Outcome

By 5 am on April 30, 1968, the primary protests had come to a halt. 1,000 police officers had been involved. 132 students, 4 faculty members, and 12 police officers were injured, (though these injuries were mostly cuts and bruises.) 720 students had been arrested, largely for criminal trespass and disorderly conduct. 
         The University was also left with a literal mess to clean up. Severe damage had been done to furniture, windows, etc. Even the debris resulting from the eight-day siege, like dirty blankets and half-eaten food, was apparent everywhere. 
         But was the protest successful? Most would answer yes.
         The protestors at Columbia achieved both of their goals. Columbia both dissociated itself from the IDA, and ended their plans for the construction of the controversial gym in Morningside Park. 
         The protests also made a lasting impact on Columbia University as an educational institution. Many students that had been involved in the protests 
         In the grand scheme of things, the conflict at Columbia University was really a conflict between the “New Left” and the old structure. While the students at Columbia took issue with several specific problems they found with the University, they were really taking issue with what they saw to be the root of these problems: racism, imperialism, and authoritarianism. The 1960’s and 70’s were a controversial time in US culture, and the Columbia University Siege was only a small piece of a greater pattern of American youth lashing out against establishment and authority. The students at Columbia made Columbia’s administration into the society that they wished to lash out against, and thus their protests were a symbolic power struggle between the new, liberal American youth and the traditional, established society. 

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