Murad Rahman and the 1968 UCSB North Hall Takeover

Murad Rahman was was one of the thirteen black students that attended UCSB in 1965 who were constantly isolated and alienated from other students. According to Martha Biondi, “A nationwide survey of major state universities found that black Americans are grossly underrepresented in higher education” (Biondi, 17). This not only meant that they were not taught their own histories, but forced to learn about Eurocentric histories that belittled their culture. In the panel discussion of participants and witnesses, Gerard Pigeon said,“Universities were then the places where bourgeois enforcers dispensed a form of knowledge, which they insisted had to be faithfully recited in order to be accepted” (Awakenings, 30). But it was not until 1968, the year regarded as the year that “rocked the world” that students started to confront issues like their cultural identity and racism (Awakenings, 34). There was continuous miseducation as well as verbal abuse that happened to black students at UCSB, and this was when Rahman, as well as the rest of the black students at UCSB which grew to around 40-60 students, decided that it was time for a change.

The assassination of Martin Luther King and the combined efforts from the students at UCSB to send Dr. Amari Hadid as a representative of their love and affection to Dr. Kings funeral only exemplified the continuing struggle of black people in this country (Awakenings, 35). Shortly after, Rahman had an incident with his roommate when his roommates refused to talk to Rahman's friends when they came to visit him because “they were not of his kind” (Awakenings, 37). The situation turned violent but soon resolved, as his roommate eventually apologized. Many students questioned the effectiveness of nonviolent revolt, but on most campuses they remained nonviolent (Bioni, 25). Rahman said that situations similar to what happened to him and his roommate happened all around campus, but to a lesser extend (Awakenings, 37). This is what eventually triggered the idea of a takeover, and what lead to the black students of UCSB to take charge and demand change.

Rahman was taught the philosophy of social change of Malcolm X at the age of fourteen, but once the Black Student Union decided to do their takeover of North Hall, they all educated themselves on both the philosophies of Dr. King as well as Malcolm X. All of the students did a lot of research on the most safe and efficient way to takeover North Hall, and the only issue they had while taking over North Hall was a run-in they had with a few scientists that were working in the building. But after they were escorted from the building, the building was theirs. Rahman took the same risk as all others involved in the takeover and was subjected to the same consequences. The North Hall takeover was overall successful, as the students demanded there be more classes that were relevant to their own lives. The Black Studies Department was created, as the implementation of the ethnic requirement to all students on campus (Awakenings, 31). The takeover was a step in the right direction for more social consciousness, less racism and less isolation and alienation of black students in college campuses.