The Columbia Crisis: Campus, Vietnam, and the Ghetto

Abstract

A survey of student and faculty attitudes and behavior at Columbia University following widespread demonstrations and disorders in the Spring of 1968 found that students and faculty divided in roughly equal proportions on the major issues. Only a small minority favored the sit-in tactics of the demonstrators, but majorities favored some of their major stated goals. Police action that ended the sit-ins slightly increased acceptance of the demonstrators' tactics, but did not change attitudes on issues very much. Attitudes toward the crisis were strongly related to over-all satisfaction with the University and to attitudes toward the ghetto and the Vietnam war.

Self-Interest and Public Opinion Toward Smoking Restrictions and Cigarette Taxes

“…One study after another has shown that "selfinterest" has little apparent influence on political attitudes: the unemployed are generally no more favorable toward jobs programs than the employed (Lau and Sears, 1981;Sears et al, 1980;Schlozman and Verba, 1979); the medically indigent are no more enthusiastic about government health insurance than the fully insured (Sears et al, 1980;Colombotos and Kirchner, 1986); parents of children in public schools are not distinctive in their support for aid to education (Ross, 1985;Cataldo and Holm, 1983;Sears and Citrin, 1982;Jennings, 1979;Key, 1961); whites adversely affected by affirmative action are no more likely to oppose preferential hiring than other whites (Kinder and Sanders, 1986); those subject to the draft are not especially opposed to military intervention or escalation (Lau, Brown, and Sears, 1978;Mueller, 1973;Barton, 1968;Rugg and Cantril, 1940); employed women do not differ from homemakers in their attitudes concerning the ERA or affirmative action for women (Sears and Huddy, forthcoming;Shapiro and Mahajan, 1986;Green, 1985); and those affected by a proposed rise in the legal drinking age are no more opposed to the proposal than young people over 21 (Sivacek and Crano, 1982). Similarly, victims of crime (Sears et al, 1980;Reiss, 1972), rising energy costs , mandatory college examinations (Sivacek and Crano, 1982), and housing shortages (Regan and Fazio, 1977) seem not to express distinctive policy attitudes.…”

Young Voters and War: The Iraq War as a Catalyst for Political Participation

“…Still, these alone cannot explain the exceptional levels of participation by young adults in this era. 6 Barton (1968) finds that this held true even at campuses well known for political activism, such as Columbia University.…”

“…Barton () finds that this held true even at campuses well known for political activism, such as Columbia University.…”

Policy‐Induced Risk and Responsive Participation: The Effect of a Son's Conscription Risk on the Voting Behavior of His Parents

“…Other findings indicated that working‐class people, African Americans, and women were more likely to oppose escalation and favor withdrawal from the conflict (Hahn ; Hamilton ; Lunch and Sperlich ; Robinson and Jacobson ). In contrast, Barton () found that draft status did not correlate with attitudes about U.S. involvement in Vietnam, and, similarly, Mueller () argued that draft‐eligible men and their families were not systematically inclined toward pacifism or withdrawal from the conflict. In one of the most prominent studies on the subject, Lau, Brown, and Sears () found that one's self‐interest in the matter of the Vietnam War, defined “strictly” as having a close relative serving in the conflict at the time of the survey or “loosely” as having any friends or relatives serving in the military as a result of the related troop buildups, had little impact on policy preferences, but, in one of the few behavioral measures examined, the authors found that personal proximity to the issue did affect the extent to which respondents paid attention to the issue of Vietnam.…”