For some courses it was midyear examination week at the College of the City of New York; but in class after class only a handful of students showed up. Manhattan newspapers headlined the reason: about 2,500 students were on strike. For three days pickets paraded, hooted at "scabs," skirmished with police, cheered & jeered in mass rallies. They played dirges for the "death of democracy," took collections to "bury the bigots," flaunted signs inscribed NO HATE-MONGERS AT C.C.N.Y. and JOIN OUR QUIET RIOT. A long-simmering old dispute over two teachers, whom the college refused to fire, had boiled over.
One of the...