Historical Note:
Scope and Contents
Arrangement of Materials:
Conditions Governing Access:
Conditions Governing Use:
Preferred Citation:
Processing Information:
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives
Title: Campus Unrest and Related Campus Activities Collection
Creator:
San Fernando Valley State College
Identifier/Call Number: UAC.CURT
Physical Description:
5.50 linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1962-1988
Abstract: California State University,
Northridge, then called San Fernando Valley State College, was a center for the wave of
campus unrest and minority protests that rocked the nation during the mid-1960s and the
early 1970s. Radiating throughout the student body, faculty, campus administration, and
greater community, the atmosphere of turmoil bred discord and disruption for the governing
agencies within the university system, and within the state. The bulk of the collection is
made up of news clippings, arranged chronologically, and interwoven with other types of
documentation that afford an interesting fabric of events.
Language of Material:
English
Historical Note:
The San Fernando Valley campus of Los Angeles State College opened to students in 1956 on
land that once produced citrus, avocado, and walnuts. Just two years later, in the fall
1958, that campus became San Fernando Valley State College (SFVSC). With the creation of the
CSU system in 1972 SFVSC became California State University, Northridge (CSUN).
The Official groundbreaking for the college was January 4, 1956. Classes were held in
temporary buildings as construction continued throughout campus. The old library was the
first building on campus to be completed; however it was destroyed following the 1994
Northridge Earthquake.
The campus gained a national reputation for being one of the centers of campus activism
during the mid-1960s and the early 1970s, and the documentation supports the University's
struggles against such national issues as the Vietnam War, racism, and social and
educational inequality.
Racial tensions erupted with the take‑over of the Administration Building on November 4,
1968. Charges of racism were leveled against a white football coach, Don Markham, and the
Black Student Union called for his dismissal. Twenty to twenty-five black students (with the
white coaches in tow) marched to the Administration Building to take up their grievances
with acting President Blomgren. In subsequent action, the black students took over the fifth
floor of the Administration Building in an attempt to have their demands met.
In the fall of 1969 Dr. James Cleary was chosen as the new President of SFVSC. He had past
experience at the University of Wisconsin in dealing with student unrest. He remained
President at SFVSC/CSUN for twenty-three years.
During the tenure of campus president Dr. Blenda Wilson CSUN was again challenged. This
time in the form of a 6.7 magnitude earthquake centered just 1.5 miles from campus. Causing
in excess of $300 million in damages to the CSUN campus the spring semester was delayed by
only two weeks.
In 1956 1,500 students attended classes at the San Fernando Valley campus of Los Angeles
State College. In 2013 total CSUN enrollment nears 37,000 students.
Scope and Contents
The
Campus Unrest and Related Campus Activities Collection is
made up of news clippings, arranged chronologically, and interwoven with other types of
documentation that afford an interesting fabric of events. Also included are addendum,
Assembly and Senate bill listings, university and student bulletins, correspondence,
editorials, flyers, interviews, course lists, memoranda, reports and summaries, proposals,
petitions, statements, posters, questionnaires, and surveillance lists of organizations. The
collection has been divided into four series:
Administration
(1963-1988),
Faculty (1967-1971),
Off-Campus
Activities
(1965-1971), and
Students (1962-1983).
Series I,
Administration,
consists
predominantly of news clippings, memorandum, and correspondence pertaining to the SFVSC
administration's point of view on campus unrest and with regard to the events surrounding
the November 4, 1968 incident and minority issues.
Series II,
Faculty, consists primarily of news clippings,
statements, memorandum, resolutions, notices, and flyers. In part, they express the SFVSC
faculty's point of view with regard to the events of campus unrest and those surrounding the
November 4, 1968 incident and minority issues.
Series III,
Off-Campus Activities, consists primarily of gate
literature, news clippings, flyers, posters, and correspondence. It offers examples of
related and unrelated activities that took place off the SFVSC campus during this time
period, and gives insight into the tumultuous times of the 1960's and early 1970's. In part,
it reflects generic unrest, while a portion of the series is directly related to the events
surrounding the November 4, 1968 incident.
Series IV,
Students, contains many news clippings, newsletters,
flyers, bulletins, correspondence, and statements. The documents help to illustrate the
students' point of view during this period at SFVSC.
Arrangement of Materials:
Series I: Administration, 1963-1988
Series II: Faculty, 1967-1971
Series III: Off-Campus Activities, 1965-1971
Series IV: Students, 1962-1983
Conditions Governing Access:
The collection is open for research use.
Conditions Governing Use:
Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of
this collection has not been transferred to California State University, Northridge.
Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials
protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires
the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any
use rests exclusively with the user.
Preferred Citation:
For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style
manual, or see the
Citing Archival Materials
guide.
Processing Information:
Joyce L. Hoggan, 1992
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Documents
Photographs