what happened at the International Hotel in the Years leading up to 1977 might not have been possible without the student activists who organized and rallied around the elderly residents these young organizers were the direct result of the third world student strikes that occurred at college campuses across California in the late 1960s the strike at San Francisco State College was the largest and longest of the actions and gave birth to a generation who would unite and serve their communities in the late 1960s San Francisco state colleges students began to unify to question the meaning of their education their actions would have a dramatic impact on American colleges and universities the third world student strike lasted over 5 months from 1968 to 1969 it temporarily shut down the campus and would later result in what is now the largest cost College of ethnic studies in the nation San Francisco State College Drew students from across California in particular from the numerous ethnic groups within San Francisco many students were the first in their families to attend college we had a laundry on poke Street of which my father got called all kinds of ethnic slurs because we lose somebody's sock of course I blamed it all on ourselves and my family and for being born Chinese Etc so I have to say that when I got to State I was um quite ripe to hear an alternative story as young people left their ethnic neighborhoods they entered a new community an academic environment that was actively thinking about world issues and current affairs college students were galvanized by the Vietnam War they were focused on social jce Justice and they were inspired by the Black Power movement when you looked at the daily news people seemed to be getting more and more agitated and there seemed to be a growing number of people who had these obviously very political feelings now I understood that it had a lot to do with civil rights the pressure for equality in American society the the the demands for social justice I had not found uh a group of people that I could talk to about political issues in global terms yes right in National terms yes but not in ethnic specific terms you how does this affect Filipino Americans Asian-American students were organizing on college campuses around California in San Francisco the third world Liberation Front was formed to challenge traditional University education the front was spearheaded by the black student union who led a coalition of Cho Latino Native American and numerous Asian-American organizations The Liberation Front had 15 demands intending to change both the focus and the power structure of San Francisco State these 15 demands had three principal themes the right of third world students to an education the formation of a school of ethnic studies and the hiring of third world faculty School administration gave little response faculty who encouraged student organizing such as history professor Juan Martinez and English Professor George Murray were disciplined the first smallscale student actions were disrupted this marked the beginning of an increased police presence on campus inspired by Malcolm X's Philosophy by any means necessary the third world Liberation Front made the decision to strike on November 6th 1968 hundreds of students disrupted classes and marched to the president's office by November 8th Class attendance had dropped by 50% students began to encounter police violence and arrests as the strike lengthened many leaders within the third world Liberation Front were arrested and jailed cut off from actions on campus but the pressure was starting to affect the administration College president Robert Smith resigned and was replaced by English Professor SI hayakawa hayakawa was much much more visible in his opposition to the strike famous for his intervention at a campus rally and for promoting police presence hayakawa declared an early December holiday believing that a longer recess would weaken the momentum of the strike the theory was that they were going to diffuse the momentum of the strike but what actually happened was and I was witnessed to this was we just did a lot more planning and did a lot more organizing and as a result of that when we got back you know we had all kinds of different ways to approach these issues I remember hearing a rumor that the chancellor of the whole state college system and the Board of Trustees and the legislature had all agreed that they were just going to shut the campus down the fear that the campus could be closed hurt everybody uh faculty whether or not you were for or against a strike students whether or not you were for against the strike and it made people take the issue of resolving this matter very very seriously a select committee of Faculty was appointed to meet with third world Liberation Front leaders they worked to negotiate a resolution during the spring semester of 1969 on March 14th they finally reached a tentative agreement though hayakawa himself never signed the document faculty and students began to work on its implementation the resolution included additional admission spots for underrepresented students the rehiring of Select faculty members and most importantly the establishment of a college of ethnic studies Unity across ethnic racial and economic lines has resulted in a generation of asian-americans who are more conscious of their individual and Collective histories and are more engaged in their communities yet the need for ethnic studies classes and Consciousness remains as imperative as it was in 1968 some of the student protesters from the third world student strike have returned to San Francisco State University now they work as the administration you would think that with all this all this trying to wash away race and and and uh make us all Quote more you know one American so that we can be quite patriotic as we should right that people wouldn't want to even be in this kind of you know be in these classes and that's not the case and and I finally realized one why most of them are still asking the question how do I fit in this American context