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The Protests

"You could hear screams and see people being beaten," Krim says. "I was black and blue for two months after on the neck and shoulders."

Several students sustained cerebral concussions and fractured bones. The police action sent more than 40 students to the emergency rooms of University Health Ser- vices and area hospitals.

One trooper even reportedly said to a femalestudent: "If you don't stay there, I'll break yourfuckin' skull."

That afternoon, a standing-room only crowd metin Memorial Church and voted to begin a three-daystudent strike to protest the police intervention.No one would go to class.

A few days later, more than 10,000 studentsheld a mass meeting in Harvard Stadium to approvethe strike. Then on April 18, after some action bythe Faculty, a second meeting in the stadium votedto end the strike.

The violent tactics of police mobilized astudent body previously indifferent to the effortsof the fringe SDS. Many graduates say that afterthe police intervention and subsequent beatings,student support for SDS's demands greatlyincreased.

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"We had a very strong sense of solidarity forthose who were braver than we were," Morgan D.Hodgson '69 says.

Hodgson, a moderate student at the time, wasinfluenced by the courageous efforts of herclassmates during the takeover and subsequentprotests.

"Most people I knew were supportive and becamemore supportive as the events unfolded," she says.

"I was very supportive of the politicalobjective," Hodgson adds. "I was sympathetic tothe debate of the day, but I was not an activeplayer."

Krim supported SDS actions and imploredmoderate students like Hodgson to join in themovement.

"SDS had been working against Harvardadministration, and [the takeover] was theculmination of that," Krim recalls. "This was themoment of truth. I gave a speech on the steps [ofUniversity Hall] on how moderate students neededto take a stand against the war."

But some student leaders criticized the radicalactions of SDS as well as the unnecessary measurestaken by administration.

"I criticized both the SDS for the occupationand the administration's use of police force totake them out," says Frank D. Raines '71, chair ofSFAC, who delivered a speech on the steps ofWidener during the student occupation. "I did notagree with SDS in most of the issues."

Raines, who was one of the organizers of themeeting held in Memorial Church the day after thepolice bust, also said the actions taken by SDSwere not looked favorably upon by the majority ofmoderate students on campus.

"The occupation drove a lot of SDS membersaway," Raines says. "The moderate students did notwant a struggle between the students and faculty."

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