Timeline of Events > Timeline
Original calendar of events proposed by SDS for the week of April 22 to April 27, 1968.
TUESDAY APRIL 23
Noon SDS Sundial Rally
12:40 p.m. March on gymnasium site, Morningside Park
2:00 p.m. Sit-in begins in Hamilton Hall; Dean Henry
Coleman restrained from leaving his office by
protesting students
2:50 p.m. Six Demands forumlated; students decide not
to leave until demands are met
Students occupying President Kirk's office
Courtesy of Columbia College Today, Larry Mulvehill, photographer, 1968
WEDNESDAY, April 24
5:30 a.m. White students evicted from Hamilton Hall by
black students
6:15 a.m. Students break into Low Library and seize
President Kirk's offices
10:00 a.m. Faculty with offices in occupied Hamilton Hall
begin congregating in 301 Philosophy Hall
3:30 p.m. Dean Coleman released from Hamilton Hall and
goes directly to the Faculty meeting being held
in Havemeyer Hall
8:00 p.m. Administration makes unsuccessful compromise
offer to black students
Evening Avery Hall occupied by architecture graduate
students who refused to vacate the premises.
Grayson Kirk and David Truman at press conference in the Faculty Room of Low Memorial Library, April 25, 1968
THURSDAY, April 25
2:00 a.m. Fayerweather Hall occupied by students from
the graduate faculties, especially from the
social sciences
4:00 p.m. Formation of the Ad Hoc Faculty Group;
formulation of its first proposals to end
demonstrations
7:00 p.m. -
8:00pm Strikers reject Ad Hoc Faculty proposals
8:00 p.m. Harlem activists address rally at Columbia
gates, march across campus
Evening Counter-demonstrators are dissuaded by
Ad Hoc Faculty Group members from
attempting to invade Fayerweather Hall
H. Rap Brown reading Hamilton Hall statement, Friday, April 26, 1968
Courtesy of Lee T. Pearcy '69C
FRIDAY, April 26
1:05 a.m. Provost Truman announces impending police
action to Ad Hoc Faculty Group
1:05 a.m. Mathematics Hall occupied by radical/hard
line students from Low and Fayerweather
3:20 a.m. As a result of strong faculty opposition, Truman
announces police action canceled; gym
construction suspended
1:10 p.m. H. Rap Brown and Stokley Carmichael enter
campus
SATURDAY, April 27
1:00 a.m. Mark Rudd delivers "bullshit" speech before Ad
Hoc Faculty Group, rejecting their efforts at
mediation that does not include amnesty for
striking students
Morning William Petersen, chairman of the Trustees,
releases a hard line statement regarding the
situation on Columbia's campus
11:30 a.m. Faculty cordon around Low Library established
to prevent access to demonstrators
Crowds of people outside the southwest corner of Low Library. Faculty members wear white armbands, Majority Coalition members wear light blue armbands and an occupying student on the building ledge wears a red armband.
Courtesy of Columbia College Today
SUNDAY, April 28
8:00 a.m. Ad Hoc Faculty Group announces final
resolution ("bitter pill") to end crisis
5:00 p.m. Majority Coalition establishes cordon
around Low Library
Evening Demonstrators attempt to pass food
through counter-demonstrators' cordon
into Low Library
MONDAY, April 29
3:30 p.m. President Kirk issues negative response to
"bitter pill" resolutions
6:30 p.m. Strikers reject "bitter pill" resolutions
11:30 p.m. Ad Hoc Faculty Group appeals to Mayor Lindsay,
tables amnesty motion
Evening Majority Coalition reluctantly accepts
"bitter pill" resolutions; withdraws its cordon
from around Low Library
Police chasing students during the bust, April 30, 1968.
Photo courtesy of Paul Cronin, photographer unknown, 1968
TUESDAY, April 30
2:30 a.m. -
5:30 a.m. New York City police remove students from
occupied buildings and clear campus; 712
arrested, 148 injured
Noon Ad Hoc Faculty Group meets in McMillin Theatre
to discuss a resolution in support of student
strike; resolution presented and withdrawn
2:00 p.m. Joint Faculties meet in St. Paul's Chapel,
establish Executive Committee of the Faculty
8:00 p.m. Students hold strike meeting in Wollman
Auditorium