He says the lack of real student activism orconcern with current events at modern universitiesis an unhealthy sign--the stimulating debate thatran off its tracks in 1969 is, he says, anessential part of the university experience.
"We seem to oscillate as a society betweentimes of apathy and self-centered ignorance, andtimes of hyper energized activism, sometimesbordering on thoughtless," Wood says. "Even withKosovo in the wings, we're in the more apatheticmode. I wish students were more motivated,concerned."
Faculty Under Fire
For Alan E. Heimert, 1969 became a crucialturning point not because of the causes itrepresented, but rather, because of theadministrative load it created. Heimert, steppinginto the relatively new shoes of tenured professorand Eliot master, was having his time pulled outfrom under his feet.
"It burned up so much of my time and energythat I didn't write books. This led my colleaguesand the professional administration to wonder ifmy professional credentials were dubious," Heimertsays.
Heimert says he even believes that theaftermath permanently affected his professionalcareer.
He also was witness to its profound effect onthe faculty as a whole and the administrativeresponse to student demands.
He says he immediately saw a distancing of theFaculty in their desire to interact with studentsbecause they were ostracized.
"A House became increasingly difficult to runafter the uprising--faculty members did not want tocome down for lunch anymore because for two tothree months they were demonized," he says.
Still, the damage caused by 1969 led him torededicate himself to undergraduate teaching.Heimert's efforts have paid off--he was awardedthe Levenson Award for undergraduate teachingexcellence.
Yet, even for Heimert, who believes the"student revolution" accomplished little, hebelieves the spirit of 1969 was well-placed.
"There was a certain incandescence in thatperiod, that after the revolution never returnedand became the tunnel-vision careerists we havenow who ask during freshman registration, 'Whichway to the pre-law tutor?" he says.
Changing the World
If the events of April 1969 had an effect onthe careers of the students who watched themhappen, it seems to have sent many of them intoacademia. From these positions, many say they seekto preempt the communication breakdown that madestudents think a takeover was necessary.
And for many of this activist generation, thereis an important sense that 1969 is still animportant lesson--it is not so much history as muchas it is a constant and personal guide to theircurrent lives.
At an event to commemorate the 20th anniversaryof the bust in 1989, speaker Dale E. Fink '71-'72summed up as well as could be hoped the confusedand powerful set of feelings that 1969 stillconjures up in those who were at Harvard then.
"We're here to commemorate those victories andto affirm...those events are still meaningful forus and those are the values we still live by,"Fink said. "We did not come here for nostalgia."