Dec. 7, 1964 - The leader of the student Free Speech Movement was dragged from a microphone today on a stage in front of 13,000 students and faculty at the University of California at Berkeley. Although Mario Savio, a 21-year‐old philosophy student, was later permitted to return to the microphone on the stage of the Hearst Greek Amphitheater, the incident apparently cost the university administration and faculty much ground in their effort to settle a dispute that has racked the campus since Sept. 14. The Free Speech Movement opposes university rules on political activity on campus. The incident astounded almost everyone in the amphitheater. It occurred at the end of an extraordinary convocation called by the president, Clark Kerr, and 85 chairmen and deans of university departments.
A spokesman for the Free Speech Movement said tonight that his group now looked to the Academic Senate’s Committee on Academic Freedom for suggestions that would end the dispute. If nothing acceptable is forthcoming, he said, civil disobedience will possibly be resumed. He also said that James Farmer, the national director of CORE, would arrive in Berkeley Dec. 15 to buttress the student position.
It was suggested that Savio, who earlier had said he opposed the settlement, was attempting to create an incident that would keep alive the support that his organization has built slowly over the months.
The incident occurred after Prof. R. A. Scalapino of the political science department and Mr. Kerr had outlined the terms of the settlement. They would give the students most of the privileges sought by the Free Speech Movement.
The proposals were not accepted with unanimity by the assembled students, but indications were that the earnestness of Professor Scalapino and Kerr had had an effect. When Kerr finished, he was applauded loudly.
As he turned away from the podium, where department chairmen were seated on either side, Savio entered from the left side of the stage. He walked slowly toward the microphone, brushing past the faculty members.
Savio was settling his hands on either side of the podium, taking in a breath before his remarks, when two campus policemen grabbed him. One put his arm around Savio’s throat, forcing his head back, while the other grabbed him in an arm lock. They forced Savio away from the microphone and were quickly surrounded by a group of his supporters who had rushed onstage.
The struggling mass moved through a door at the rear of the stage, with policemen and students in individual combat. Savio was taken out across an open terrace and into a dressing room.
Students in the audience could see the beginning of the fight. They shouted, booed, and hooted, drowning out almost all the sounds of the struggle. Those in higher seats around the rim of the bowl could see behind the partitions separating the stage from the terrace some of the rioting going on there.
By the time Savio reached the door to the dressing room, he was being dragged on his back, his clothing dirty and wrinkled. Ironically, today was the first time in weeks he has appeared on campus in white shirt, tie, and suit. Usually he wears a fleece‐lined herdsman’s coat.
The police tugged on Savio's arms, while supporters tried to pull his legs. Other policemen forced the supporters away so Savio could be taken inside the room, where he was detained.
While Savio was being dragged away, Kerr had gone to another dressing room at the other end of the terrace to await a previously scheduled news conference concerning the settlement.
He stood in the doorway, obviously astounded and unsettled by what he could see. Asked who had ordered Savio’s detention, Kerr said he did not know.
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