Was Eric Holder involved in an 'armed' takeover at Columbia University?

It appears that Eric Holder's account of an incident he was involved in at Columbia University has taken an interesting turn that, if true, should have precluded him from climbing the Government latter in the Department of Justice.

Via Daily Caller:

As a freshman at Columbia University in 1970, future Attorney General Eric Holder participated in a five-day occupation of an abandoned Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) headquarters with a group of black students later described by the university’s Black Students’ Organization as “armed,” The Daily Caller has learned.

Department of Justice spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler has not responded to questions from The Daily Caller about whether Holder himself was armed — and if so, with what sort of weapon.

Holder was then among the leaders of the Student Afro-American Society (SAAS), which demanded that the former ROTC office be renamed the “Malcolm X Lounge.” The change, the group insisted, was to be made “in honor of a man who recognized the importance of territory as a basis for nationhood.”

Black radicals from the same group also occupied the office of Dean of Freshman Henry Coleman until their demands were met. Holder has publicly acknowledged being a part of that action.

While Holder has acknowledged being part of this and other protests, the notion that he participated in an 'armed' takeover should have precluded him from passing a background check - known as a Form 86.

Perhaps this excerpt from the DC might help to explain why he might have passed one:

Though then-Dean Carl Hovde declared the occupation of the Naval ROTC office illegal and said it violated university policy, the college declined to prosecute any of the students involved. This decision may have been made to avoid a repeat of violent Columbia campus confrontations between police and members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in 1968.

The ROTC headquarters was ultimately renamed the Malcolm X lounge as the SAAS organization demanded. It later became a hang-out spot for another future U.S. leader, Barack Obama, according to David Maraniss’ best-selling ”Barack Obama: The Story.”

There's no way of knowing how things would have turned out differently had Dean Hovde decided to prosecute the case but if the takeover was 'armed', Holder's life likely would have taken a drastically different turn.

We also see, once again, that the path of least resistance is rarely the advised course of action.