Civil Disobedience at Wagner College
“The role of a college should be to serve the people and community through its educational resources.”
Wagner Protest
With the 1950s came the first large scale movement for Civil Rights in America under the leadership of great men like Martin Luther King Jr. This non-violent movement slowly transformed into a protest against the war in Vietnam. A great number of these protests were conducted on universities and at college campuses. They were often conducted by the students attending these institutions. New York City schools were a major part of this movement. Columbia’s students were especially motivated to become involved in this nation wide dialogue. They participated in many demonstrations both on and off their campus. For example, on May 21, 1968 they conducted a campus wide boycott of classes to call attention to the Vietnam War and the national draft. The students organized “a daylong series of lectures and panel discussions” for students to attend instead of their classes. Columbia’s administrations would not fully support nor did they directly oppose this demonstration. The university also stated that they would readmit any students drafted and accept all academic credits. “’While the university does not support draft resisters’ Dean Fraenkel said, ‘we do not believe in putting them in double jeopardy.’” Another more famous protest in which many New York City college students were involved is remembered as the Hardhat Riot. It occurred on May 8, 1970 just days after Kent State. Students were protesting the war as well as making a statement about the tragedy at Kent State by demonstrating on Wall St. These students were attacked by construction workers, working near by, causing the situation to become a full blown riot. After the attack, the construction workers paraded up Broadway to City Hall and raised the flag, which had been lowered in memory of the students killed at Kent State. “The hardhats, long scornful of excesses by privileged longhairs on campus, were obviously delighted at the opportunity to pour their hatred on th film izle students and any who dared to raise a voice in defense.”
Wagner College was also the host of many protests during this time period. Some of which were conducted by active minority groups such as Black Concern and Alma. “What is Black Concern? The words say it all: its black students concerned with the rights and responsibilities of blacks. It’s an awareness of what it is to be black-a very special heritage-and an effort to make the world around them understand what being black is.” Black Concern was led by many African American students including a young man named Alonzo Brandon, who was also a football star. He and this group hoped to improve conditions for African Americans on Wagner’s campus. Black Concerned worked with a large group of Hispanic students at Wagner. This group was known as Alma. “What is Alma? Again, the work, variously translated to mean “Soul,” “Essence,” is the best answer-the soul, the essence, the whats and whys of Hispanic students.” These groups together demanded the administration to work toward recruiting a larger minority population at Wagner as well as demanding the administration to begin a program to aid minority student that were academically behind the rest of the student body. These groups held two major demonstrations on campus. One in which they seized Cunard Hall for several days. Later, the Black Concern held Dean Haas hostage for several hours in attempts to get make their demands known. The other major protest at Wagner College occurred in 1969, and it was caused by the increase in tuition. The student called for a boycott of classes and wrote a Student Referendum to express their demands. This strike put a lot of pressure on the faculty and administration. It ended with a compromise between the students and administration.
At the end of Wagner’s 1970 yearbook the student, Thomas D. Cubbour, address the Wagner Community, “A cycle of tension- peculiar to the present generation- has developed within our universities, which Wagner has had experienced of for two successive years. The reason for this outbreak of tension each academic year? I don’t have the entire answer but believe it to be linked with the phenomenon of change known as the cultural revolution, a change encompassing new values for youth, held within a system controlled by people of differing ideas.” Following the strike and boycott in the spring of ’69, the Staten Island Advance published an article entitled “Wagner’s Example.” This article is dedicated to praising Wagner’s students, faculty, and administration for acting in such a “responsible fashion” throughout the situation. The author states that Wagner dealt with the situation in a respectable and democratic manner. They also believed that changes occurred following the strike thanks to the all parties’ involved “responsible response.” This awareness and accountability made this generation feel a sense of obligation to speak out and to create change. Cubbour said it quite eloquently. “If, looking upon the Spring [the ’69 strike], one asks what good came of it, I cannot give immediately gained changes within the Wagner system; however, I can tell them of the individual good which some involved people received. I know people who underwent profound personal, ideological change, brought about I believe, by the experience of a totally new situation with which they had to cope- a crisis situation.”
Bibliography
Anderson, Robert. 2008. Interview by author. Staten Island, NY. April 25.
Cubbour, Thomas D. “To the Wagner Community.” Wagner College Yearbook 1970.
“Day 7 of the Strike….” Wagnerian: Special Edition #8. 15 March 1969.
Herbers, John. Analysis of Student Protests Finds Most Nonviolent, With New Left a Minor Factor. New York Times. 14 January 1970.
Husseini, Sam. “Matin Luther King Jr.: ‘Why I am Opposed to the War in Vietnam.” 10 January 2007. Osama Husseini. 25 April 2008 http://husseini.org/2007/01/martin-luther-king-jr-why-i-am.html.
“Julian Bond.” SNCC 1960-1966 25 April 2008 http://www.ibiblio.org/sncc/bond.html.
Leo, John. “Antiwar Boycott Sea at Columbia.” New York Times. 12 March 1968.
Miner, John B. “Changes in Students Attitudes Toward Burocratic Role Prescriptions During the 1960.” Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 3 Sep., 1971.
“Minority Concern.” Wagner College Yearbook 1971.
Monday, Joanna. 2008. Interview by the author. Manhattan, NY. April 17.
Perlstein, Daniel. “Teaching Freedom: SNCC and the Creation of the Mississippi Freedom Schools.” History of Education Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 3. Autumn, 1990.
Reich, Peter. “Striking Wagner Students Win Hearing With Trustees.” Staten Island Advance. 12 March 1969.
Reich, Peter and Michael Assara. “Students Resume Protest: Wagner Demands Escalated.” Staten Island Advance. 10 March 1969.
Reich, Peter. “Wagner Campus Settles Down.” Staten Island Advance. 24 March 1969.
Reich, Peter. “Wagner College Students Strike.” Staten Island Advance. 11 March 1969.
Reich, Peter. “Wagner Faculty Feeling Pressure of Strike.” Staten Island Advance. 13 March 1969.
Student Referendum (informal document formed by a group of students leading the strike). 1969.
Such, Rod. “Tuition Boost Prompts Wagner Students’ First Sit In.” Staten Island Advance, 8 March 1969.
“Tuition Increase Announced for ’69-’70 Academic Year.” Wagnerian. 7 March 1969.
“…Violence on the Right.” New York Times. 9 May 1970.
“Wagner’s Example.” The Staten Island Advance. 18 March 1969.
Section 3
Section 4