A New Band of Protesters

   Fifteen years ago today, Columbia 
University's dean of students, Henry 
Coleman, was taken hostage by students who 
were protesting the Vietnam War, the 
university's work for the Institute for 
Defense Analysis and the construction of a 
new gym in Morningside Park.
   Yesterday, 20 members of Columbia's 
marching band, clad as hippies in long wigs 
and Army jackets, recreated the incident. 
In Hamilton Hall, the administration 
building that had been taken over and 
occupied by the protesters, band members 
marched into the office of Roger Lehecka, 
the current dean of students, and surrounded 
him.
   After a brief serenade, Ira Gilbert, the 
drum major, read their list of "demands":
   Immediate coeducation (the college will, 
in fact, admit women this fall); demolition 
of the Baker Field football stadium and 
construction of a new one (already under 
way); "the ending of Columbia's ties to the 
Vietnam War," and "a winning football team."
   Yielding to pressure, Dean Lehecka 
promised nattier band uniforms, immediate 
entrance to law school and medical school 
for all band members and replacement of Phi 
Beta Kappa with - naturally - the band.