Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a nationwide organization.
It was an association of young people on the left of the political spectrum. In December 1968, SDS members
at St. Bonaventure wrote their constitution. Their preamble, based on
the national organization's, read:
"The SDS seeks to create a sustained community of educational and
political concern, one bringing together liberals and radicals, activists
and scholars, students and faculty. It maintains a vision of
democratic society, where at all levels the people have control of the
decisions which affect them and the resources on which they are dependent.
It seeks a relevance through the continual focus on realities and on
programs necessary to effect change at the most basic levels of economic,
political and social organization. It feels the urgency to put forth a
radical, democratic program whose methods embody the democratic vision."
Prompted by a burglary of the Academic Vice-President's office, and other
activities, SDS was banned from the St.
Bonaventure campus on May 11, 1969 by University President Rev. Reginald Redlon, OFM . The Office
of Publicity at St. Bonaventure documented that Rev. Redlon felt SDS was,
"anti-democratic, anti-American and anti-Christian." He felt
that SDS was opposed to everything the campus stood for.
The Buffalo Evening News agreed with the ban saying, "True freedom
demands responsibility, too. And that seems to be what the SDS lacks."
