Regional History Project Oral Histories

A series of interviews with twelve members of the first four-year graduating class at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Among the twelve were two students who had been interviewed in 1967 and four who had transferred into the class at the junior level. As in the 1967 series, the students were asked to comment on the strengths and weaknesses of the University, administration, faculty, classes, and general campus life. This they did very candidly. By happenstance, the interviews were scheduled over a two-week period that included the campus's first serious student strike and first building takeover. Thus the interviews tend to give the anatomy of the student strike as it developed. The philosophy of the students interviewed ranged from conservative to radical and their participation in the strike ranged from inactivity to leadership roles in the strike organization.