Columbia Students Plan For Anniversary of Strike

A decade after the 1968 disturbances at Columbia University, students there are planning a series of seminars, lectures and movies from April 6 to 20 to educate people about the strikes and protests of that year, members of the 1968 Committee, which is organizing the events, said yesterday.

The committee, made up of members of the Columbia Debate Council and staff of the Columbia Daily Spectator, hopes to "generate interaction between present students and students who were involved in the strike," the Rev. William F. Starr, Episcopal chaplain at Columbia University, said yesterday.

"We suspect that because of the way the media covered the strike, hardly anyone understands what happened in 1968," Starr said.

The committee has invited leaders of the 1968 strike to speak on April 20. They will include Juan Gonzalez, a leader of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in 1968; Bill Sales, former leader of the Afro-American Studies Association on Columbia; and Mark Rudd, chairman of the SDS in 1968 Jim Schachter, a member of the 1968 Committee, said yesterday.

A New Experience

Rudd, who went on to join the Weathermen Underground movement, will make his first public appearance outside of a courtroom since his arraignment last year, Schachter added.

"Up to 100 of the alumni of the strike may get together for a spontaneous commemorative of the events, but we decided that as students today, that is something we cannot do," Schachter said.

"We are trying not to phrase the up-coming events as a commemoration," he said, adding, "We see it more as a project in social history."

The events are planned for Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, beginning with the movie "Hearts and Minds" on April 6 and ending with a session with the strike leaders, Starr said.

Schachter said the committee was unable to organize a panel of faculty or administrators because of scheduling difficulties.

No Time For The Past

"It could not have been a worse time as far as pressure on faculty time is concerned," Carl F. Hovde, dean of Columbia College from the summer of 1968--after the strike--until 1972, and presently professor of English, said yesterday.

"I think it is a very good idea to take stock of that part of our history," Hovde said, adding, "One always does these things for the sake of the present."

He said he had no doubt that more faculty would have participated if the series of events had been held in the fall. "It is not necessary to have the events on the anniversary of the strikes," he added.

Starr said he believes the administrators do not want to look at the events of 1968.

Starr, who as chaplain was in one of the student-occupied buildings during the strike, is the only member of the 1968 Committee who was directly involved idn the strike.

The committee has invited students from other universities to attend the events.

Starr added that the committee hoped to help people understand why the events in 1968 occurred and to look at the effects they had on subsequent years.