Cohen, Robert Francis, 1946-

Robert F. Cohen Jr. was born on November 4, 1946. He graduated from Brown in 1968. His father (Robert F. Cohen) also went to Brown, class of 1932.

While at Brown, Cohen spent the spring semester of 1966 at Tougaloo College, as part of Brown’s program with Tougaloo. It was one of the most profound experiences of his life, and served as a foundation for his later political ideas. After returning from Mississippi he spent the summer of 1966 working for George Wiley, a Providence native and one of the most important, yet largely unknown, civil rights leaders of the 1960s, at the Citywide Coordinating Committee of Welfare Rights Groups in New York. This was his first experience with community organizing. Upon his return to school in the fall of 1966 he became involved with Brown’s Campus Action Council (CAC), formed as an alternative to Students for a Democratic Society. CAC was involved in the anti-Vietnam War movement but also linked their work to local issues of poverty and racism. During his involvement with CAC Cohen participated in numerous campaigns, including a sit-in at the State Capitol leading to the passage of a fair housing law as part of the People Against Poverty campaign, anti-recruitment demonstrations aimed at DOW Chemical, the CIA and the military, an educational seminar series, benefit concerts, including one by Pete Seeger, and coalitional work with other student organizations, including their support of the Freedom School that resulted from a boycott by Brown’s African-American students. Cohen served as the President of CAC during the 1967-1968 school year.

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