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| 1968 with Mark Rudd |
| Last Week with Richard Carreño Photo: WritersClearinghouse News Service/Joan T. Kane |
New York
By Richard Carreño
[WritersClearinghouse News Service]
Forty years ago, I was there -- in front of the Low Memorial Library at Columbia University -- as well. While Mark Rudd was 'sitting in' that fateful night during the Summer of '68 when the police rioted on campus to dislodge the protesters -- many, like Rudd, members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) -- I was working with The New York Times.
Mine was a curious role -- part informant, part reporter, part gofer. I was The Times's college correspondent at New York University, and Arthur Gelb, the late, great city editor, had called me to assign me to the aforementioned tri-part position. Gelb wanted me to basically hang with Rudd and other protesters, gather information, and share with Times reporters. I did this faithfully. Though, come to think of it now, it now feels more like it was spying than reporting.
