Old Mole Extra! 3

Cambridge, Mass: The Old Mole, [1969] First edition. Original undated special issue of the underground newspaper, with "There is some shit we will not eat - Strike" in black on red to the first page, and a red symbol combining the clenched fist and the female symbol in the background of the text on the second and third pages. Poor, in three (nearly four) pieces, separated along fold lines, with considerable chipping to edges and center, and some loss to text. Overall, a visually arresting issue of this radical publication. The Old Mole was a radical New Left newspaper that ran from September 1968 to September 1970, staffed mostly by current and former Harvard students. This issue examines several of the 337 schools on strike across the United States, information on the purpose and power of striking, and a column on Cambodia. The phrase on the first page, "There is some shit we will not eat," comes from e. e. cummings' poem "i Sing of Olaf glad and big," which centers on a conscientious objector. The 1969 Harvard strike centered on a number of concerns by Harvard students and members of the Harvard chapter of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), most notably rent increases and Harvard expansion, the prominent role of the ROTC on campus (and, more generally, Harvard's involvement in the Vietnam War), and the lack of a Black Studies department at Harvard. On April 9th, 1969, several hundred protesting students occupied University Hall. Harvard president Nathan Pusey called in the police to remove the protesters, and a violent clash ensued, which resulted in many student arrests and injuries. This event was followed by an eight-day strike by students and faculty. In the wake of the strike, the ROTC was demoted to an extracurricular activity and eventually phased out of Harvard completely for the remainder of the Vietnam War, and a Department of Afro-American Studies (later re-named the department of African and African American Studies) was established. . First Edition. Newspaper. Poor. [4] p. 23" x 17".