Campus Activism
Mark Rudd's website says that his commitment to “fighting U.S imperialism” was inspired by the revolutionary movement in Cuba, which at that time was in its ninth year. In 1968, Rudd and Bernardine Dohrn and other leaders of SDS were invited to Cuba to meet with Cuban, Soviet, and North Vietnamese delegates. His experiences in Cuba strengthened Rudd’s anti-war and pro-Communist sentiments. Rudd had described the life of Cuba as “extremely humanistic” and he idealized Ernesto "Che" Guevara, referring to him as the “Heroic Guerilla.”
Once he returned from Cuba, Rudd was elected President of the Columbia chapter of SDS. In 1968, during his junior year, Mark Rudd was expelled from Columbia after a series of sit-ins and riots that disrupted campus life and attracted nationwide attention. These events culminated in the dramatic occupation of several campus buildings, including the Administration building, Low Memorial Library, and which ended only after violent clashes between students and the New York Police Department. The Columbia protest was not the first student revolt on an American campus, but as it occurred at a relatively conservative Ivy League school located just up the street from the headquarters of the nation's news media, it received considerable press coverage and drew many supporters. The protests produced the slogan “Create Two, Three, Many Columbias!” The Doonesbury character Mark Slackmeyer was inspired by Rudd.
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