Alan Haber


Robert Alan Haber is an American activist. He was the first president of Students for a Democratic Society, a U.S. radical student activist organization. Haber was elected at the first meeting of SDS in 1960. FBI files at the time indicated his official title as Field Secretary. Described variously at the time as "Ann Arbor's resident radical" and "reticent visionary", Haber organized a human rights conference in April of that year which "marked the debut of SDS" and invited four organizers of the 1960 NAACP sit-ins against segregated lunch counters in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Early life and education

Haber "came from a leftist background". His father William Haber, an economist, former dean and professor at the University of Michigan, was an "energetic" supporter of U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal with socialist-progressive sympathies. Haber's parents named him after former Wisconsin governor, congressman and senator Robert M. La Follette, Sr., advocate of the Wisconsin Idea political reforms in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Haber has one brother.
In 1954, Haber enrolled at the University of Michigan. He graduated in 1965.

Career

Haber makes a living as a cabinetmaker. Currently, he is working on the Megiddo Peace Project, and is involved with the revival of Students for a Democratic Society.
He helped found the Berkeley, California Long Haul Infoshop, an anarchist resource center and community space.

Personal life

Haber lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with his partner Odile Hugonot-Haber.