The strike ended without any re-instatements, but led to the widespread unionization of public college faculty in the New York City area.
Edward J. Burke, President of St. John's, during 1965, including a walk-out of about two hundred professors from a general faculty meeting on March 6, 1965.
[1] The continuing unrest led to Father Burke's removal as President by the Board of Trustees - he was replaced by the Very Rev.
The AAUP refused to engage in a strike, and largely withdrew from the dispute when faculty appeared to support Kugler.
[3] A National Citizens Committee for the Defense of Academic Freedom at St. John's University sponsored a rally at the Manhattan Center, attended by over 2,000 people.
The committee was co-chaired by historian Richard Hofstadter of Columbia University, and John Leo, associate editor of Commonweal.
Using tactics pioneered by Albert Shanker to win collective bargaining rights for New York City public school teachers, Kugler pushed for local and state government officials to get involved in the dispute.
Kugler took professors' case to the Vatican and sought an individual audience with Pope Paul VI, whose encyclicals on workers' rights were repeatedly cited by the union.