Berkeley in the Sixties

A timeline of the Free Speech Movement

1930’sThe story of Berkeley in the Sixties actually began in the 1930’s. President Robert Sproul issued regulations that limited on-campus speakers to persons approved by the administration and prohibited “exploitation” of the University’s prestige by unqualified persons.

September 10, 1964A letter authored by a “former student” was distributed with the Slate Supplement called for and “open, fierce and thoroughgoing rebellion” on Berkeley campus.

September 16, 1964Presidents/Chairmen and advisors of all student organizations received a letter from Dean of Students Katherine Towle announcing that effective September 21st, tables would no longer be permitted in the 26-foot strip of University property at Bancroft and Telegraph entrance and that advocative literature and activities on off-campus political issues also would be prohibited.

September 18, 1964Student organizations affected by the Bancroft-Telegraph controversy petitioned the Dean of Students for the use of the area, under the following conditions:1. Tables for student organizations at Bancroft and Telegraph will be manned at all times.  2. The organizations shall provide their own tables and chairs; no University property shall be borrowed. 3. There shall be no more than one table in front of each pillar and one at each side of the entrance way. No tables shall be placed in front of the entrance posts.  4. No posters shall be attached to posts or pillars. Posters shall be attached to tables only.  5. We (students) shall make every effort to see that provisions 1-4 are carried out and shall publish such rules and distribute them to the various student organizations. 6. The tables at Bancroft and Telegraph may be used to distribute literature advocating action on current issues with the understanding that the student organizations do not represent the University of California--thus these organizations will not use the name of the University and will dissociate themselves from the University as an institution.  7. Donations may be accepted at the tables.

September 21, 1964Dean Towle met with representatives of student groups affected by the new University rules for the Bancroft-Telegraph area. She accepted most of the proposals submitted by the students on Sept. 18. She would allow groups to set up a regulated number of tables with posters attached in the area, and she would allow distribution of informative, as opposed to advocative, literature from them. Dean Towle also announced the establishment "on an experimental basis" of a second Hyde Park free-speech area at the entrance to Sproul Hall.

September 25, 1964Four days later, University President Clark Kerr condemned the student demonstrations, and disagreed with the protestors that you must have action in order to learn. "The Dean of Students has met many requests of the students. The line the University draws will be an acceptable one... I don't think you have to have action to have intellectual opportunity. Their actions, collecting money and picketing, aren't high intellectual activity... These actions are not necessary for the intellectual development of the students. The University is an educational institution that has been given to the Regents as a trust to administer for educational reasons, and not to be used for direct political action. It wouldn't be proper. It is not right to use the University as a basis from which people organize and undertake direct action in the surrounding community." 

September 30, 1964At noon on this date, SNCC and CORE set up tables at Sather Gate. Neither had permits from the Dean of Students Office. According to Mario Savio, SNCC spokesman, the student groups were denied permits because it was suspected that they would attempt to collect funds for off-campus political or social action. University administration representatives approached each table and took the names of those manning the tables. Students Mark Bravo, Brian Turner, Donald Hatch, Elizabeth Gardiner Stapleton, and David Goines were requested to appear before the Dean Williams at 3:00 p.m. for disciplinary action. That action triggered what was to become the first of the Sproul Hall sit-ins.

At 3:00 p.m. under the direction of Mario Savio, more than 500 students and protestors appeared outside Dean Williams' office. Savio, Goldberg and others stood on a balcony outside the 2nd floor lobby of Sproul Hall, shouting to passing students and those gathered on Sproul Hall steps, urging them to join them outside the Dean of Students Office.  Savio, presented a petition signed by students stating "We the undersigned have jointly manned tables at Sather Gate, realizing that we were in violation of University edicts to the contrary. We realize we may be subject to expulsion." Savio then issued two demands:  1. That everyone in the group who signed be treated exactly the same as the students who were summoned into Dean Williams' office, and  2. That all charges should be dropped until the University clarifies its policy, and it is clear whether or not there has been any violation. It was on this evening that the Free Speech Movement got it’s name.

October 1 & 2, 1964Several fliers appeared on campus, calling for student and faculty support for the suspended students and announcing a "Free Speech Rally" at noon on Sproul Hall steps. By 10:00 a.m. two tables were set up outside Sather Gate, and one at the foot of Sproul Hall steps. At 11:45 a.m. Deans George Murphy and Peter Van Houten, with University Police Lieutenant Merrill Chandler approached and spoke to Jack Weinberg, a former student, who was soliciting funds at the Campus CORE table at the foot of Sproul Hall steps. He refused to identify himself or to leave the table. Weinberg was arrested for trespassing. He went limp and instead of carrying him into police headquarters in Sproul Hall, University police moved a police car into the area where students were gathering for the noon rally, intending to remove Weinberg by car.  With the crowd chanting "Release him!" About 200 students promptly lay down in front and behind of the police car.

By 12:30 p.m. Mario Savio removed his shoes and climbed on top of it, urging the gathering crowd to join in. Several thousand students were crowed around the car which became a platform for the next 32 hours of student demonstrations.  Weinberg remained inside the captured police car throughout the two-day demonstration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu9aD5NI2mI&feature=related

Students did collect money to help pay for the $334.30in damages to the police car.

October & November 1964Strikes, rallies, demonstrations, sit-ins, proposals, meetings, arrest, vigils and marches continued through October and November. More discipline letters were sent out to students who had been arrested at prior sit-ins and rallies. Students and faculty continued to negotiate with President Kerr, Chancellor Strong, the Division of the Academic Senate and the Regents. Students began to feel that they had lost a lot of ground in the movement.

December 2 & 3, 1964In response to new disciplinary actions that were

taking place, a huge rally in the plaza between Sproul Hall and the Student Union was about to take place.  Leading the mass sit-in Mario Savio said:

As Joan Baez sang "We Shall Overcome,” the demonstrators filed through the main entrance to Sproul Hall, up the main stairway. Protestors sat one and two deep along all hallways, leaving an aisle for traffic down the center. Plans were laid for at least an all-night siege, and possibly as long as two or three days.  As the sit-in developed, the University closed all offices in the building, except Public Information and the Business and Finance departments. Employees were sent home.

December 7, 1964In response to the events of December 2nd and 3rd, President Kerr announced a meeting that would serve to introduce a proposal “to inaugurate a new era of freedom under law”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iROmLKP-KaU&feature=related

January 4, 1965The Free Speech Movement held its first legal rally on the steps of Sproul Hall at noon.

Resources• California Monthly, February 1965• What Happened at Berkeley: How the Cold

War Culture of Anti-Communism Shaped Protest in the Sixties by Jo Freeman

• Berkeley in the Sixties a documentary by Mark Kitchell, DVD, (1990)

• www.youtube.com