Also, students felt disillusioned by theprotest and the lack commitment to continue thecause.
"[The occupation] happened because the SDS usedit as a tactic to polarize the campus and used itto advance themselves," Raines says.
DiCara says students actively involved in theprotests did not continue their visions for socialchange after graduation.
"The whole reason to get off school early wasto go back home to continue the cause," DiCarasays. "A lot of the students didn't followthrough."
Whether they watched from the sidelines or wereparticipants in the takeover, graduates of thetime say the protests of the April 1969 had asignificant effect on their post-college lives.
"It was a political awakening that carried onafter College," Hodgson says.
Jared K. Rossman says the protests had a greatbearing on his decision to drop out of Harvardduring the 1970s. He became disinterested incontinuing his education at Harvard. Rossman sayshe was thrown in jail during the takeover and wasadvised to seek psychiatric help because he wassinging in his cell.
Rossman says he has no regrets about droppingout of school. Since his first arrest, Rossman hasbeen arrested 15 times because of hisparticipation in various environmental andanti-nuclear protests. Now he is working inCalifornia to preserve the endangered Redwoodforests.
Timothy L. Carden '71 says experiencing theunrest at Harvard has "confirmed the legitimacyand importance of non-traditional politicalactivity.
"The protests increased my respect of theinstitution of free speech in a way that Iwouldn't have acknowledged and understood if Ididn't participate in 1969," Carden says.
Anne Pusey says the protests changed heropinions about the Vietnam War. "I decided thatthe government was wrong," she says.
Graduates also say that the events of 1969convinced them of the power of protests to pushconcerns into the public spotlight.
"I do see that the protests open up the fistsand make [people] see how bad it is," Puseyacknowledges.
The protests had the power to shape ageneration's attitudes and beliefs, according tograduates. No longer was the majority alwaysright, no longer would students accept the socialnorm.
"It made me skeptical of the [majority]institutions as the sole arbiter of justice andtruth," Carden says.
Krim says the events of April 1969 made himaware that the University is an authoritarian bodythat wouldn't hesitate to harm students.
"Yet without the supports of the students," hesays "you can't run a university."