being one of the people in charge of the organizing and planning the national action for the organization, robbins was based in chicago, illinois. during one of his visits to the local collectives and attending one of their meetings he had responded to a comment of a female sds member in a very offensive tone. some female members, including chicago sds/weathermen cathy wilkerson, challenged him and accused robbins of being sexist and disrespectful of a woman's opinion. after a scuffle had broken out, robbins and the women sat down to try and resolve their issues. in the end robbins and the women agreed to disagree. a kinship between wilkerson and robbins began to develop, which eventually led to an intimate relationship.