Strike!

The following week, the students returned to President Gallagher’s office to discuss the demands, and then staged a four-hour occupation of the administration building when they felt as though their overtures were not being taken seriously. Things have only escalated since: vandalism, smoke bombs, and tagged walls, and some students have even been painting STRIKE on the walls of the campus.

Image of a demonstration and protest, with some banners that read: 'Student Power', 'No Fees Please', and 'Tax the Rich'.
Unknown, “Two Photographs from 1969 Demonstration,” CUNY Digital History Archive, accessed September 21, 2021, https://cdha.cuny.edu/items/show/4982.

The focus of these acts seems to predominantly regard the University’s plan to implement an open admissions policy, which the Board of Higher Education originally passed as a long-term plan in 1964 but has yet to implement. Many students, dismayed that the policy is set to be implemented in 1974 and few stipulations have been outlined, have demanded a more formal set of plans and a quicker timetable.