ABSTRACT
The student demonstrations at Columbia University in the spring of 1968 caused a very serious institutional crisis—involving the disruption of the university for two months, the arrest of more than 800 students, the injuring of almost 250 students and faculty, and the prospect of continuing conflict. Starting in 1966, students resorted to direct action against the administration to protest against university policies toward the community and its cooperation with the military, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Selective Service. The long history of disorganization and withdrawal of the Columbia faculty members prevented them, at first, from taking any stand on the student demonstration. No faculty faction was organized to directly support the students. It was the great and increasing polarization between administrators, students, and faculty that prevented a solution to the Columbia student revolt. A critical problem of Columbia, then, is to strengthen all components of the university in order to render them more responsive to one another.
