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AROUND THE QUADS

Conference, Photo Exhibit To Mark 40th Anniversary of Spring ’68

The proposed gym in Morningside Park, protests over the war in Vietnam, students occupying campus buildings and then being cleared from those buildings — for one week in April 1968, the eyes of the world were on Columbia.

To mark the 40th anniversary of those historic events, a group of alumni, working with students and faculty, is organizing a three-day conference, scheduled for April 24–27, to reexamine the protests in the context of what was happening in 1968 in the country and around the world. The University is not sponsoring the conference, but it is permitting the use of campus venues for the event.

Meanwhile, there will be an exhibition of archival photographs from Spring ’68, “1968: Columbia in Crisis,” in the Chang Octagon Exhibition Room of the Rare Book & Manuscript Library on the sixth floor of Butler Library. The exhibition will run from March 17–June 6 during RBML’s normal business hours, Monday 9:00 a.m.–7:45 p.m. and Tuesday–Friday 9:00 a.m.–4:45 p.m. The exhibit is closed on weekends.

Planners of the conference say it will “provide a chance for people to reconnect, reconcile and reflect. And it will engage current students in discussions about issues of war, race and the role of the university — issues that still resonate 40 years later.”

Among the events planned for the conference, according to organizers, are a “living history” of the occupation and strike, with participants from all sides offering first-hand accounts; a reading by writers who were at Columbia in 1968, including Paul Auster ’69, ’70 GSAS, Thulani Davis ’70 Barnard, Mary Gordon ’71 Barnard, Hilton Obenzinger ’69 and Ntozake Shange ’70 Barnard; panels on race, feminism, the ethics of protest, and the legacy of 1968; and an opening session featuring Kathleen Cleaver, Tom Hayden, Tony Judt and Nicholas von Hoffman. Other confirmed speakers include Ti-Grace Atkinson ’90 GSAS, ’91 GSAS; Akeel Bilgrami; Ray Brown ’70; Lewis Cole ’68; Juan Gonzalez ’68; Peniel Joseph; Michael Klare ’63, ’68 GSAS; Manning Marable; Frances Fox Piven; Mark Rudd ’69; Catharine Stimpson ’61 GSAS, ’67 GSAS; and Kendall Thomas.

For more information, log onto the conference Web site.

Finally, CCT is compiling reminiscences from alumni and others who were on campus during Spring ’68. Submissions should center around three themes:

• How did Spring ’68 change the way you look at the world?
• Is there one image or event that sums it up for you?
• What did you learn, and how did you apply it to your life?

Please express your thoughts in 250 words or fewer. CCT will publish them in its May/June issue and on the CCT Web site, but may not be able to publish all that are submitted. Please send responses to CCT editor Alex Sachare ’71: as801@columbia.edu.

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