It was Parents' Weekend at Cornell University, where 2,000 visitors would soon hear President James A. Perkins give a timely speech entitled "The Stability of the University." He never gave it. Shortly before 6 a.m. on Saturday, 120 black students seized Willard Straight Hall—the first crisis in a week of chaos that almost destroyed Cornell and deeply alarmed universities throughout the U.S.
Shouting "Fire!" at the top of their lungs, the black guerrillas swept through Straight Hall, Cornell's student union, rousing 30 frightened parents from their beds and sending both them and 40 employees...
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