The General Assembly are meeting tonight in Fayerwether 201 to vote on the Steering Committee’s proposal to mount a series of demonstrations over the remainder of the spring term.

The protests will focus on the racism of the university (especially pertaining to the new gym), the repression of student organizers (the IDA six included), and the college’s complicity in the war/involvement with IDA.

The Steering Committee voted to approve the demonstrations on April 12th.

We need all members out tonight to discuss these proposed actions.

Yesterday (April 9th), SDS staged a successful walk-out of the University-sponsored memorial service to honor Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated on April 4th. Thanks to those who organized and participated!

Mark Rudd, SDS Chairman, took control of the pulpit during remarks by Provost Truman, to remind the administration and the student body of the hypocrisy of the university. Columbia supports systematic mistreatment of blacks and workers, two groups MLK Jr. spent his life protecting. King was also an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War.

After Rudd spoke, he and forty other students walked-out of the chapel.

SDS will not sit by and allow the administration to lie. We are supported not just by many students and faculty, but by the clergy who organized the service. The administration can be angry, they can call us “Nazis”, but we will not stop and we will not back down.