Free Speech Movement activists reflect on 1960s achievements

If you walked into Sproul Plaza today and asked students about the Free Speech Movement, they would probably think you were looking for the Free Speech Movement Cafe, and direct you to the undergraduate library.

Inside the theme cafe, wall-size photos show students involved in the first major campus political event of the 1960s. The FSM (as it came to be known) was 50 years ago this fall so we tracked down some of the faces in the photos to hear what they have to say about the events. Most of their recollections all seem to start with an on-leave grad student named Jack Weinberg being removed from a leafleting table to a police car that could not move.

Jack Weinberg

Age: 74.

Residence: Chicago.

Then: Had graduated from UC Berkeley and was pursuing graduate studies in math.

Now: Semiretired activist. Advises organizations in developing countries that address issues of toxic chemicals and human exposure to it.

Q: What is the one thing or event you remember the most?

 A: "Sitting in a police car for 32 hours, from noon on Oct. 1, 1964, until 8 p.m. on Oct. 2. I was arrested on charges of intentionally violating the ban on campus organizations to set up tables and communicate on off-campus issues. The demonstration ended with a negotiated truce and part of that truce is that I would not be charged. It took four months, but we learned that we could fight for a just cause and win."

Q: What does it all mean now?

 A: "Rights that were won on the Berkeley campus spread to other parts of the country and free speech in America and on university campuses was deepened. There are still attacks on it, but the Free Speech Movement commemorates a victory and is a symbol that encourages people to keep defending that idea."

Lynne Hollander

Age: 73.

Residence: Sebastopol.

Then: Senior majoring in English

Now: Retired librarian and widow of Mario Savio, who died in 1996 after 18 years of marriage.

Q: What is the one thing or event you remember the most?

 A: "As I was leaving school after class I was walking through Sproul Plaza when I heard a man's voice from a balcony yelling, 'Come join us.' I decided I would not go home and do the paper I needed to do. I went into Sproul Hall. People were lined against the walls. The voice I had heard turned out to be Mario Savio. He led the discussion as to whether we would leave or stay and get arrested. ... We ended up leaving and coming back the next day at noon. That's when we set up the tables in Sproul Plaza. Then Jack was put in the police car. Somebody shouted 'sit down' and I sat down. I didn't get up for 32 hours."

Q: What does it all mean now?

  A: "The reason this is critical now is that recently (UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas) Dirks sent a message to everybody on the Cal campus calling for civility in campus discourse. While this is a value that most people agree is desirable, it cannot be imposed by the university. The victory of the Free Speech Movement established that political advocacy, whether expressed civilly or uncivilly, is covered by the doctrine of free speech. And the university cannot, unless they abrogate that victory, make any regulations that restrict the content of political speech."

Kate Coleman

Age: 71.

Residence: Berkeley.

Then: Senior, majoring in English literature

Now: Freelance journalist and nonfiction author

Q: What is the one thing or event you remember the most?

 A: "The whole sequence of events surrounding the final sit-in on Dec. 4 in the administration building, Sproul Hall. I marched in with everybody and was on the third floor all night, sitting next to Joanie Baez. She and I were slathering peanut butter on bread for the minions. We got to be buddies. Sometime during the night, several people broke into locked offices and started rifling through the files. They found evidence of university cooperation with California agribusiness. We were being shut down for organizing on campus for off-campus issues, and here came evidence, with dirty hands, of the university involvement with big agriculture. They were secretly doing what they were telling us we could not do."

Q: What does it all mean now?

  A: "It liberalized college rules that were ridiculously paternalistic. The administration was puritanical. They treated us like children and in the years after the Free Speech Movement we won the right to speak and act on campus about issues that concern us. But the nanny state is still operative in protecting the feelings of every individual on campus. Students don't really have free speech because everyone is supposed to be nice."

-- Online extras: Read more interviews and see a video of recollections at www.sfchronicle.com.

Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: swhiting@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @samwhitingsf