Free Speech Movement in the context of Bettina Aptheker

The New Left was a broad political movement that emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s and continued through the 1970s. It consisted of activists in the Western world who, in reaction to the era's liberal establishment, campaigned for freer lifestyles on a broad range of social issues such as feminism, gay rights, drug policy reforms, and gender relations. The New Left differs from the traditional left in that it tended to acknowledge the struggle for various forms of social justice, whereas previous movements prioritized explicitly economic goals. However, many have used the term "New Left" to describe an evolution, continuation, and revitalization of traditional leftist goals.

Some who self-identified as "New Left" rejected involvement with the labor movement and Marxism's historical theory of class struggle; however, others gravitated to their own takes on established forms of Marxism, such as the New Communist movement (which drew from Maoism) in the United States or the K-Gruppen in the German-speaking world. In the United States, the movement was associated with the anti-war college-campus protest movements, including the Free Speech Movement.

John Rogers Searle (/sɜːrl/ ; July 31, 1932 – September 17, 2025) was an American philosopher widely noted for contributions to the philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and social philosophy. He began teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1959 and was Willis S. and Marion Slusser Professor Emeritus of the Philosophy of Mind and Language and Professor of the Graduate School until June 2019, when his status as professor emeritus was revoked because he was found to have violated the university's sexual harassment policies.

As an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Searle was secretary of "Students against Joseph McCarthy". He received all his university degrees, BA, MA, and DPhil, from the University of Oxford, where he held his first faculty positions. Later, at UC Berkeley, he became the first tenured professor to join the 1964–1965 Free Speech Movement. In the late 1980s, Searle challenged the restrictions of Berkeley's 1980 rent stabilization ordinance. Following what came to be known as the California Supreme Court's "Searle Decision" of 1990, Berkeley changed its rent control policy, leading to large rent increases between 1991 and 1994.

Mario Savio (December 8, 1942 – November 6, 1996) was an American activist and a key member of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement. He is most famous for his passionate speeches, especially the "Bodies Upon the Gears" address given at Sproul Hall, University of California, Berkeley on December 2, 1964.

Savio remains historically relevant as an icon of the earliest phase of the 1960s counterculture movement.

Jack Weinberg (born April 4, 1940) is an American environmental activist and former New Left activist who is best known for his role in the Free Speech Movement at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1964.

Jacqueline Barbara Goldberg (born November 18, 1944) is an American former politician, activist and educator who served as a member of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education for District 5 from 2019 until 2024. Previously serving as a board member from 1983 until 1991, Goldberg has also served as a member of the Los Angeles City Council and the California State Assembly.

Participating in the Free Speech Movement while a student at the University of California, Berkeley, Goldberg was first elected to the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education in 1983. In 1993, she was elected to the Los Angeles City Council for the 13th district, becoming the first openly lesbian candidate elected to the city council. Goldberg was later elected to the California State Assembly for the 45th district. After a period away from electoral politics, she was re-elected to the Board of Education in 2019.

A free university is an organization offering uncredited, public classes without restrictions to who can teach or learn. They differ in structure. In 1980 in the United States, about half were associated with a traditional university, about a third were independent, and the remainder were associated with a community group. About half at that time operated without fees. Starting with University of California, Berkeley's Free Speech Movement in 1964, hundreds of free universities sprouted within university communities throughout the 1960s as organizations for underground activism and political education. They were also known as experimental colleges, open education exchanges, and communiversities. After 1960s student activism subsided, free universities moved their programming off-campus and continued to exist as a venue for lifelong learning. After a slight lull in the early 1970s, enrollment increased mid-decade as part of an adult education wave.

The 1960s Berkeley protests were a series of events at the University of California, Berkeley, and Berkeley, California. Many of these protests were a small part of the larger Free Speech Movement, which had national implications and constituted the onset of the counterculture of the 1960s. These protests were headed under the informal leadership of students Mario Savio, Jack Weinberg, Brian Turner, Bettina Aptheker, Steve Weissman, Art Goldberg, Jackie Goldberg, and others.