Sproul Plaza and Sather Gate - Birthplace of Free Speech

Photo: Gabriel Classon (gabeclasson on Flickr), CC BY 2.0 (cropped)

A stop on UC Berkeley Campus Walk, a free self-guided tour.

You are standing in Sproul Plaza, the busiest crossroads at Cal, with the ornate arch of Sather Gate just ahead. Jane K. Sather gave the gate in memory of her husband, banker Peder Sather, and it was finished in 1910. Look up at the eight relief panels showing figures for fields like law, medicine, mining and agriculture. They were taken down soon after they went up, amid disagreements with Mrs. Sather, and did not return until the late 1970s.

In the fall of 1964 this plaza made history. On October 1, police arrested Jack Weinberg, who was staffing a civil rights table, and students sat down around the police car, holding it in place for about 32 hours while speakers climbed on its roof. On December 2, Mario Savio spoke from the steps of Sproul Hall, and a sit-in inside ended with about 800 arrests. Within days the faculty voted to back the students' demand to end limits on political speech on campus. The Free Speech Movement had won, and the steps now bear Savio's name.

Getting here: Start in Sproul Plaza, just south of Sather Gate, near the wide steps of Sproul Hall.

Did you know?: The Free Speech Movement began over a strip of sidewalk: the university had banned political tables at the campus edge near Bancroft Way and Telegraph Avenue, where student groups had long recruited.

Photo op: Stand a few steps south of Sather Gate and frame its arch with the Campanile rising behind it.

More on Wikipedia: Sproul Plaza · Sather Gate · Free Speech Movement · Mario Savio

Sproul Plaza and Sather Gate - Birthplace of Free Speech

Stops on this tour