Title: Free Speech Movement (Berkeley, Calif.): Collected Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1964-1966

Creator:

• Free Speech Movement (Berkeley, Calif.)

Call Number: Mss 134

Quantity: 1.2 c.f. (3 archives boxes)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Original and photocopied correspondence, minutes, press releases, publications, and reports concerning student free speech efforts at the University of California-Berkeley, all collected by Marston Schultz.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00134

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

Traditionally students of the University of California at Berkeley had used the main campus entrance on Telegraph Avenue as a forum for political and social action--advocating ideas, collecting funds and members--in a wide spectrum of causes. These practices were prohibited on University property. On September 14, 1964 Dean of Students Katherine A. Towle sent a letter to all student organizations stating that the Telegraph Avenue entrance was also University property and therefore such political activities were also banned there.

A United Front of many campus organizations, liberal and conservative, was formed to protest Dean Towle's letter. The administration responded by designating eight areas open to political discussion, but recruiting, fund-raising, and open advocacy were still forbidden. Refusing to accept the administration's ruling, many of the United Front organizations planned to test the legality of this ban. The rules were deliberately violated, and on September 30, eight students involved in the test cases were indefinitely suspended.

Negotiations between administration and students were unsuccessful as the administration held firm in its plan to discipline Mario Savio and Arthur Goldberg, leaders of the Free Speech Movement, the name adopted by United Front organizations during an October reorganization, and the six other suspended students. Against this background occurred a series of administration building sit-ins, the resulting mass arrest of 800 students on December 3, and a strike against classes by University students and teaching assistants.

Throughout December, continued attempts were made to reach a successful solution to the problems. The Academic Senate (faculty) in a meeting on December 8 basically supported the Free Speech Movement's position. The regents appointed a study committee and put off a final decision until after Christmas vacation. The vacation and upcoming final examinations discouraged many students from participating in FSM demonstrations and on January 4, when the Movement held its first legal rally on Sproul Hall steps, it was poorly attended.

On March 3 a non-student, John Thomson, was arrested by campus police for carrying a sign with an “obscene four letter word” printed on it. This precipitated more controversy over the question of free speech, but it never reached the proportions of the earlier dissension.

Trials began for those arrested in the December 3 Sproul Hall sit-in on April 1, 1965, and later in the month Savio resigned from FSM. On April 28th Jack Weinberg and Bettina Aptheker announced that FSM would then be replaced by the permanent Free Student Union.

For a chronological outline of events, see the February and June, 1965 issues of the California Monthly in the collection (in “Publications - Miscellaneous”, Box 2, Folder 9).

(The above history was written primarily by Katheleen Davis, a student at the University of Wisconsin, in the summer of 1970.)

These papers consist of a great quantity of Xeroxed, carbon, print, and near-print materials collected and preserved by Marston Schultz, a Berkeley student in 1964 and 1965. According to Mr. Schultz, everything in the collection was made available for the information of the public. Included are circulars and handouts, copies of correspondence, minutes, press releases, publications, reports, poems and songs, copies of University regulations, and other materials concerning Berkeley events from September, 1964 through July, 1965. Arrangement is by type of document and then chronological where items are dated.

Most of the categories are self-explanatory, and the free speech movement forms the subject matter common to all. The Correspondence includes letters between the administration and the faculty, students, regents, and the general public; between state officials and the Free Speech Movement and the general public; between faculty members and the Free Speech Movement; and others. The category “Reports, Statements, and Resolutions” includes not only these three kinds of documents but also other miscellaneous materials not included in other categories. The final category “University Policies and Regulations” contains documents stating the over-all University rules on student activities.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Marston Schultz, Lynwood, California, May 8, 1968; plus a few items presented by Helen Schiff, Madison, Wisconsin, June 2, 1967. Additions received from Lawrence Thomas, Madison, Wis., February 28, 1972, were interfiled. Accession Number: M67-175, M68-113, M72-42

Processing Information

Processed by 1970 archives students and Karen Baumann, October 14, 1971.

	Circulars and Handouts
Box   1 Folder   1	Free Speech Movement
Box   1 Folder   2	Free Student Union
Box   1 Folder   3	Other
Box   1 Folder   4	Correspondence, 1964-1965
	Minutes
Box   1 Folder   5	Free Speech Movement, 1964, Dec.
	ASUC Senate
Box   1 Folder   6	1964
Box   1 Folder   7	1965, Jan. - March
Box   1 Folder   8	1965, April - May
	Press Releases
Box   2 Folder   1	Free Speech Movement & Students, 1964-1965
Box   2 Folder   2	Administration, 1964-1965
Box   2 Folder   3	Other, 1964-1965
	Publications
	Clippings
Box   2 Folder   4	1964-1965, February
Box   2 Folder   5	1965, March - 1966
Box   2 Folder   6	FSM Newsletter, 1964
Box   2 Folder   7	The Gate, 1964-1965
Box   2 Folder   8	University Bulletin, 1964-1966
Box   2 Folder   9	Miscellaneous
	Reports, Statements, and Resolutions
	General
Box   3 Folder   1	1964, Sept. - Nov.
Box   3 Folder   2	1964, December
Box   3 Folder   3	1965, Jan. - July; undated
Box   3 Folder   4	Academic Senate, 1964-1965
Box   3 Folder   5	National Student Association
Box   3 Folder   6	Study Committee on Campus Political Activity, 1964-1965
Box   3 Folder   7	Songs, Poetry, and Drama
Box   3 Folder   8	University Policies and Regulations