The Start of a Legacy
Sproul Hall was the focal point of political activism in the 1960s. Students frequently gathered on the steps of Sproul Hall to protest the actions of the UC Regents. Demonstrations, sit-ins, and ensuing student arrests quickly became enshrined in UC Berkeley's history. The protests that took place in the winter of 1964 marked the beginning of the Free Speech Movement, an era in which students rebelled against campus faculty for attempting to restrict what students could advocate for. (4, 8)
A Burgeoning Leader for a Blossoming Movement
Inspired by the manifestations of the Civil Rights Movement during the Mississippi Summer Project, Mario Savio quickly became an advocate for student rights on campus and rose to the forefront of the Free Speech Movement.
A graduate student at the time, Savio led many protests across UC Berkeley demanding the UC Regents protect the 1st and 14th amendment amongst students. (1) Savio's continued leadership throughout the 1960s enshrined him as a key leader in the counterculture movement. In fact, Savio's commitment to the FSM is often credited with inspiring other students to protest the Vietnam War, the Fight for People's Park, and the countless other social movements that took place in the 60s. (3)
Mario Savio's "Operation of the Machine" Speech - December 1964
"There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart that you can't take part! You can't even passively take part! And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus -- and you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it -- that unless you're free the machine will be prevented from working at all!" - Mario Savio, December 2nd, 1964
This speech, delivered on the Sproul Hall steps, cemented Mario Savio as the student leader of the Free Speech Movement. After Savio delivered his speech, students began their sit-in within Sproul Hall, with over 800 students getting arrested by the local police department. (7) Protests for the FSM continued to be delivered from the Sproul steps and student protests for other causes continue to this day.
In honor of Savio and his commitment to political activism, the Sproul steps were named the Savio Steps.
An Unfaltering Commitment
At the Sproul Hall sit-in, students were so dedicated to the cause that many were cheerful to be arrested. To the left is a photo of a student smiling while being arrested by UCPD for participating in the demonstration. Below is a link to a news footage compilation of the protests and ensuing arrests. (1)
The following excerpt from the essay, "Dressing for the Revolution" by Kate Coleman further explains just how committed students were to the FSM.
"At some point in those wee hours, the cops charged in wedge formation and grabbed recognizable leaders out of the crowd and carted them off. It was selective arrest. I recall that shortly thereafter, a naive fellow demonstrator stood up and yelled, “Now that they’ve got the leadership, we might as well cooperate in our arrests.”
"NO WAY! With my booming voice I urged everyone to stay seated, stay limp, and to resist passively and not at all “cooperate” with the arrest. I then heard the officiating cop yell and point in my direction: “Get her!”
"They waded through others, grabbed me, and dragged me off, twisting my arms upright to keep me erect, as it were. I felt my arms were going to be ripped out of their sockets. I was vaguely aware of sweating more in fear than from the very real physical anguish I was feeling—especially when they flung me into an elevator to the floor. I lay in a heap of bodies as we went down, down to the basement of Sproul where they had set up a temporary processing center. I was photographed and fingerprinted on the spot."
Conflicting Views
Despite student dedication to the FSM, UC President, Clark Kerr refused to negotiate with student demands.
“And I do not expect that there will be a policy developed by the Board of Regents now or later with which they [students] will find themselves in agreement because we consider their demands to be so extreme that they could not be met by this university under any circumstances” - Clark Kerr
So the fight for freedom of speech continued on with leaders such as Savio paving the way.
“They have adopted a policy regarding freedom of advocacy on the campus much more strict, much more repressive, than any of the ones that have been proposed. We have held that the various faculty proposals have not been adequate to the task of protecting the 1st and 14th amendments on campus” - Mario Savio
An Outsiders Perspective
In the essay, Holding One Another - Mario Savio and the Freedom Struggle in Mississippi and Berkeley by Waldo Martin, Martin makes the argument that Civil Rights Movements in the South, particularly during Freedom Summer in Mississippi, directly led to the FSM and inspired leaders such as Mario Savio. One instance in which Martin makes this claim can be seen when Martin states:
“Mario Savio’s development as an activist illustrated the importance of engagement in local civil rights struggle as a springboard to broader realms of activism.” - Waldo Martin
Throughout the course of history, it has become clear that Savio was not only pivotal in the Free Speech Movement, but pivotal in establishing UC Berkeley's culture which centers around an activist nature strongly held by the student body.
An Open Door
Despite the UC Regents' adamant refusal to meet the demands of the Free Speech Movement, Savio and other students pushed on. Eventually, the UC conceded and the student body, still reveling in victory, moved on to the next fight.
After the FSM, students began advocating for other civil rights causes. Vietnam War protests, the Fight for People's Park, the anti-Apartheid movement, and so many other demonstrations gave UC Berkeley its reputation as a home for rebellion. (3)
Student-led demonstrations resulted in the creation of new departments at UC Berkeley including Black Studies, Asian Studies, Chicano Studies, and Native American Studies. The FSM also led to minority-oriented services through the creation of the Educational Opportunity Program in 1968. (5)
Ula Taylor, a professor at Michigan State University claims the Free Speech Movement demonstrations at UC Berkeley served as the inspiration behind anti-racism protests that ensued in the following years.
"Given the turbulent 1960s, it was hard to ignore the political demonstrations led by activists against institutional racism and police brutality. The students at UCB, along with most of the nation, had witnessed (largely via television) the Southern Civil Rights Movement. In 1964, however, Berkeley student activism was ignited near Sather Gate, the historic campus landmark that provides an unofficial divide between the Sproul Plaza activists' zone, which ends at the intersection of Bancroft and Telegraph Avenues and the University." - Ula Taylor
Aside from the creation of the African Studies department in 1969, the leaders of the FSM inspired the following generation of Berkeley students to advocate for other causes such as the establishment of Ethnic Studies in K-12 systems.
Inspired by the FSM, Berkeley students initiated a hunger strike, including the Barrows Hall occupation, student arrests, campus demonstrations, and the historic agreement between the students and the Chancellor that led to the founding of the Multicultural Community Center, the Center for Race and Gender, and the increase of faculty lines for Ethnic Studies. (5)
Modern Context
Though the FSM took place nearly 60 years ago, the dedication to civil rights and activism prevails across campus to this day. It is not uncommon to stumble upon a protest at Savio Steps or under Sather Gate. A Daily Cal article published in 2013 perfectly captures the impact of the FSM on student culture in today's context.
"The legacy of the 1960s fight for civil rights and free speech still has a tangible presence on campus. From the encampments in People’s Park to the Free Speech Movement Cafe and the tables on Sproul Plaza, symbols of the campus’s political history have come to define the Berkeley experience." - Grace Lovio
It is evident to all that step on university grounds that the leaders of the Free Speech Movement were cataclysmic in defining the campus culture. The activist culture established in 1964 prevails as UC Berkeley is still seen as a beacon for social and political activism for the rest of the nation.
Works Cited
1. ABC News. "Free Speech Movement news footage and outtakes." 1964. https://avplayer.lib.berkeley.edu/Video-UCBOnly-MRC/991050261439706532
2. "Dressing for the Revolution," in The Free Speech Movement: Reflections on Berkeley in the 1960s, edited by Robert Cohen and Reginald E. Zelnik (UC Press, 2002), pp. 185–188.
3. Grace Lovio. "‘Berkeley in the Sixties’ aims to affect the present" The Daily Californian. August 28, 2013. https://www.dailycal.org/2013/08/28/berkeley-in-the-sixties-aims-to-affect-the-present/
4. “Holding One Another: Mario Savio and the Freedom Struggle in Mississippi and Berkeley," in The Free Speech Movement: Reflections on Berkeley in the 1960s, edited by Robert Cohen and Reginald E. Zelnik (UC Press, 2002), pp. 83–102.
5. Jennie M. Luna. "1999 twLF at UC Berkeley: An Intergenerational Struggle for Ethnic Studies." Ethnic Studies Review 42, no. 2 (2019): 83-98.
6. Mario Savio. "The Machine Speech via Sproul Hall Steps Dec 2 1964". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_C3yoxTSEk
7. The Bancroft Library. "Berkeley in the 60s". https://bancroft.berkeley.edu/CalHistory/60s.html#:~:text=Savio%20leads%20a%20rally%20the,arrest%20814%20of%20the%20students.
8. Ula Taylor. "Origins of African American Studies at UC-Berkeley." Western Journal of Black Studies 34, no. 2 (Summer, 2010): 256-265,305. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/origins-african-american-studies-at-uc-berkeley/docview/527975504/se-2?accountid=14496.