Students at Columbia Stage Class Boycott

About 3500 students and 100 faculty members stayed away from classes at Columbia University in a protest against the draft and the war in Vietnam.

The boycott was organized by a 20-member student committee and led to the cancellation of three-quarters of the classes at Columbia College and Barnard College.

Assemblies, organized by the committee, were held for the protesters throughout the day. Speakers assailed the war, explained draft laws and conscientious objection, and discussed alternatives to military service. The committee had also scheduled a film and poetry reading.

The University took no official action on the boycott, and a spokesman announced that no action was planned against faculty members who had cancelled classes.