Empty Protest
The members of SDS quickly
began to agitate for one
or another but ten their efforts
met with only moderate success
at best. Their first cause celebe
was the lack of of
Columbia's dining
They this was an example
of University oppression and
of and
people. When Columbia gave the
dining all employees the choice
of or keeping an open
the union was rejected by
a four to margin, SDS next
turned its attention to Columbia's
abusive treatment of tenants who
lived in buildings Columbia owned.
This was a worthy cause. Columbia
had callously its tenants
whenever it to tear one
of its apartment buildings down to
make way for a new University
structure. However, Columbia had
simultaneously been reorganizing
its relocation offices which improved
its relationship with its
tenants and its image in the neighboring
community. Then, too, the
University had announced plans
to build a new gymnasium in
Morningside Park which would
provide a swimming pool and other
athletic facilities for the neighborhood
youth. Criticism of the
University by neighborhood politicians
turned to praise, and SDS
looked for another cause. This
time it was Queen Frederika, the
aged monarch of Greece. The
Queen was coming to Columbia
to accept an honorary degree.
SDS opposed this gesture, because,
it said, the Queen was a
"fascist" who had failed to abdicate
her throne during the Nazi
occupation of World War II. In
demonstrating their displeasure,
however, some of SDS' members
tossed eggs at the Queen, and in
doing so lost whatever support
their rather protest had gained.
It seemed that the issue
was almost of desperation,
and attempts of the SDS
at reforming again. The
focused on the small
NROTC unit at Columbia, ardently
the teaching of
to Columbia's students. But SDS
once more scuttled its own efforts
when its members threw
the NROTC men and tried to
cordon off Low Library, (which
they would forcibly three
years later). It was beginning to
seem that every attempts SDS
made at protest only around more
opposition to the group.
