ABSTRACT
When I returned to Columbia I began to see the aftermath of the student upheaval of the spring of 1968, which had disrupted the campus, riven the faculty, and driven President Kirk from his post. For some reason there was considerable tension between top persons in the department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and the East Asian Institute. Since I had not been involved and was the senior person in both organizations, I thought it up to me to try to reconcile the antagonists. This I attempted to do by trying to find out what the grievances were and to get the men together for frank discussion. We created a Coordinating Committee of the senior members of both organizations that should meet occasionally, which happened for a while. Maybe my peace-making efforts had some effect, for things did quiet down. However, there was still a mood of radicalism on the campus, with the Vietnam War arousing strong discontent among students and some faculty. The trustees decided to invite Andrew Cordier to be president of the university, and he agreed only to an interim appointment. He asked to continue as dean of the School of International Affairs. He was known to be a great conciliator, and he did bring peace to the campus.
