After several relatively peaceful months,tensions on campus erupt once again in April. Onthe 18th, anti-war demonstrators in Boston marchto Cambridge and ransack the CFIA building,breaking windows and causing $20,000 to $25,000 indamages. Fifty riot-equipped police use tear gasand sweep the Square in order to end thedisturbance.
Two days later, black students from Afro andthe Pan-African Liberation Committee take overMassachusetts Hall in protest of the University'sinvestment in Gulf Oil. The students object toGulf Oil's practices in Angola and refused torelinquish the building until Harvard sold itsinterests in Gulf Oil.
Not long after the takeover, students formpicket lines around the building. Several dayslater, the occupiers begin an open-ended hungerstrike. After 153 hours of occupation, the blackstudents left the building, saying they fearedlegal action by the University would remove themfrom the campus political scene.
At the same time, other Harvard studentsparticipate in a five-day strike in protest of theVietnam War.
May 1972
The energy of April dissolves into a ratherinert May. On May 16, a trial Committee onUndergraduate Education (CUE) survey asks studentsto evaluate 17 classes, in what is the predecessorto today's CUE guide evaluation.
The eight Ivy League university presidents meetwith Henry A. Kissinger '50 to discuss the war inSoutheast Asia on May 17.
September 1972
September, 1972 marks the beginning of MatinaHorner's presidency of Radcliffe. It also marksthe first time women--200 of them--are allowed tolive in Harvard Yard dorms.
On September 30, HEW gives limited approval toHarvard's Affirmative Action Plan, although itcriticizes the lack of specific hiring goals andwhat it considers an unacceptable maternity leavepolicy.
October 1972
Lawrence P. Largley, a 17-year-old Cambridgeresident, dies of unknown causes in a jail celljust hours after he is arrested and allegedlybeaten by police. This event touches off threedays of rioting and insurrection in the Rooseveltdistrict of Cambridge.
November 1972
Associate Professor of Government Samuel J.Popkin (left) becomes a symbol for academicfreedom in November, 1972. Subpoenaed to testifybefore a Boston grand jury in the case of DanielEllsberg '52, Popkin refuses to answer the jury'squestions. To speak before the grand jury wouldhave compromised his sources and his future inacademia, Popkin says in a defense rejected by theSupreme Court.
Popkin is jailed for his lack of cooperation,leading Professor of Law Alan M. Dershowitz tolead a petition effort on behalf of Popkins.Popkins is eventually freed on November 29 afterthe Boston jury is disbanded.
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