ABSTRACT
Student activism across the country had reached a high point in 1970. Anti-war protests dominated the news. Students at a number of City University of New York (CUNY) colleges were active during the year, and protests were common occurrences coming on the heels of the student open admissions strikes in 1969 at City College of New York (CCNY) and Brooklyn College. As student protests continued through 1970, CUNY faced the monumental task of providing for the massive increase of students that resulted from the new open admissions policy. The CUNY Board of Higher Education was not in favor of rescinding its long-standing free tuition policy and asked Chancellor Robert Kibbee to propose cuts in the operating budget. If fiscal crises, pay deferments, austerity budgets, and retrenchment were not enough, Chancellor Kibbee had proposed in February 1976 a restructuring of the university, which would have resulted in the closing, merger, or conversion in status of five colleges.
