April Third Movement

Students meeting on April 3 expressed opposition to all classified research; research in chemical-biological warfare and counterinsurgency; and studies used against the people of Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. They voted to ask the trustees, who will be meeting on April 8, to end such research at Stanford Research Institute.

Students who packed Dinkelspiel Auditorium voted that the responses by the trustees were “unacceptable,” and they decided to stage a sit-in. Late Wednesday evening, April 8, students filled the Applied Electronics Laboratory, saying they intended to prevent classified research there.

President Kenneth S. Pitzer gave individuals occupying the Applied Electronics Laboratory written notice that they were violating University policies in preventing the normal conduct of business there.

Students occupying the AEL are preventing researchers from doing their work.

Demonstrators continue to hold the AEL , while a petition was being circulated urging the sit-in to end.

Faculty leaders urged students to end their occupation of AEL.

Provost Richard Lyman announced that faculty and staff will begin identifying protestors who refuse to leave the AEL.

Student demonstrators identified themselves only as “The April 3rd Movement” when approached by teams of faculty-staff interviewers acting in accordance with judicial procedures. Concurrently, students organized by Young Americans for Freedom staged a counterdemonstration at AEL.

Student demonstrators debated whether or not they should take classified files, then reaffirmed their intention of not tampering with classified files during the occupation.

Supporters of the April Third Movement endorsed plans to start research on activities in nearby buildings.

A3M leaders sit-in at AEL declared, “if we are successful here the next step will be to move to the (Stanford) Industrial Park.”

Demonstrators voted to continue their occupation of AEL and not to occupy the nearby space engineering building.

Various views were expressed at an afternoon rally in White Memorial Plaza, as the AEL occupation continued.

Students who attended a Frost Amphitheater rally cast ballots, commended the April Third Coalition, urged an end to classified research; opposed research in chemical-biological warfare and counter-insurgency; and called for a one-day cessation of classes to examine the appropriateness of these kinds of research.

Three documents: (1) An end-of-the-sit-in chronology reporting that the demonstrators left Encina shortly after 125 police officers arrived. (2) A Press Release stating that Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputies have been requested to clear Encina Hall. (3) A message to the Stanford community from President Kenneth S. Pitzer and Provost Richard W. Lyman.