PROGRAM

On November 16, 2011, Professor Carol Smith lectured on “The Struggle for Free Speech at CCNY, 1931-42” and shard photos and materials from her exhibition on view at CUNY Grad Center. This exhibit depicts the widespread student and faculty political activism at City College, the oldest CUNY College, during the Great Depression. CCNY students throughout the 1930s participated in protests against militarism, social and economic injustice at home and the threat of fascism abroad. City College faculty also participated in anti-fascist organizations and formed the College Teachers Union (a predecessor of today’s faculty union).  They also established a City College unit of the U.S. Communist Party.  Such activism caught the attention of the City College administration and the New York City Board of Higher Education, resulting in frequent clashes between faculty, students and these institutions throughout the decade.

Introduction by Judith Friedlander, Professor of Anthropology

About the Speaker:

Carol Smith is a retired Associate Professor of Counseling who worked for many years in the SEEK Program at CCNY.

To view highlights from the exhibition, and learn more, please click here. (http://www.vny.cuny.edu/gutter/panels/panel1.html )