The Role of Asian American Students in the 1968-69 San Francisco State College Strike

On November $6$ , $1968$ , students at San Francisco State College initiated the longest student strike in American history, which lasted $5$ months.
The Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) led the action, demanding education that was accessible and relevant to minority communities.
The conflict emerged from the challenge to dominant university culture and called for self-determination regarding the future of ethnic groups.
The strike resulted in the formation of the first School of Ethnic Studies in the United States.

The $1960$ Master Plan for Higher Education in California restricted admissions to state colleges to the top 33\text{%} of high school graduates, down from 70\text{%}.
This plan prioritized the needs of industry and the defense complex over community accessibility, leading to a decline in minority enrollment; African American enrollment dropped from 11\text{%} in $1960$ to 3.6\text{%} by $1968$ .
The state college system operated under an "exception rule" that allowed only 2\text{%} for disadvantaged students, a limit the administration was reluctant to expand.
Centralized control was placed in a $21$ -member Board of Trustees composed largely of business and political figures, ensuring the university met the demands of the free enterprise system.

Intercollegiate Chinese for Social Action (ICSA): Formed in October $1967$ , this group transitioned from social services to militant activism, challenging the traditional Chinatown power structure and the Six Companies.
Philippine-American Collegiate Endeavor (PACE): Established in Spring $1968$ to fight for the rights of Pilipino youth, PACE focused on recruitment from working-class backgrounds and protested elderly evictions at the International Hotel.
Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA): A pan-Asian organization founded in $1968$ that linked domestic racism to international imperialism; it fostered a "New World Consciousness" and supported liberation struggles globally.
Third World Liberation Front (TWLF): A coalition including the Black Students Union (BSU), ICSA, PACE, AAPA, the Mexican American Students Confederation (MASC), and the Latin American Student Organization (LASO).

Activists moved through ideological stages: from Civil Rights era "racial harmony" ( $1964–66$ ) to "serve the people" ( $1966–67$ ) and finally to struggle "by any means necessary" ( $1968–69$ ).
The BSU introduced the "war of the flea" strategy, a guerrilla-style approach to campus disruption involving mobile teams meant to exhaust the administration and police through elusivity.
Tactics included "heightening the contradictions," where students forced confrontations to expose underlying institutional racism and the university’s lack of neutrality.
Self-determination was the core principle, defining the right of each nationality to control its own curriculum, faculty hiring, and community involvement.

The Board of Trustees sparked immediate confrontation by ordering the suspension of George Murray, an English instructor and Black Panther Party Minister of Education, in November $1968$ .
Governor Ronald Reagan supported a hard-line approach, leading to the appointment of S. I. Hayakawa as college president to suppress student radicalism.
On January $23$ , police response reached a peak when they encircled and arrested $453$ protesters simultaneously.
Hayakawa utilized massive police presence and banned campus rallies, describing his efforts as a necessary measure against "gangsters" and "con-men."

Negotiations concluded in March $1969$ after the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) ended their sympathy strike.
The settlement established the School of Ethnic Studies with over $22$ faculty positions and the creation of a Black Studies department, setting a national precedent.
By the end of the conflict, over $900$ students and faculty had been arrested across state college campuses.
While some gains were achieved, many were contested following the $1978$ Bakke decision, which turned minority admission quotas into ceilings for groups like Asian Americans.

R.Q. (Pilipino activist): Identified the Black Movement of the sixties as the essential groundwork that made contemporary ethnic organizing possible.
B.I. (PACE member): Recounted that the administration's silence regarding student demands served as the primary catalyst for increased militant involvement.
E.N. (AAPA founder): Noted that the most difficult concept for administrators and many students to grasp was the reality of institutionalized racism embedded in history.
M.W. (ICSA leader): Reflected that the strike provided a political education that taught students not to be intimidated by bureaucratic titles or authority figures.
A.W. (ICSA leader): Explained that his involvement began when he realized other Third World groups were willing to share their "pot of gold" and resources for the collective benefit of all minorities.