ABSTRACT
A three-minute silent amateur film gives a good impression of the climax of the 'Action for Democracy', a campaign meant to completely change the governance and educational structure of the department of psychology at the Dutch University of Groningen. This climax was a mass meeting held on 28–29 March 1969 in which many decisions were made that completely changed the structure of the department. The intention of this meeting was to remove the old hierarchy, bringing down the 'ivory tower' ruled by the professors, and to replace this with democratic structures in which both students and staff members other than professors would gain a voice. This chapter presents possible explanations for the peaceful nature of the student revolution using the ideas of Hans Righart, James Kennedy, and Kees Schuyt and Ed Taverne, historians who have provided general analyses of the Dutch student revolts of the 1960s.
