The Columbia Revolt was led by a coalition of black and white students, with the Students' Afro-American Society in the lead. But history, not surprisingly, has reduced it to a white student strike. The dynamic, central role of the African-American students is at the center of this series.

 

You did have a sense that those who were controlling your life had temporarily lost control. And that is an intoxicating feeling, that those who rule your world are no longer in charge.

–Jim Stockinger, Columbia student, 1968

If you're lucky, you will face moments in your life that change everything: an instant, an hour, a day, a year, when you cross a point of no return. The pillars of your life until then suddenly crumble, and you find yourself in a new, alien world full of uncharted possibilities.

If you’re very lucky, that moment goes far beyond you as an individual, and you become part of history.

April 23, 1968, was that moment for the students at Columbia University in New York. But not just the students–faculty, administrators, the surrounding community of Harlem, even the Mayor and city officials of New York were all caught up in a maelstrom that did indeed change everything as several hundred students occupied five buildings for a week, defying tradition and bringing one of the country’s most prestigious institutions to its knees. 

The Cauldron, an eight-episode series, is the story of those seven singular days and the horrific police assault that ended them. It happened fifty years ago; it could have been yesterday; perhaps it will be tomorrow. 

 

In 2007, historian Paul Cronin launched a herculean investigation into the Columbia Revolt. With an insatiable curiosity, he interviewed on camera over 700 people and amassed a treasure trove of 30,000 photographs, hours of television coverage, the complete recordings of the campus radio’s 24/7 coverage, and long-buried footage from inside the occupied buildings. It tells a human odyssey filled with clashing ideals, alliances made and broken, the joy of rebellion, pain, love, anger, and ultimately betrayal.

Now David Zeiger, whose 2007 film Sir! No Sir! told the suppressed story of the GI movement to end the Vietnam War and helped spark a movement of Iraq veterans against that invasion, is working with Paul to make this series. 

 

With your support we will create a sample piece to help raise funds and complete The Cauldron.

 

And here's what the series will look like:

 

Episode 1: The Die is Cast. For two years, students have been organizing on campus against a planned gym in Harlem (built mainly for Columbia students) and collusion between Columbia and the military. Demonstrations are held on campus without serious incident, but a group of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) leaders is pushing for more confrontation. When six students are disciplined for holding a demonstration inside an administration building, things reach a boiling point.

Episode 2: April 23–A Line is Crossed. A crowd of 500 students, led by SDS and the Students’ Afro-American Society (SAS), attempts to enter an administration building (Low Library), but is rebuffed. The demonstration moves off campus to the site of the planned gym, which is surrounded by a chain-link fence. As they begin to tear the fence down, a battle ensues with police. Retreating back to campus, the students enter and occupy Hamilton Hall, a classroom and administration building. A dean is held “hostage” inside his office, as SDS and SAS together formulate their demands to stop construction of the gym, end research for the military, expand student rights, and amnesty for all protesting students. As they settle in for the night, a party atmosphere prevails. A student band plays and community members and faculty come to show their support.

Episode 3: April 24–Now What? Conflict erupts overnight between SDS and SAS, as each group develops its own strategy. SAS leaders, who know from personal experience the reprisals black people can face, want a disciplined occupation with barricaded doors while SDS wants a more open approach that still allows students to attend class. In a move to hold on to control of their fight, SAS tells SDS and all the white students to leave. Whites are devastated by this, but quickly break into Low Library and establish a second occupation led by SDS. The administration attempts to negotiate separately with the SAS at Hamilton Hall and offers not to suspend them, but they refuse. Late that night, architecture students in Avery Hall refuse to leave, expanding the occupation to three buildings. As crowds of demonstrators and counter-demonstrators gather outside Hamilton Hall, faculty members begin standing in front to prevent violence.

Episode 4: April 25–More and More. A fourth building, Fayerweather Hall, is occupied by several more moderate groups who support the demands. Conservative students meet and form the “Majority Coalition” to oppose the occupations. A group of faculty members forms the “Ad Hoc Faculty Group” and propose a compromise, which is roundly rejected by the students. Counter-demonstrators attempt to invade Fayerweather Hall but are rebuffed. Faculty members decide to stand in front of the buildings “in the event of police being called in.” Both SDS and SAS firmly state that occupiers must be granted amnesty before anything else can be discussed, but the administration insists “We cannot give in on amnesty.”

Episode 5: April 26–Black Power. While most of the media focus is on SDS, it’s the African-American students who are leading the fight. To emphasize this, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) leaders H. Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael, advocates of Black Power, are escorted on campus by 200 black high school students and make speeches supporting the demands. Harlem community members have been delivering cooked meals to Hamilton Hall, and the unity between the students and community is emphasized by Brown who warns the administration to “Deal with the brothers in the building or deal with the brothers on the street.” 

Episode 6: April 27–An Intoxicating Feeling. As the occupation settles in, students experience the realization that they have created a new reality. Endless meetings about everything from revolutionary theory to cleaning the toilets drone on deep into the night. A feeling of “School had stopped, and learning had begun” pervades the occupiers. Students in Low Library invade President Kirk’s office and find documents exposing the extent of university collaboration with the war and send them out to be published by the underground press. Columbia’s Board of Trustees issues a statement fully backing the administration, and the Ad Hoc Faculty Group fruitlessly tries to arrange a compromise from both sides.

Episode 7: April 28–The Bitter Pill. The Ad Hoc Faculty Group proposes a final compromise they call the “bitter pill.” It ignores the student’s six demands, and is quickly rejected by the student leadership who publicly implore the faculty to stop mediating and “take a political position.” A campus-wide debate rages over the demand for amnesty. Should the occupiers “accept their punishment?” Or is their action in the same vein as civil rights protestors in the South? Conflicts emerge among the occupiers as some turn more toward revolution. The Majority Coalition, having circulated a petition calling for an end to the occupation, establishes a blockade around Low Library to prevent people and supplies from entering. Supporters respond by throwing food and other supplies to occupiers through the windows. Tensions mount.

Episode 8: April 29 and 30–Blackjacks and Flashlights. A fistfight breaks out between Majority Coalition “jocks” and occupation supporters. While it only lasts five minutes, it’s splashed across the country in the media. The city’s special riot squad, which has been waiting outside the campus for a week, is anxious to move. Knowing a bust is imminent, lawyers for SAS negotiate a surrender deal for Students in Hamilton, who are arrested without violence. As supporters and opponents gather in front of the other buildings, police violently remove occupiers from them. After making 712 arrests, the police form a line and sweep across the campus beating anyone in their way, supporters and opponents alike.

Epilogue: The brutality of the arrests turns hundreds of students against the administration and a campus-wide strike is called. Within a year, the plan to build the gym is scrapped, and the university eventually halts its military research. 

The 1968-69 school year sees building takeovers on over 200 campuses under the slogan “Two, Three, Many Columbias.”