Unfortunately, SF State is often bypassed by the news media and the general public in favor of more prestigious local schools like Cal Berkeley and Stanford. This comes as a surprise because we are a school of nearly 30,000 students with a reputation for diversity and acceptance. And we even have a little bit of a reputation for academics and some notable alumni to boot (Dana Carvey, Danny Glover and Anne Rice among them). But what we are best known for over the course of our long history is our protests, our strikes, our tensions, our riots—our revolutions.

1899 - San Francisco State Normal School (what is now SF State) is founded with the first class graduating two years later. The first 60 or so years of the school’s life are fairly riot and revolution free (minus a student march to City Hall in the 1940s demanding better student parking). Naturally, this all changes in the 1960s.

1966 - With times turbulent across the country, an era of campus riots begins, led by school-subsidized organizations, including the Students for a Democratic Society, the Black Students Union and the Third World Liberation Front. The riots are marked by counter-protests and extensive charges of corruption and election fraud in the school paper.

1968 - A bitter and drawn out student strike erupts that quickly develops into a major chapter in the revolutionary history of the U.S. and the Bay Area, as significant, or more so, than events occurring at the same time in Berkeley. The strike is led by the Third World Liberation Front, supported by Students for a Democratic Society, the Black Panthers and the counterculture. They demand a stop to racism, a new Black Studies program and an end to the Vietnam War and SF State’s complicity with it. This becomes a major news event for weeks in the aftermath of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. SF State president S.I. Hayakawa becomes popular with mainstream voters after he pulls the wires out from the speakers on a student van at an outdoor rally, dramatically disrupting it.

1969 - In March, the lengthy strike finally comes to an end, with the administration keeping control of hiring and admissions, and the creation of the School of Ethnic Studies, resulting in increased recruiting and admissions of students of color.

1999 – SF State celebrates its 100th birthday.

2002 – On May 7 a near-riot occurs when a pro-Palestinian group attends a pro-Israel campus demonstration. The Israeli group says that Palestinian supporters chant anti-Semitic epithets at them, including "Hitler should have finished the job." The Palestinian group says the Israeli supporters started the conflict by calling them terrorists. No violence occurs, but city and campus and police are called in to break up the situation. Since then, SF State’s extensive efforts at addressing tensions between Israeli and Palestinian students have become a model for tackling disagreement and discussion on college campuses throughout the country.

2003 – On March 24, hundreds of demonstrators protesting the invasion of Iraq head to SF State for a large march. At a pre-march rally, University President Robert Corrigan says that the school supports a peaceful resolution to the Iraqi conflict. As students approach him for questions, he rushes off with police. The crowd follows but riot police wait in the stairways to block access to his office. Hundreds of protesters occupy the administration building lobby as the crowd uses megaphones to rally more activists, while students link arms around the building to stop police from separating those sitting inside from those rallying outside. Police prepare to arrest demonstrators, but ultimately agree to allow them to remain in the building until its 10p.m. closing time.

2005 – Student anti-war groups protest against Air Force, Army and Marine recruiters on campus. The groups are placed on probation and have their university funding pulled. “When it comes down to it, the university doesn't want us protesting on campus," says Kristin Anderson, a junior with Students Against War. There are continuing confrontations between students with differing views on the war in Iraq, but SF State tries to remain neutral on the subject.

2007 - As the conflict in Iraq drags on, anti-war activists from World Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime are calling for student strikes to stop the Bush administration. The activists say that too many college students remain passive and it’s time for an uprising, holding the president accountable for the Iraq War. Meanwhile, SF State faculty members will potentially strike as contract salary negotiations with their union stall. If strikes do occur, they are most likely to happen in the form of two-day rolling strikes throughout CSU campuses.