1968: Columbia University goes bad

[The Vulture]

The student uprising at Columbia University was some pretty serious stuff. A lot of different New Left student groups, such as Students for a Democratic Society, Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers, and the Student Afro Society were represented. Buildings were seized and there was some scuffling with police throughout the crisis.

Suppose things had gotten out of hand, with someone throwing a Molotov or something, and Columbia turns into a full-blown riot with the students fighting police and casualties on both sides. What does this mean for the leftist movement, and what happens immediately afterwards? Long term, I can see an upsurge in violent leftist movements like the SLA, fighting to avenge the "martyrs" at Columbia and against police brutality.

 

[Orville_third]

They actually made a game about the protests at Columbia. It was designed by James Dunnigan and was entitled, "Up Against the Wall, (Oedipus-Emulators*)!"

* I owe Natarajan Krishnaswami credit for this euphemism. There are a few others I have come up with, ("I Corinthians 5:1" and "Mehmet IV" (from the "Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks") are two.)

 

[RogueBeaver]

I've read the accounts, and the place should've been cleared out immediately IOTL: Hayakawa all the way. If this had been done then the leftist movement gets some extra traction, but so do the Silent Majoritarians and their two candidates: Nixon and RFK. Long-term an upsurge but Columbia would not be particularly unique: Reagan's response in California didn't produce a dramatic upswing in activities there, though they were admittedly close to their peak beforehand.