Inside University Hall on the night of April 9-10, 1969, Elizabeth H. Kilbreth '71-'73 and James T. Kilbreth '69 were more concerned with short-term problems than anything else--they knew that police would come soon to end the takeover and feared injury or arrest.

But the events of those two days continue to have an impact on their lives even today. As a result of their participation in the takeover, Elizabeth spent two years away from Radcliffe. James spent nine months in a Massachusetts prison. The married couple who met as student radicals in 1968 would never again inhabit the more innocent world of their parents and their youth.

In April 1969, Elizabeth was a Radcliffe sophomore who had become involved with Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in her first year. She later became a co-chair of Harvard's SDS chapter. Though Radcliffe had only a quarter as many students as Harvard at that time, she says the campus was far more politically active.

"I think Radcliffe...as an institution had been more politicized--[protest] was more sporadic around Harvard," she says. "At dinner in the Radcliffe dorms, the discussion at almost all the tables in the dining room was about the war."

James was a senior in 1969 who had spent the last year agitating for the expulsion of the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) from campus. The ROTC program represented Harvard's closest connection to the Vietnam War, he says.

"I had friends who I went to high school with who were killed in Vietnam," he says. "Everybody in that period had to ask themselves some pretty fundamental questions about what they believed and what they were going to do."

The two met at an SDS meeting in 1968 and were dating when both decided to join a rally outside University Hall April 9 that eventually led to the seizure of the building.

Taking University Hall

James came to the rally having planned with a small group of other students to enter the building. He and about 20 other students simply walked through the front door of University Hall--a deceptively simple start to what would soon become Harvard's most violent confrontation between students and the administration.

Inside, the students fanned out through the building, insisting that Harvard officials leave their offices. Secretaries and support staff departed immediately.

Some deans "were actually perfectly cordial and cooperative," James says, leaving as soon as students asked. Others were furious at the invasion.

"Their reactions ranged from 'What are you doing?' to 'You can't do this!' he says. "It was a mix."

Although some deans were carried out by force, James says he did not witness any violence on either side. His only physical contact was with Dean of Students Robert B. Watson, whose elbow he grabbed as he escorted him outside. James says Watson was unhurt.

The building was quickly cleared, and students barricaded most doors with chains, although students were posted at a few entrances to allow sympathizers to enter. Within half an hour, James says, about 500 students had crowded into University Hall.

Elizabeth remembers standing outside at the rally and being surprised when activists began to enter the hall.