1974-75

This Timeline is based on a portion of Tim Shary's A History of Student Activities and Achievements at Hampshire College. Anything not otherwise cited comes from this source.

1974

 * Staff Union Drive (1974-75)

August
Aug 25


 * The Pre-College Wilderness Program offers the first pre-college trips to entering students. [Climax: September 25, 1975]

Aug 26


 * A Report on the Remaking of Hampshire Governance (1974) was published.

September
Sep 1


 * Thorpe House, just north of Bob Stiles House on West Street, is opened to eight students, becoming the sixth "house" on campus; it was bought from and named after its owner, Paul Thorpe. [Climax: February 27, 1976]

Sep 24


 * Division IV, the student snack bar in Emily Dickinson Hall, has closed to due a lack of space and profit; attention shifts to the new Prescott Tavern to provide the same services. [Climax: September 24, 1974]
 * A controversy forms when it is learned that over the summer certain members of the administration censored and revised the Student Handbook edited by Director of Governance Daphne Reed and student Jennifer Gunn, due to its "informality and casualness". [Climax: September 24, 1974]

October
Oct 8


 * Student Kenneth Garfield, in a report for Climax, reveals that the Academic Council has failed to meet quorum (usually 50 to 60) in three of their past six meetings, citing numerous problems with the Council as a whole. [Climax: October 8, 1974]

Oct 10


 * Third-year student Mimi Shanley is Saga Food Service's one millionth customer at the Dining Commons; she is rewarded with a special free dinner, a booklet of meal tickets, and a three-year old bottle of Chateau Cantemere. [Climax: October 15, 1974]

Oct 24


 * Michael Collins is convicted in Northampton Superior Court for raping two Hampshire women in 1973; after an unsuccessful plea of criminal insanity, he is sentenced to 9-12 years for rape, narcotics, and assault offenses. [Climax: November 12, 1974]

November
Nov 6


 * First-year students Gordon Helman and Candy Beardsley organize a petition to protest the expected tuition increase of $500 for next year. [Climax: November 12, 1974]

Nov 21


 * After numerous problems with enforcing the pet "phase-out", Community Council bans all pets from campus beginning in September, 1975; this ban will then be informally lifted over the years following. [Community Council Minutes: November 21, 1974]

Nov 23


 * Students organize a "Town Meeting" to discuss the financial aid reductions and tuition increases that the administration has said are forthcoming. [Climax: December 10, 1974]

December
Dec 5


 * In the first attempt by the college to expel a student, the Judicial Board rules that third-year student Harry Bates was denied due process in facing charges of theft, thereby nullifying the decision; the Dakin House Judicial Board is to decide the case. [Climax: December 10, 1974]

Dec 10


 * Students have formed the "Hampshire Students Collective" to mobilize ideas on the financial aid crisis; by mid-December their number has risen to over 100, and their mandate grows to gain student involvement in the decision-making process at Hampshire. [Climax: December 10 and 17, 1974]

Dec 14


 * The Board of Trustees adjourns during a meeting when 120 students march to Blair Hall with demands to hold an open meeting with the trustees to discuss Financial Aid; 15 students are allowed to attend for 45 minutes until trustees declare coercion. [Climax: December 17, 1974]

January
Jan 2


 * Franklin Patterson, founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, publicly announces his resignation from the Board; he states that he had planned to resign before the controversial December meeting, in order to take care of "other responsibilities". [Climax: January 14, 1975]

Jan 5


 * First-year students Jacquey Barber and Sarah Helyar begin an experiment in which they affix patches over their eyes to become blind for three and two weeks respectively; Climax prints excerpts from Barber's journal written during the amazing ordeal. [Climax: January 21, 1975]

Jan 10


 * Due to a lack of communication over the winter break, students receive phone bills which warn that they have seven days to pay or their phones will be disconnected. [Climax: January 21, 1975]

Jan 14


 * A random cycles survey of students finds that 22% are unhappy with their experience ~ at Hampshire, compared to 15% for the previous year; nearly a third feel that their "House experience is lacking".[Climax: January 14, 1975]

Jan 15


 * New Chairman of the Board of Trustees John Kendall holds an open meeting in the library for three hours to talk with students; with only one public announcement posted for the meeting, most of the 20-30 students who do attend find him evasive. [Climax: January 21, 1975]

Jan 21


 * Harry Bates has been placed on one year's suspension, for his alleged involvment in numerous thefts, after a hearing by the Dakin House Judicial Board. [Climax: January 21, 1975]

Jan 28


 * Hampshire holds its first January Commencement; 35 graduates are awarded degrees in the ceremony held at the Dining Commons. [Climax: February 11, 1975]

February
Feb 9


 * A vandal described as "heavy-set and mean looking" romps through floors in each Merrill building using his bare hands to pulverize virtually anything breakable that he can find; he is later apprehended, but authorities only state he is not a student. [Climax: February 11, 1975]

Feb 12


 * Trustees Charles Merrill, Mabel Smythe, Elting Morrison, Thomas Mendenhall, and President Longsworth meet with students in two informal gatherings and at a Student Collective forum to discuss unresolved issues in governance and finance. [Climax: February 18, 1975]
 * The three Hampshire members of the Five-College Student Coordinating Board resign from their posts, citing dissatisfaction with Student Coordinating Board in elections and funding; other board members call the resignations "melodramatic". [Climax: February 25, 1975]

Feb 22


 * Students Byron Coley and Mark Jay fall from the third floor fire escape of the Prescott Tavern during drunken "horseplay", both landing on the concrete below and sustaining multiple injuries. [Climax: February 25, 1975]

Feb 25


 * Members of the Student Collective, working with a handful of Trustees, produce a proposal for a campus-wide work program in which everyone would work, without pay, a set number of hours each week, so that money saved could be used toward financial aid. [Climax: February 25, 1975]

Feb 26


 * Andrew Rucks, a third-year student, is administratively withdrawn from the school due to failure to pay past fees; Rucks, a Third World student, claims that racism and discrimination are involved, while administrators say the cause is only economical. [Climax: March 4, 1975]

Feb 27


 * Debate continues between the Five-College Student Coordinating Board and Hampshire representatives as Community Council and the resigned members begin an investigation into the board's alleged misuse of funds, freezing funding until further notice. [Climax: March 4, 1975]

March
Mar 1


 * A ban on all types of smoking at "certain indoor group meetings" on campus goes into effect, after being approved by Community Council; the new rule allows for smoking at meetings when all present are smokers, and recommends "smoke breaks" when not. [Community Council Minutes: February 14, 1975]

Mar 4


 * Allen Torrey, Amherst's Town Manager for the past 21 years, has accepted appointment as Treasurer of the college. [Climax: March 4, 1975]
 * Student Scott Blau has opened and operates "Bookie Blau's Exchange" out of a Merrill dorm room, offering a variety of books, including class texts, for exchange or low cost; the Uroboros bookstore in the library had recently prohibited browsing. [Climax: March 4, 1975]

Mar 6


 * Over 100 students stage a demonstration to protest what they feel are racist policies responsible for the withdrawal of Andrew Rucks; after lengthy negotiations, administrators and members of the Third World and Student Collectives reach a compromise. [Climax: March 11, 1975]
 * Hours after an agreement is announced in the Andrew Rucks case, Rucks is confronted by three female Third World students in the RCC who allegedly taunt him verbally and physically until he forcefully has to separate himself from them in order to leave. [Climax: March 11, 1975]

Mar 7


 * Andrew Rucks is arraigned on assault and battery charges filed by student Julie Walker, one of the three women involved in the previous night's altercation; Rucks is informed later that day that he is again barred from campus. [Climax: March 11, 1975]

Mar 10


 * Andrew Rucks is reinstated as a student after further negotiations between members of the Third World and Student Collectives and the administration; the collectives claim their efforts resulted in Rucks's readmission, which the administration denies. [Climax: March 18, 1975]

Mar 15


 * The Board of Trustees approves a $7.5 million budget for the 1975-76 academic year, despite being presented with a petition signed by over 800 students asking them to delay the final decision for a month to allow for more student involvement. [Climax: March 18, 1975]

Mar 18


 * Second-year student Melanie Shorin is producing a new television interview program for Intran called "Hampshire Issues"; along with student Biff Price, she has produced the regularly scheduled college news program on Intran for the past two semesters. [Climax: March 18, 1975]

April
Apr 8


 * Hampshire students Jane Fleishman, Fred Landes, Terence Tierney, and Bill Price, all members of the PCP (Progressive Candidates Pool), are defeated in an election for membership to the Amherst Town Meeting. [Climax: April 15, 1975]

Apr 9


 * Northampton District Court orders the case against Andrew Rucks, charged with assault and battery, "continued without finding on Not Guilty plea." [Climax: April 15, 1975]

Apr 15


 * The Hampshire Student Collective prints a paid eight-page supplement to Climax, detailing the history, activities, and plans of the group. [Climax: April 15, 1975]

May
May 2


 * First-year student Wesley Takahashi falls from the roof of Dakin D while fencing with another student; after landing on the grass below, he is transported to a local hospital and diagnosed with a spinal fracture.[Climax: May 6, 1975]

May 6


 * 23 parents of students have submitted a petition to President Longsworth urging the administration to force faculty to complete student evaluations more "promptly and completely". [Climax: May 6, 1975]

May 8


 * Community Council approves the second set of guidelines for community living, the Bill of Rights. [Community Council Minutes: May 8, 1975]

May 9


 * Students associated with the Hampshire Chapter of the National Committee to Re- Open the Rosenberg Case stage a demonstration in front of Northampton District Court to protest the withholding of files on the 1950's conspiracy case. [Climax: May 13, 1975]

May 10


 * Director of Financial Aid John Taylor organizes an auction of donated goods to support financial aid; Amherst Chief of Police Donald Maia is the caller for the auction held in the library quad, which raises almost $1,000.[Climax: May 13, 1975]