Scott Colby's papers on the 1968 Columbia University demonstrations

On April 23, 1968, a group of Columbia University students began a sit-in inside of Hamilton Hall, defying the new university ban on protests and blocking Dean Henry Coleman from leaving his office. The main organized groups involved were the Society for Afro-American Students (SAS) and the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). Columbia University had broken ground on a gym in the publicly owned Morningside Park, despite widespread opposition from student groups and the Harlem community. SAS dubbed it “Gym Crow” on account of the separate and much smaller facilities allocated for the mostly Black Harlem residents. The SDS had demonstrated against military and CIA recruitment on campus and protested the university’s involvement with the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA). There was little response from the Columbia administration to these issues raised by students.

The demonstrators issued a list of demands of the university administration that included amnesty for those charged with demonstrating; existing charges to be dropped against those who protested the gym's construction; a halt on the construction of the gym; the removal of the ban on indoor demostrations; the creation of a bipartite committee of students and faculty to make judicial decisions; and a discontinuation of the university's involvement with the IDA. The group decided to stay until the demands were met. In order to maintain leadership of the demonstrations against the gym, the SAS asked the white students to leave Hamilton Hall. The leaders of SDS proceeded to occupy Low Library in solidarity. Over the course of the week, five buildings were occupied by students and community members, classes were cancelled, and the police were called in multiple times, removing students by force.

The SAS was successful in stopping the construction of the gym. Columbia University cut ties with the IDA and restricted military recruitment on campus. The University Board of Trustees, who held all decision-making power, adopted the faculty recommendation to form a tripartite university senate that included representation for faculty and students.

[Information gathered from the accession folder and the collection.]

Scott Dearborn Colby came to the University of Kansas in 1962 from Wichita. KU’s burgeoning East Asian Institute sponsored him to study Chinese language in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Colby graduated in 1966 in East Asian languages and literatures, cum lade, Phi Beta Kappa. Columbia University offered him a research fellowship where he earned his master’s (1969) and doctorate degrees (1976) in modern Chinese history. Colby returned to Wichita and pursued a career in investing and financial planning.

[Information gathered from accession materials and donor interviews]