Political Activism

UC Berkeley has a long, complicated history of political activism. The first big protest was in 1949 against the school’s anti-communist oath requirement. It was the largest student protest in the country, and officials like UC Chancellor Clark Kerr condemned the activism. In front of you are the steps upon which Mario Savio delivered his famous "Bodies Upon the Gears" speech after fellow student activist Jack Weinberg was arrested in Sproul Plaza for speaking out against censorship, launching the Free Speech Movement. The student protests of the 1960s launched UC Berkeley as a major center of student political activism, with massive demonstrations in support of the Civil Rights, Free Speech, and against the war in Vietnam. In 2011 Occupy Cal set up camp on these same steps, where they were joined by Occupy Oakland and many Free Speech advocates from the 1960s in an amazing display of solidarity. UC Berkeley eventually renamed these steps in honor of Mario Savio.