Columbia University - Student Revolt 1968

The Columbia University protests of 1968 were among the many student demonstrations that occurred around the world in that year. The Columbia protests erupted over the spring of that year after students discovered links between the university and the institutional apparatus supporting the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War, as well as their concern over an allegedly segregatory gymnasium to be constructed in the nearby Morningside Park. The protests resulted in the student occupation of many university buildings and their eventual violent removal by the New York City Police Department. Columbia Revolt is a 50 minute, black-and-white documentary film about the Columbia University protests of 1968. The film was made that year by a collective of independent filmmakers called Newsreel and mostly shot by Melvin Margolis. It features a number of off-camera interviews with unnamed students who were involved in the takeover of university buildings. According to Roz Payne, a member of the Newsreel collective who worked on the film: The students had taken over 5 buildings. We had a film team in each building. We were shooting from the inside while the rest of the press were outside. We participated in the political negotiations and discussions. Our cameras were used as weapons as well as recording the events. Melvin had a World War II cast iron steel Bell and Howell camera that could take the shock of breaking plate glass windows. This video was digitized and distributed to the Internet by the "Prelinger Archive". The Copyright of this video has expired so it is now in the Public Domain. see: http://www.archive.org/details/Columbia1969