Harvard Student Strike and Protest Collection compiled by the Harvard College Class of 1970

In 1969, the United States was consumed by the Vietnam War and nation-wide societal and cultural unrest, to which Harvard University was no exception. The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) was active on campus, which gave many Harvard students a sense that the University was complicit with the role of the United States in the Vietnam War. Additionally, the University was looking to expand around Cambridge and Boston, which would raise the cost of rent significantly and force many working class residents of the area, troubling many in the student body. The University was also lacking any meaningful representation for African-American students in the curriculum, which led students to also demand the establishment of a Black studies program. All of these issues were intensified by a lack of communication between students, faculty, and the Harvard administration, which led many students to believe that their opinions were unimportant to the administration.

In reaction to the University’s response to student and faculty concerns, the Harvard chapter of the Students for a Democratic Society planned a protest. On April 9, 1969, approximately 30 students staged a takeover of Harvard’s University Hall. The protesters forced the administration and staff members from the premises, chained the doors shut, and staged a sit-in until the early morning of April 10. Their eight demands were to abolish ROTC; restore scholarships to the Paine Hall demonstrators; replace ROTC scholarships with Harvard scholarships; roll back rent increases in university-owned apartments; prevent University Road apartments from being torn down to make room for the Kennedy complex; prevent homes in Roxbury from being torn down for the expansion of Harvard Medical School; establish a Black studies program; and to end the Vietnam War. On the morning of April 10, 1969, the Harvard administration called in the Cambridge police and the Massachusetts State Police to remove the protesters from the building, which had grown to an estimated 500 students. The altercation turned violent as the police used billy clubs and mace to break up the protest. This violence only escalated tensions between the Harvard community and the administration, resulting in Harvard students boycotting classes until April 17, when the faculty convinced the students to return to classes on the promise on increasing student representation to the university administration.

The Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a New Left association of collegiate students. The organization embodied socialist thinking and focused on civil rights, militarism, poverty, and university reform. The Harvard student chapter of SDS was formed in 1964, but was only able to gain serious footing when the Vietnam War was escalated, around 1968, growing from a few dozen members to over 200 people.