San Francisco State College Ethnic Studies Strike

While often overshadowed by the activism at UC Berkeley, the more working-class San Francisco State University has it's own proud history of student activism. The peak of which was the 1968 student-led ethnic studies strike. This was the longest campus strike in United States history and resulted in the creation of the country's first ethnic studies department which includes Asian American Studies, Black Studies, La Raza Studies and Native American Studies.

The five-month strike was led by the Black Student Union and the Third World Liberation Front. The demands of the Black Student Union were:

1. That all Black Studies courses being taught through various departments be immediately part of the Black Studies Department and that all the instructors in this department receive full-time pay.

2. That Dr. Hare, Chairman of the Black Studies Department, receive a full-professorship and a comparable salary according to his qualifications.

3. That there be a Department of Black Studies which will grant a Bachelor's Degree in Black Studies; that the Black Studies Department chairman, faculty and staff have the sole power to hire faculty and control and determine the destiny of its department.

4. That all unused slots for Black Students from Fall 1968 under the Special Admissions program be filled in Spring 1969.

5. That all Black students wishing so, be admitted in Fall 1969.

6. That twenty (20) full-time teaching positions be allocated to the Department of Black Studies.

7. That Dr. Helen Bedesem be replaced from the position of Financial Aid Officer and that a Black person be hired to direct it; that Third World people have the power to determine how it will be administered.

8. That no disciplinary action will be administered in any way to any students, workers, teachers, or administrators during and after the strike as a consequence of their participation in the strike.

9. That the California State College Trustees not be allowed to dissolve any Black programs on or off the San Francisco State College campus.

10. That George Murray maintain his teaching position on campus for the 1968-69 academic year.

The demands of the Third World Liberation Front were:

1. That a School of Ethnic Studies for the ethnic groups involved in the Third World be set up with the students in each particular ethnic organization having the authority and control of the hiring and retention of any faculty member, director, or administrator, as well as the curriculum in a specific area study.

2. That 50 faculty positions be appropriated to the School of Ethnic Studies, 20 of which would be for the Black Studies program.

3. That, in the Spring semester, the College fulfill its commitment to the non-white students in admitting those who apply.

4. That, in the fall of 1969, all applications of non-white students be accepted.

5. That George Murray and any other faculty person chosen by non-white people as their teacher be retained in their positions.

While the majority of students were sympathetic to these demands, they were unwilling to stop going to class themselves. To shutdown the school the strikers adopted hit-and-run tactics favored by guerrilla fighters, including setting classroom trash cans on fire, threatening to physically remove students from their classes and throwing bricks through windows. When the police were called in by school administrators things became even more chaotic, with officers indiscriminately beating students and faculty members. Inspired by the students, faculty members voted to go on strike. Through the coming months national media consistently showed images of battles between police and students and faculty. Finally, after long negotiations and over 700 arrests, the school agreed to most of the students' demands.

The legacy of this multi-ethnic strike can be seen throughout the country's higher education institutions. The idea that colleges should be an inclusive place where academics is used to increase social justice is now the norm. Today over 500 schools have ethnic studies programs or departments teaching philosophies and histories from a non-Eurocentric point of view.

San Francisco State University itself is located on the Southern side of the city, surrounded mostly by residential neighborhoods. Though the student center is named after labor leader Cesar Chavez and the main plaza is named after Malcolm X, there is not much else to see that one would not find on any other school campus in the United States.