Political Activism On College Campuses In The 1960s

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Berkeley in the Sixties reflects the complex and multi-faceted nature of the political, social, and intellectual culture of college campuses in the 1960s. The political activism that was rampant among the students took many forms, from peaceful sit-ins to negotiations to violent confrontations and dealt with issues from civil rights to free speech to the Vietnam War. The first part of the film documents the free speech movement. In May of 1960, Berkeley students held a demonstration against the House Un-American Activities Committee whose duty it was to hunt down potentially communist individuals and put them on trial. The demonstration ended in protestors being dragged down stairs by policemen, an early instance of unjustified police brutality towards student protestors. Because of this incident, students felt that both the right of all people to freely express their political views and their right to nonviolent protest were being violated by the university. This was just the beginning of a tumultuous struggle between university administration that was trying to assert control over the campus and university students who demanded that their rights be upheld. The university tried to ignore and suppress any off-campus political issues, but the students refused to remain bystanders …show more content…
The student movement of the 1960s could not be simplified down to ten points that people could rally behind; it’s views were vastly complex and not necessarily congruous. But despite the movement’s failure to incite a revolution of historical proportions, it’s lasting impact on history can be traced in it’s victories. Because of student activism, the civil rights movement was a success, American culture became liberalized, women’s liberation gained significant ground, and people would not stand for blatant imperialism as they had before
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