Former militant speaks on student activism at Task Force’s Fall Forum

Taylor Rogers

The May 4 Task Force will host its 36th annual Fall Educational Forum today at 7 p.m. in Oscar Ritchie’s lecture hall.

Activist organizer Mark Rudd will be speaking on the positives and negatives of student activism, the events of May 4, 1970 and the cover-up that followed.

Rudd was the leader of Students for a Democratic Society at Columbia University during the university’s 1968 student strike, said Krista Napp, co-chair for the May 4 Task Force.

He later became a leader for the Weather Underground, a radical left organization active during the 1970s. Rudd now devotes his time to speaking and writing on his experiences.

Napp said it’s important for students to hear about Rudd’s history so they realize the importance of speaking out.

“Whether they believe it or not, even though it seems kind of impossible, students are able to create change when they get in groups and go to protests,” Napp said.

The forum is free and open to the public.

Contact Taylor Rogers at [email protected].