When Anne W. Pusey '69 was asked if she wanted to stay for a fourth year at the College, she told Associate Dean of Freshmen W.C. Burriss Young '55 that she no longer wanted to be on a campus rampant with protest and unrest.

"1969 was pretty bad and I just didn't want to stay on campus," says Pusey, the daughter-in-law of then-University President Nathan M. Pusey '28.

The protesters of 1969--in their opposition to the Vietnam War, their demands for severance of the University's ties with the Reserve Officers Training Corps and their call for the establishment of an Afro-American studies department--defined a historic, activist era at Harvard.

The protests forced administrators out of University Hall, rallied a campus-wide three-day strike and propelled students--willing or not--into political consciousness.

Radicals, moderates and independents alike were impacted by the activism on campus. And for most students at the time, the unrest defined their college careers, if not their lives.

The takeover of University Hall on April 9,1969, marked the symbolic start of the student crusade for what some alumni call the last great movement at Harvard. Three hundred stormed the building, evicting administrators and holding discussions in recently vacated offices and conference rooms.

"I went in with the first group of students," says Elizabeth M. Harvey '73, who was co-chair of the national student political group, students for a Democratic Society (SDS). "The administration left. That was a very token gesture."

As paralyzed observers, the faculty and administrators tired to persuade protesters to peacefully end the takeover. Speaking through a bullhorn on the steps of Widener Library, then- Dean of the Faculty Franklin L. Ford demanded that all students leave the building.

"Anyone failing to observe this warning will be subject to prosecution for criminal trespass," Ford warned.

Meanwhile, students and faculty gathered in the Yard for speeches and rallies that both criticized and supported the students inside.

Fourteen hours after the protesters escorted the administrators out of the building, the president called in a police force of about 100 officers from local suburbs. They arrived at about 4 a.m., armed with riot gear and ready to use force.

Harvey recalls that inside the building, students were very tense and anxious about threats that the police might arrive.

"Everyone was given a telephone number of lawyers who volunteered to help in emergency," she says.

When the police arrived , students rushed into the halls of the building, chained the doors, held hands and sang songs--including "We Shall Not Be Moved." When the police arrived, they busted into the building and proceeded to beat students, according to Harvey.

The police formed a line on the inner perimeter of the building and beat students with billy clubs as they were pushed outside, says Robert M. Krim '71.