Construction began on Columbia’s planned gymnasium in Morningside Park, a project criticized for its impact on public parkland and for a design widely perceived as reinforcing racial separation in access.
On the eve of the uprising, leaders of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Student Afro-American Society (SAS) coordinated around shared demands—especially opposition to the gym project—setting the stage for a mass protest the next day.
At noon, students gathered at Columbia’s Sundial for an SDS-led rally. Protesters then moved toward the Morningside Park gym construction site, tore down sections of fencing, and a scuffle led to an arrest—escalating the confrontation.
A sit-in began in Hamilton Hall. During the action, Dean Henry S. Coleman was restrained from leaving his office, intensifying administrative and public concern about the protest tactics.
Protesters consolidated their objectives into “Six Demands” and announced they would remain until demands were met, transforming the day’s demonstration into an open-ended building occupation.
In the early morning, black students asked white students to leave Hamilton Hall, after which SAS maintained control of the building—reflecting both strategic considerations and differing priorities within the coalition.
After leaving Hamilton Hall, students broke into Low Library and occupied President Grayson Kirk’s offices, broadening the uprising beyond the gym issue to include university governance and defense-related research ties.
By the middle of the week, protesters had expanded occupations to a total of five buildings, creating multiple centers of student control and complicating negotiations and any potential removal strategy.
In the early morning hours, SDS leader Mark Rudd delivered his widely reported “bullshit” speech, dismissing mediation that did not include amnesty—hardening positions as administrators, trustees, faculty, and students debated next steps.
Faculty members formed a human cordon around Low Library to limit access and help prevent violent confrontation, illustrating how the crisis reshaped faculty involvement in campus governance and conflict de-escalation.
An Ad Hoc Faculty Group advanced a final compromise proposal (the “bitter pill”), but President Kirk’s negative response and the strikers’ rejection left the campus deadlocked and increased the likelihood of a police intervention.
Between roughly 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m., New York City police entered and cleared five occupied buildings. Hamilton Hall’s occupants were removed with minimal resistance, while other sites saw stronger resistance; the operation ended with 712 arrests and 148 reported injuries.
After the April “bust,” protests continued. A renewed wave of actions in mid-to-late May brought additional clashes and arrests, underscoring that the conflict extended beyond the initial week of building occupations.
President Grayson Kirk retired in August 1968, an outcome widely linked to the protest crisis and its aftermath; leadership transition became part of the longer institutional reckoning after the spring upheaval.
After reviewing alternatives, Columbia’s trustees voted to cancel the Morningside Park gym project—one of the protesters’ central demands—marking a durable policy outcome of the 1968 uprising.
Columbia University Protests (April 1968)
