Film Screening and Panel Discussion: The Five Demands

The Five Demands, a film by Greta Schiller `03, `06 and Andrea Weiss, documents the riveting, and largely untold, story of the student strike at The City College of New York that forever changed the face of higher education across the country forever.

In April 1969, a small group of Black and Puerto Rican students shut down The City College of New York, an elite public university located in the heart of Harlem. Fueled by the revolutionary fervor sweeping the nation, the strike soon turned into an uprising, leading to the extended occupation of the campus, classes being canceled, students being arrested, and the resignation of the college president.

Through archival footage and modern-day interviews, we follow the students’ struggle against the institutional racism that, for over a century, had shut out people of color from this and other public universities. The Five Demands revisits the untold story of this explosive student takeover, proving that a handful of ordinary citizens can band together to take action and effect meaningful change.

The screening will be followed by a conversation with

Greta Schiller `03, `06

Andrea Weiss

Charles Powell `71

Rosalind McLymont `71