Columbia may have been upstaged last month in the building takeover category by our violet-loving friends to the south. However, we can all rest assured that nostalgia for the halcyon days of Morningside Heights in 1968 will never be crushed by pesky NYU Public Safety officers.

On that note, today Gothamist posted an interview with Mark Rudd, former member of occasional bombmakers Weatherman and, more relevantly, president of the Columbia chapter of SDS. Rudd was expelled from Columbia in 1968 and then joined the Weathermen, aka the Weather Underground, and helped to plan a bombing in the early 70’s of Butler Library, a horror unimaginable to those holed up in 209 at this very moment. Rudd and his fellow Weathermen eventually landed themselves on the F.B.I’s top 10 most wanted list. 

Rudd is currently living in New Mexico and is about to release a book about his experiences as a Weatherman and campus activist in the 1960’s and 70’s. It’s creatively titled Underground, and retails for the quite capitalist price of $25.99. The Gothamist interview touches on his childhood and upbringing in the suburbs of New York, the Ayers/Obama controversy, and his thoughts about the progression of New York City throughout the last few decades. He describes his book as a “story of good organizing (Columbia) followed by bad (Weathermen).” (Photo via gothamist.com)

– ECS