vis-à-vis such ascendent institutions as Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, leading historian Robert McCaughey to characterize the epoch as the "afternoon on the Hudson." Kirk's relationship with the student body began to degenerate in the early 1960s as students got caught up in the civil rights and anti-war movements and began to protest openly on campus. In 1959, Kirk started to pursue the construction of a gymnasium suitable for intercollegiate sports competition. Construction was delayed for several years due to lack of funds, during which time community resentment over the University's crowding out its poorer neighbors festered. When construction began in February, 1968, Harlem community activists and civil rights figures protested vigorously enough for the University to fence off the site and post a police guard. Also in 1959, Kirk entered Columbia into its relationship with the Institute for Defense Analyses, which would draw much fire from the anti-war movement, particularly the Students for a Democratic Society, nearly a decade later. The University and Kirk came under fire in 1967 for attempting to patent and promote a "healthier" cigarette filter developed by New Jersey chemist Robert Louis Strickman. Questions regarding the filter's effectiveness began to surface just before Kirk was to testify before Congress as to its benefits. On April 23, 1968, student protesters began what would become an eight-day occupation of five university buildings and the president’s office. Students were protesting the university’s affiliation with the Institute for Defense Analyses and its plans to construct a new gymnasium in Morningside Park that had one entrance for Columbia students and faculty and another entrance for members of the neighboring West Harlem community, who would not have access to all of the facilities. Kirk initially agreed to address some of the protesters demands, but ultimately filed trespass charges against them and called in police to clear the occupied buildings. After the incident, Kirk resisted calls for his resignation, but stayed away from graduation and eventually announced his retirement before the start of the next academic year. In 1974, a newly-constructed gymnasium finally opened. Later years After relinquishing the presidency, Kirk completed terms on the Council on Foreign Relations and the Association of American Universities, serving as president of the former organization until 1971. Prior to the 1968 disturbances, Kirk received honorary degrees from a number of institutions, including the University of Wisconsin–Madison (1953), Yale University (1953), Harvard University