize how much power and weight they truly possessed. The series of protests at Columbia University beginning on April 23, 1968 served as an excellent illustration of this attitude. Hundreds of Columbia students gathered on their school’s campus to protest the both links that they had discovered between the institution and the Vietnam War, and the school’s plans to build a gym in Morningside Park.  

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