The protests were against Columbia’s involvement in government wartime research, as well as a university gym being built in Harlem with little regard for the surrounding community. Despite the domination of SDS by men, some 300 Barnard women took part in the take-over, which brought Columbia’s campus to a stand-still. It ended in police violence when the NYPD was called in to clear the buildings.
The events would bring about reform in the way the University governed itself and its students.