Social Education 79(5), pp 301–308 ©2015 National Council for the Social Studies Teaching about the Berkeley and Mass Protest in the

Robert Cohen

More than 50 years have passed since a as to how the FSM can be taught quickly dent was not some intolerant reaction- Berkeley rebellion, known as the and effectively, and suggest why the his- ary, but , a well-known liberal. Free Speech Movement (FSM), helped tory of the Berkeley rebellion is an ideal Actually the had to define the 1960s as an era of unprec- topic for high school , with great a long-standing free speech problem, edented and massive in potential to generate excitement and created by the university administration’s the United States. From the many history deep historical learning about mass pro- fear of antagonizing the Golden State’s workshops that I have led on the 1960s test, civil disobedience, and free speech. powerful conservative political and with high school teachers and students, business establishment, whose leaders I know that the FSM receives little or The Free Speech Movement: in the legislature might, if angered, cut no attention in social studies classrooms. Key Events the university’s funding. Such fears led The teachers with whom I have spoken The story of the Berkeley rebellion Kerr’s predecessor, UC President Robert cite two major reasons for this omission: is a dramatic one, filled with political Gordon Sproul, to codify restrictions on confrontations that should be espe- political speakers and demonstrations in 1. A lack of time. The academic year is cially interesting to students since they 1934 as part of the West Coast red scare almost over by the time teachers get involve conflicts between students and sparked by the General to the 1960s, so that if they cover a their elders—in this case, the administra- Strike. Under Sproul, and with the sup- mass protest movement from that tors who set the rules for the Berkeley port of the UC Board of Regents (the era, it is likely to be the civil rights campus. The free speech crisis began at anti-radical and big business-dominated movement rather than the FSM; Berkeley in mid- when UC governing body), political demon- the University of California administra- strations and fund raising were barred 2. The teachers themselves learned tion ordered the closing of the students’ from campus grounds. Later, in the Cold little about the Berkeley rebellion traditional free speech area, the strip of War era, under pressure from the state in their own history education, and sidewalk on Bancroft Way and Telegraph legislature’s Un-American Activities so they do not feel ready to teach Avenue, just outside of the campus’s Committee, Sproul imposed an anti- the topic. southern entrance. This was the place Communist loyalty oath on the univer- where Berkeley student activist groups sity faculty that led in 1950 to a purge of To help teachers overcome some barri- staffed card tables from which they leaf- professors who refused to sign it: about ers to teaching the FSM’s history in their leted, recruited members, and collected 45 percent of all faculty nationwide who classrooms, this article will summarize funds for political causes. were fired for political reasons during key events, explain how the FSM story The closing of Berkeley’s free speech this period taught at the University of illuminates the history of both the 1960s area might at first glance seem puzzling California.1 Because of the restrictions and the , offer ideas since the University of California’s presi- on political speech and demonstrations

November/December 2015 301 Students march for free speech through Berkeley’s en route to the UC Regents Meeting, Nov. , .

(Courtesy of UC Berkeley, )

on campus, the student free speech area obedience, including mass sit-ins, they But the campus administration, headed was on what was thought to be city, not antagonized conservatives, who viewed by Chancellor (note that campus, property, just outside UC’s such protests as lawless and anti-busi- there were two UC administrations, that main southern entrance. After succeed- ness. Conservative legislators began of Berkeley under Strong and that of the ing Sproul as president of UC in 1958, pressuring the university to suppress this statewide UC system headed by Kerr) Kerr made some liberalizations of the political activity, especially after the fair and influenced by the conservative Vice campus speaker policy—most notably hiring demonstrations had led (in the Chancellor Alex Sherriffs, decided that ending the ban on Communist speakers. spring semester of 1964) to a huge sit-in since the Bancroft strip was on campus However, Kerr was eager not to alienate and mass arrests at the Sheraton Palace property it was therefore covered by California’s conservative political and Hotel, one of the San Francisco tourist UC’s rules against political advocacy, so business establishment, and was too cau- industry’s key employers. such advocacy had to be banned there. tious to challenge the old rules barring Such pressure increased over the The students learned of this decision political demonstrations and fund-rais- summer of 1964 when Berkeley stu- in a letter from Dean Katherine Towle ing on campus. Indeed, as he would later dents demonstrated against conserva- soon after the fall semester began in acknowledge (shortly before his firing tive Republican presidential candidate September 1964. in 1967 by Governor ), Barry Goldwater (who had opposed the In his memoir, The Gold and the Blue, “The University of California had the ) and cheered Kerr later stated that it had been a huge most restrictive policies [on political his moderate and pro-civil rights rival, mistake to close the free speech area by speech] of any university I have known William Scranton, at the Republican the south campus entrance in 1964. In about outside of a dictatorship.”2 National Convention in San Francisco’s fact, Kerr termed this “the second great- In the early 1960s, the free speech area Cow Palace. This anti-Goldwater stu- est administrative blunder... in university on Bancroft and had dent organizing led the pro-Goldwater history [the first being Sproul’s imposi- served as a kind of safety valve, enabling Oakland Tribune to send a reporter, tion of the loyalty oath],”3 but he blamed students to organize for a wide range Carl Irving, to Berkeley to investigate Berkeley chancellor Edward Strong for of political causes just off the campus this political . Irving discovered, ordering the closing. Kerr came to regret despite the lack of such freedom on the and alerted the UC administration to that he had not overruled Strong on this, campus itself. The most controversial the fact, that the student political tables and in his memoir termed that failure activity was the organizing of civil rights on the Bancroft Way and Telegraph on his part “the third” greatest mistake protests against Bay Area employers Avenue sidewalk strip were at least par- in UC’s history, but explained that in whose hiring policies discriminated tially on campus property, as marked 1964 he was “obsessed” with the need against . Since these by the plaques at its border. Kerr was to decentralize decision making at UC, demonstrations often involved civil dis- abroad when this discovery was made. so that his respect for the chancellor’s

Social Education 302 on top of a police car in front of Sproul Hall, Oct. , .

(Courtesy of UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library)

autonomy had prevented him from over- ary action. But hundreds of students past midnight, when the protesters voted ruling Strong.4 quickly demonstrated their solidar- to leave the building and resume their ity with the cited students by signing a defiance of the ban the next day on Confrontation on statement indicating that they too had Sproul Plaza—agreeing to do so even Outraged at the closing of their free violated the free speech ban and that more militantly by refusing to identify speech area, a broad coalition of student if the administration wanted to punish themselves when asked to give their groups—from Left to Right—met with students for resisting the ban, it could names by deans seeking to cite them. the dean, asking that the ban on political not single out a few but would have to The conflict escalated shortly before advocacy be lifted. But when it became discipline all of them. This solidarity noon on the following day, October 1, evident that the administration would was expressed even more dramatically when two Berkeley deans sought to cite not lift the ban, the students began to later that day when the five cited stu- civil rights activist and former math grad- defy it by staffing their political tables dents showed up for their disciplinary uate student for defying right in the middle of the campus’s main appointments accompanied by hundreds the free speech ban. Weinberg had been thoroughfare, Sproul Plaza. of student free-speech protesters, who staffing the table of one of Berkeley’s The administration responded to this demanded that the deans meet with all most active civil rights group, Campus defiance on September 30 by citing five of them. When the deans refused this CORE [Congress of Racial Equality] of the protesting students for violating demand, hundreds of students staged a on the Sproul steps. When the deans university regulations, and summoning sit-in outside the deans’ office in Sproul ordered him to identify himself and them to the deans’ offices for disciplin- Hall. This first free speech sit-in lasted then leave, Weinberg refused. The deans

November/December 2015 303 then contacted the police, who drove a Berkeley’s free speech area was a blatant Winning the Free Speech Battle squad car on to Sproul Plaza and sought attempt to disable the student wing of By early November, however, negotia- to arrest Weinberg. But this attempted the civil rights movement. Though the tions had deadlocked as it became clear arrest occurred at the most inoppor- FSM’s use of sit-ins might seem radical, that the University of California’s admin- tune time, lunch hour, when many stu- since such civil disobedience tactics vio- istration would not allow students full dents who were just out of classes were lated the university’s regulations and the on campus. Although walking through the Plaza. Before the law, the student movement was commit- a liberal, Kerr did not see his actions police could place Weinberg in their ted to non-violence and only engaged during the Free Speech Movement crisis car, protesting students shouted “Take in non-violent sit-ins as a last resort (in as illiberal or hostile to free speech. He All of Us!” Then there were shouts of the face of administration stonewalling). insisted that UC was restricting politi- “Sit Down,” and first dozens, then hun- This, in addition to student concern that cal advocacy, not speech—meaning that dreds, and finally thousands of students the administration unfairly singled out students were free to discuss any political sat-in around the police car, forming a FSM leaders for punishment, added to ideas they liked, but not to use the cam- non-violent human blockade that made its appeal to mainstream students. Over pus as a base for political protest, and it impossible for the police car to move the course of the semester, these same not to use the threat of civil disobedience and the arrest to be completed. factors would also attract support from as a means of forcing the university to The blockade around the police car the faculty, which increasingly viewed change its policies. would last 32 hours and was to that point the turmoil as a sign that the administra- The FSM responded to the break- the longest, most massive and disruptive tion lacked the competence to govern down of negotiations by resuming its act of civil disobedience ever commit- the campus and settle what should have defiance of the free speech ban, set- ted on an American college or university been an easily resolved dispute over free ting up its political advocacy tables on campus. Just moments after the block- speech. campus, and on November 20 holding ade began, Mario Savio, a 21-year-old Though initially the campus adminis- a mass march outside the UC Board of major, civil rights activist, tration, headed by Chancellor Edward Regents meeting. The Regents ignored and vocal critic of the university’s free Strong, refused to negotiate with the free the student march and refused to con- speech ban, ascended to the top of the speech protesters, President Clark Kerr, sider the protesters’ free speech demands. police car (after removing his shoes so as who headed the statewide University Worse, still, over the Thanksgiving break not to damage the car) and used its roof of California administration, agreed the Berkeley administration announced as a platform to speak to the crowd of to negotiate in the hope of avoiding a that it was initiating disciplinary actions students on the Plaza. Savio, who would dangerous confrontation with police— against Savio and three other FSM lead- become the Free Speech Movement’s who were angry that their squad car had ers. most famous orator, explained why the been blockaded. Kerr and the protesters Convinced that petitions and further blockade had begun and urged students came up with a preliminary agreement— negotiations were futile, the FSM in to join the free speech sit-in. Savio would known as the Pact of October 2—which early December decided that the only be the first of dozens of students to speak was a compromise of sorts that deferred, way to win its free speech battle and to from the car-top, night and day, discuss- but did not settle, the free speech dispute. prevent the administration from punish- ing free speech ideals that had led to the The protesters agreed to end ing its leaders was to return to mass civil protest, and calling for an end to the uni- their blockade, and in exchange, the disobedience. So on December 2, 1964, versity’s ban on political advocacy. University administration agreed not to after a huge FSM rally, some 1,500 stu- The appeal of Savio’s oratory was press charges against Weinberg, who was dents marched in and occupied Sproul the same as that of the Free Speech booked and released by the police. The Hall, joined by folk singer Movement itself in that it centered on Pact also provided for the establishment singing the civil rights anthem, “We freedom, democracy, civil rights, and of a faculty committee to resolve the dis- Shall Overcome.” At the rally preced- fairness. Savio was a veteran of both the ciplinary cases against students who had ing the sit-in, Mario Savio gave his most Bay Area and deep South civil rights defied the ban, and created a student- eloquent speech—which became the movements, who had been arrested in faculty-administration committee to most famous call to civil disobedience the Sheraton Palace sit-in and risked his evaluate the campus rules on political on a college campus. Criticizing the UC life as a volunteer in the voting rights cru- speech. For several weeks, the FSM tried administration as “an autocracy which sade in during the Freedom to work through this last committee to runs this university,” Savio compared it Summer of 1964. His movement expe- end the ban on political advocacy, and to an oppressive machine opposed to rience gave him the moral authority to during this period of negotiation the stu- freedom, and in urging students to join make a powerful case that the closing of dents did not engage in demonstrations. the sit-in, Savio declared,

Social Education 304 arrestees went limp, which slowed up the President Kerr suspended classes on There’s a time when the opera- arrest process so that as students came the morning of December 7, to enable tion of the machine becomes to campus they witnessed the shock- the university community to attend a so odious, makes you so sick ing sight of their fellow students—free meeting on ending the crisis. This meet- at heart that you can’t take speech protesters—being arrested and ing, held at UC Berkeley’s outdoor part.… And you’ve got to put placed in police buses to be taken to jail. amphitheater, the Greek Theatre, drew your bodies upon the gears, This helped to spark a strike by Berkeley some 15,000 students and faculty. But and upon the wheels, upon the teaching assistants and a student boycott the meeting backfired badly on Kerr, so levers, upon all the apparatus, of classes. In all, some 800 protesters much so that columnist Ralph Gleason and you’ve got to make it stop. were arrested at Sproul Hall, the largest mockingly dubbed it the “Tragedy at And you’ve got to indicate to mass arrest in California history, and by the Greek.” Kerr’s mistake was in refus- the people who run it, to the far the largest police invasion of a col- ing to allow any students to speak at the people who own it that unless lege campus in the United States. The meeting. As the Greek Theatre convo- you’re free the machine will be mass arrest aroused deep concern and cation was about to end when the last prevented from working at all. outrage among the faculty, who thought scheduled speaker had finished, Mario the free speech dispute could and should Savio walked on to the stage and up to California Governor Edmund “Pat” have been settled by the administration the podium. But before Savio could utter Brown responded to the mass sit-in by months prior and should not have ended a syllable he was grabbed by police offi- sending in an army of police, who in the with a police incursion onto the campus. cers who dragged him away, in plain view middle of the night began making arrests Many faculty drove out to Santa Rita of the huge and now outraged crowd of of the protesters in Sproul Hall. The free prison and posted bond to bail their stu- faculty and students—who did not miss speech demonstrators were non-violent dents out of jail. the symbolism of this censoring of the and did not resist arrest. But in the classic Realizing that the mass arrest had most prominent leader of Berkeley’s Free style of civil rights demonstrators, the alienated many students and faculty, Speech Movement.

November/December 2015 305 The fiasco at the Greek Theatre was Teaching about the Free Speech mindful of the risks they were taking in viewed by many faculty as one more sign Movement and Civil Disobedience breaking the law and facing arrest, even that the administration had lost control The history of the Free Speech though it was for the sake of a political of the campus and was incapable of Movement affords teachers a great cause they cherished (free speech). The resolving the free speech dispute. So the opportunity to explore with their stu- letters will show your students the kinds next day, December 8, 1964, the faculty’s dents the nature, ethics, risks, rewards, of ideas and thinkers, from Thoreau to governing body, the Academic Senate, and strategic issues involved in deciding Gandhi and King, that Berkeley students assembled and ended the crisis by voting when and whether to engage in civil dis- invoked as they explained their decision with a 7–1 margin (824–115) “that the obedience. To help motivate the discus- to sit-in. There are hundreds of these content of speech or advocacy shall not sion of civil disobedience, show students letters in an online collection that is be restricted by the university.” clips of the FSM’s mass sit-ins from the part of UC Berkeley Bancroft Library’s Students reacted joyfully to the documentary film “Berkeley in the 60s” Digital Free Speech Movement Archive: Academic Senate’s December 8 resolu- (these are in the first segment of the film, see http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/!"#"#/ tions, applauding and cheering for the which is devoted to the FSM).5 The clips kt"x#n$$sr/?query=letters%%#to%%# faculty as they exited the show a kind of ordered chaos, with stu- judge%%#crittenden&brand=calisphere auditorium in which they had taken dents marching into the administration A class discussion can focus on the two their decisive vote. The FSM responded building, sitting-in along its corridors, contrasting primary sources presented with a rally celebrating this stunning vic- studying, holding classes, dancing, and in the sidebar to this article: Savio’s call tory for freedom of speech. At the rally, then preparing for arrest. Finally they for civil disobedience, compared with Savio noted that now at the University begin to be dragged away by the arresting excerpts from an essay against civil dis- of California there would be “no restric- police officers. obedience by FSM critic Nathan Glazer. tions on the content of speech save those Once students have screened these As a written homework assignment, stu- provided by the courts.” While aware film clips they will know what a campus dents can answer the questions presented that such freedom could be abused if sit-in looks and sounds like. To put them in the sidebar and present their answers students did not behave responsibly, into the shoes of Berkeley free speech in a subsequent class discussion. Savio expressed confidence “that the activists of 1964, ask them to examine students and the faculty of the University letters written by arrestees (when they The Importance of the Free of California will exercise their freedom were about to be sentenced for partici- Speech Movement with the same responsibility they’ve pating in the final sit-in at Sproul Hall6) Much as the civil rights movement shown in winning their freedom.” to the judge (Rupert Crittenden) at the helped to make possible the emergence FSM trial. Most FSM activists were quite of the free speech movement, the FSM

Connections with the C" Framework The teaching and learning suggestions in this article incorporate the four dimensions of the Inquiry Arc of the College, Career, and Civic Life (C) Framework for the high school grades. C Framework Dimension  Dimension  Dimension  Dimension  Compelling Question: Was civil D.His..-. D..-. Gather relevant infor- D..-. Construct arguments disobedience the only means Evaluate how historical events mation from multiple sources…. using precise and knowledge- for the students to obtain their and developments were able claims, with evidence from goal of free speech? shaped by unique circum- multiple sources…. stances of time and place as Supporting Questions: well as broader historical con- What events prompted sit-ins texts. and blockades?

What negotiations took place between the university admin- istration and student leaders?

What caused these negotia- tions to end?

Social Education 306 !. Nathan Glazer’s Arguments Against the %. Mario Savio’s Call for the Use of Civil Questions on the FSM’s Use of Civil Use by the Free Speech Movement (FSM) Disobedience in the Rally Leading to the Disobedience of Civil Disobedience on Campus FSM’s Culminating Sit-in at Sproul Hall, . Why does Glazer oppose the use of December %, !$&' civil disobedience on campus? The leaders of the FSM argued from the . Glazer states that “from the begin- beginning that there was only one way in There are at least two ways in which sit- ning” of the free speech struggle at which they could make their voices heard, ins and civil disobedience … can occur. One, Berkeley the student protesters saw could make their views on the question of when a law exists—is promulgated—which civil disobedience as the “only… way political activity on campus effective. This, is totally unacceptable to people, and they in which they could make their voice in effect, was to introduce such disruption violate it again and again and again until heard.” Was this so? What did the stu- in the workings of the university that it it’s rescinded, repealed. All right. But there’s dent protesters do first when they would have no choice if it wished to con- another way. learned of the free speech ban in mid- tinue its work but to accept their views on Sometimes the form of the law is such as September? Why was it not until the the legitimate bounds of political action on to render impossible its effective violation end of the month that the first sit-in the campus and the nature of the rules that as a method to have it repealed. Sometimes occurred on campus? should guide it…. Where one uses force the grievances of people are more, extend . Glazer maintains that civil disobedi- [as the FSM did with its non-violent sit-ins], … to more than just the law, extend to a ence can “destroy a university” and that one’s opponent is left with the alternative whole mode of arbitrary power, a whole of giving in, or himself resorting to force the FSM had alternatives to sitting in, mode of arbitrary exercise of arbitrary but simply and wrongly chose not to [as in ending the sit-in with mass arrests]…. power. And that’s what we have here. use them. How convincing are these Abandoning dependence on argument…. We have an autocracy which runs this arguments? Given that sitting in could [Were the] new tactics of disruption … university. It’s managed! We were told the lead to expulsion and arrest, would required to continue the expansion of lim- following: “If President Kerr actually tried to its of political action on the campus? I do students engage in such civil disobedi- get something more liberal out of the [UC ence if there were alternative means to not think so.… These tactics … were used board of] regents… why didn’t he make a address their grievances? again and again prematurely and when public statement to that effect?” And the alternatives existed ... [FSM organizers] answer we received from a well-meaning . How does Savio’s depiction of the were not interested.… Instead they called liberal, was the following. He said: “Would university’s governance as profoundly for occupation of Sproul Hall… and settled you ever imagine the manager of a firm undemocratic pave the way for his the matter that way…. making a statement publicly in opposi- advocacy of students engaging in civil I would sum up by saying that the uni- tion to his board of directors?” That’s the disobedience (putting their “bodies versity can be changed by civil disobedi- answer! Now I ask you to consider: if this is upon the gears” of the university) to ence; but it is not the best way to change a firm, and if the Board of Regents are the win their freedom? it, and indeed trying to change it that way board of directors, and if President Kerr in . How and why does Savio’s speech use will eventually destroy it as a university…. fact is the manager, then I’ll tell you some- big business and industrial metaphors The politicization of institutions [like the thing: the faculty are a bunch of employees, (corporate board of directors, manag- university] that should not be political is a and we’re the raw materials! But we’re a ers, employees, raw materials, and very dangerous thing. It is indeed one of bunch of raw materials that don’t mean to machines) to indict the university? the marks of totalitarianism.... The FSM ... … have any process upon us, don’t mean … How does his image of the university had decided what was important and it to end up being bought by some clients of contrast with Glazer’s view of the uni- had decided to impose its views as to what the university, be they the government, be versity as a place where genuine dia- was important on the university and accept they industry, be they organized labor, be logue is possible? no limit on the means it would use to com- they anyone! We’re human beings! pel the university to accept its views.... The And that … brings me to the second . Which of these two views of civil dis- means [sit-ins] that were used to settle the mode of civil disobedience. There’s a obedience on campus do you find argument [over free speech] ... can destroy time when the operation of the machine more convincing? a university.... Will such means be used to becomes so odious, makes you so sick at . Why do you think so many students determine which faculty members shall heart, that you can’t take part; you can’t found Savio’s speech so convincing be hired, which shall be let go? Will they even passively take part. And you’ve got and marched in with him in the non- be used to determine what is taught in to put your bodies upon the gears and violent occupation of Sproul Hall— courses? ... If they are ... the university, as upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon leading to the largest on-campus sit-in we know it and I think as most of us would all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make and mass arrest in American history? want it to be, will then be gone it stop. And you’ve got to indicate to the Why do you think Savio’s speech is the people who run it, to the people who own most widely published oration from Nathan Glazer, Remembering the Answers: it, that unless you’re free, the machine will the FSM and is today regarded as Essays on the American Student Revolt (New be prevented from working at all. one of the most memorable dissident York: Basic Books, ): –, , - Mario Savio, “Bodies Upon the Gears,” speeches of the s? , . speech in R. Cohen, ed., The Essential Mario Savio: Speeches and Writings That Changed America (Berkeley: UC Press, ): –.

November/December 2015 307 Volume Two, Political Turmoil (Berkeley, Calif.: in turn helped to pave the way for all against the escalating war in Vietnam. University of California Press, 2003): 161. kinds of subsequent student movements This movement would oppose campus 4. Ibid., 154. on a range of issues, from abolishing military training (the ROTC), the use of 5. “Berkeley in the 60’s,” produced by Mark Kitchell, paternalistic () campus university academic records for the draft, DVD (First Run Features, 2002). 6. It will likely help teachers leading class discussions restrictions on student social life to creat- and campus recruitment for companies if they read the analysis of the FSM letters to Judge ing Black Studies and Women’s Studies like Dow Chemical whose military Crittenden in Robert Cohen, “’This Was The Fight and They Had to Fight It’: The FSM’s Non-Radical Programs, to challenging university pro- products, including napalm, bombed Rank and File,” in Robert Cohen and Reginald E. grams that served the Pentagon and the and burned civilians in Vietnam. The Zelnik (editors), The Free Speech Movement: Reflections on Berkeley in the 1960s (Berkeley, Calif.: Vietnam War. The FSM was influential FSM is an excellent case study of civic University of California Press, 2002), 227–263. because it won, demonstrating to student action that was initiated by young people, activists across the United States and the became a historic symbol of the 1960s, globe that they could use non-violent and changed America. civil disobedience to change policy and maybe even change the world. The prec- Notes 1. Bob Blauner, Resisting McCarthyism: To Sign or Not edents that the FSM set for militant stu- Robert Cohen is a professor of social studies and to Sign California’s Loyalty Oath (Stanford, Calif.: dent protest were particularly influential Press, 2009): xiii. history at University. He is the editor of The Essential Mario Savio: Speeches and Writings that for those who in the semesters following 2. “The Big UC Question: Will Kerr Stay or Go?”, Times, December 4, 1966. Changed America and author of Freedom’s Orator: the Berkeley rebellion began to orga- Mario Savio and the Radical Legacy of the 1960s. 3. Clark Kerr, The Gold and the Blue: A Personal nize a mass national student movement Memoir of the University of California, 1949-1967,

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