1971-72

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.

November
Nov 1


 * Lois Bailey, the first student accepted to Hampshire, has transferred to Williams College; in their student newspaper, the Advocate, she flippantly criticizes Hampshire for suffering from "isolationism, academic anxiety, and hyperseriousness." [Climax: November 18, 1971]

Nov 9


 * Mrs. Phillip Ives begins the long-standing border dispute over access to Howard Atkins' apple stand when she notifies Ken Rosenthal, College Treasurer, that she does not want students "trespassing" on her property between the campus and Atkins' land.[Memo to Charles Atkinson: November 9, 1971]

Nov 18


 * Climax, the first full-size student newspaper of Hampshire, debuts. Its staff includes second-year students Richard Asinof, Betsy Dietel, Tom Kizzia, and Kim Shelton, and first-year students Richard Barber, Doug Fleisher, and Phil Robertson. [Climax: November 18, 1971]

Nov 30


 * A large red sculpture that had been installed on the library lawn disappears; a group calling itself the "Hole In The Wall" gang posts notices all over campus claiming that half of the sculpture will be found in the President's office. [Climax: December 2, 1971]

December
Dec 1


 * Part of the red sculpture that had been stolen from the library lawn is found in the science building; a second part is found later on campus by maintenance foreman Andy Weneczek; the missing third piece is a mystery -- the sculpture was only two pieces. [Climax: December 14, 1971]

Dec 2


 * Bob McNitt, a second-year student, has been forced to close a co-op store he started out of his room, Dakin D-212, because not enough people have paid the $2.00 dues; he had been selling a variety of foods and sundries for only 5% over wholesale price. [Climax: December 2, 1971]
 * Second-year student Morgan Wesson is hosting a regularly scheduled news program on Intran. [Climax: December 2, 1971]

Dec 6


 * The pool table and pinball machines that had been in the basement of Dakin K are removed due to vandalism; first-year student David Short designs a plan for converting Merrill AB-3 into a recreation room, complete with games and new walls. [Climax: 12/14/71; Comm. Council Proposal: 11/17/71]

Dec 9


 * The Hampshire Chorus and the Hampshire Brass Choir have made their performance debuts, under the direction of Valerie Pilcher, a music professor, and Daniel Asia, a first-year student, respectively. [Climax: December 9, 1971]
 * The Way Biblical Fellowship holds meetings to study the Bible in a nondenominational context, lead by Brownie Gillespie, a first-year student and follower of The Way ministry; student member Paul Schalow states, "Christ Jesus is dwelling at Hampshire." [Climax: December 9, 1971]
 * The Coffee House, held in a basement room of Dakin and organized this year by transfer student Laura Colan, is unable to maintain its consistent weekend evening programs due to lack of student staff volunteers. [Climax: December 9, 1971]
 * Dean of the College Richard Lyon calls a meeting to discuss how the idea of a "concentration" for Division II should be constructed. [Climax: December 9, 1971]

Dec 11


 * Chas Belknap, a first-year fellow, becomes the first Hampshire student to marry a Smith student, Joan Howarth; assistant professor of anthropology Philip McKean performs the ceremony at the Second Congregational Church in South Amherst. [Climax: December 14, 1971]

Dec 14


 * Second-year student Tom Griggs reports that he and his group of recycling enthusiasts are collecting an average of 1,200 pounds of paper from campus each week, earning six dollars per ton at a local salvage yard. [Climax: December 14, 1971]

January
Jan 18


 * Bob Rardin, a linguistics professor, holds the first of two school-wide meetings to discuss his controversial paper, "Liberal Corporation or Radical Collective: Two Models of a College," launching a wave of self-reflection for the community. [Climax: February 3, 1972]

Jan 24


 * Lynn Miller proposes a work-study program allowing students to fill full-time paid positions while enrolled, and to allow full-time staff to matriculate as students. [Memo to Community Council: January 24, 1972]
 * A campus-wide petition to show support for Lester Mazor's reappointment as the Luce professor of law garners over 350 signatures; petitioners claim that there was not enough community input in his reappointment process. [Climax: February 3, 1972]

Jan 31


 * Larry Domash, assistant professor of physics, writes a letter to the students in his "Science and Eastern Thought" class, explaining that he will not return to Hampshire in the spring because he wants to stay in Spain meditating with the Maharishi Yogi. [Climax: February 3, 1972]

February
Feb 3


 * Students Cynthia Cattell, Peter McFarren, and Martha Steele organize a week-long symposium on Latin America to be held April 8-15, to dispel "misconceptions about forces working for change in LatinAmerica." [Climax: February 3, 1972]
 * Statistics released show that of the 259 students who entered Hampshire in the 1970-71 school year, only 16 withdrew after the first year. [Climax: February 3, 1972]
 * $3,000 worth of audio-visual equipment, which students had "borrowed" from the library since September, is now missing and unaccounted for. [Climax: February 3, 1972]

Feb 11


 * The News and The Aboriginal Amateur Hour, two regularly scheduled television programs on Intran, have been joined by a third "show", in which the activities of a dog are shown continuously for 24 hours; the telecast is repeated for several weeks. [Climax: February 11, 1972]

Feb 14


 * The Western Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (WMPIRG) begins a petition campaign to establish a base at Hampshire. [Climax: February 11, 1972]

Feb 16


 * Second-year students Jarvis McCarther and Vanessa Barabino present the Constitution of the Hampshire College Third World Organization to Community Council. [Community Council Misc.: 72S-ZQ9]

Feb 25


 * The Third World student body writes an open letter to the Hampshire community detailing problems in the academic program, Third World representation, and Financial Aid. [Climax: February 25, 1972]
 * The Hampshire College hockey team visits Windham College; first-year student Carlos Garcia ties the game 3-3 with a dramatic goal in the last seconds of the game. Windham is bewildered, Hampshire goes home happy. [Climax: February 25, 1972]

Feb 29


 * Students Louis Braun and Michael Ubell are asked by other students to leave the Sadie Hawkins Day Dance in the dining commons when they show up with a video camera and lights, shooting footage for the Hampshire television news program to air that night. [Climax: March 3, 1972]

March
Mar 2


 * Student salaries are raised 15 cents to $1.75 per hour, the minimum wage for Massachusetts; the Compensation Committee, who approved the increase, also implements an incentive program allowing for 10-cent raises to diligent students every three months. [Climax: March 16, 1972]

Mar 9


 * The Hampshire Gay Friends group starts meeting with the Student Homophile League of UMass. [Climax: February 25, 1972]

Mar 10


 * The School of Humanities and Communication adopts a new Division I exam policy, which requires a student's proposal for a project to be approved by his or her advisor, a screening committee, and an exam committee before the exam can even be started. [Climax: March 10, 1972]
 * Eight white students demand a public response from the administration to the letter written by the Third World student body on February 24. [Climax: March 10, 1972]

Mar 22


 * A proposal is presented by first-year fellow Tim Higgins, describing plans to redesign the dining commons by building a wall to separate the dish room from the front room and installing sound-absorbing tiles and movable ceiling curtains. [Climax: March 16, 1972]

April
Apr 3


 * Charles Longsworth tries a month-long "experiment" in which he invites students to his house for an evening seminar on writing, assigning and evaluating "short but demanding" papers. [Climax: March 16, 1972]

Apr 7


 * The first Hampshire College magazine that was proposed in Februrary by first-year student Barbara Cottman has finally been produced; the staff of the 64-page premiere includes students Francis Goldwyn, Steve Steisel, Karen Braucher, and Art Samuelson. [Climax: April 7, 1972]

Apr 20


 * All college business is suspended for two days as the Hampshire community joins over 250 other colleges in a strike to oppose U.S. military involvement in Indochina; meetings focus on the role of the college in a world of war and social injustice. [Climax: April 20, 1972]
 * In the midst of the strike, members of the Third World Organization release a statement to address the oppression of Third World peoples all over the world, not just in Vietnam, and detail the lack of Third World support at Hampshire. [Climax: April 20, 1972]

Apr 21


 * In a large demonstration of civil disobedience, a number of students join a contingent that halts ongoing traffic at the main gate of Westover Air Force base in Chicopee; 100 protestors are arrested. [Climax: April 21, 1972]

Apr 23


 * William Farnsworth, father of second-year student Cricket Farnsworth, leads an unrehearsed community meeting in the AB lounge, as the plans for Parents' Day are scrapped to allow for seminars on problems confronting the Hampshire community and the war.[Climax: April 24, 1972]

Apr 24


 * The Third World Organization issues a list of imperatives to be met by the college, including priority for Third World faculty and staff candidates, and the institution of programs in Asian, American Indian, and Hispanic studies. [Climax: April 24, 1972]

Apr 28


 * The master keys for both Merrill and Dakin are discovered to have been missing for nearly two weeks when a rash of thefts from locked rooms raises suspicions; the keys had been available to students all year in the house offices for "night use". [Climax: April 28, 1972]

May
May 1


 * Members of the Third World Organization occupy the Natural Science and Mathematics Building in response to the imperatives they submitted to the administration the week before; it is the first student takeover since Hampshire opened. [Memo from Charles Longsworth: May 1, 1972] Learn More: Occupation of Cole Science Center (1972).

May 2


 * Members of the Third World Organization, still occupying the N.S. & M. building, reach preliminary agreement with President Longsworth on some of the students' proposals; the 38-hour occupation ends at sundown. [Climax: May 4, 1972]

May 4


 * A sulfur bomb is tossed by an unknown perpetrator into the basement of Merrill B, going off immediately outside second-year student Mark Morrison's door; a resulting panic sends Merrill residents out of the building, believing there is a fire. [Climax: May 4, 1972]
 * Statistics show that of the 251 students who entered in Fall 1970, 140 will have taken at least one semester's leave of absence by next fall; the attrition rate, however, is still less than the national average of 10%, as only 24 students have withdrawn.[Climax: May 4, 1972]
 * Nearly 200 students have sent letters of petition to President Longsworth supporting the appointment of Vera Rony, a Third World administrator from SUNY Stony Brook with years of impressive experience, to the Dean of the School of Social Science. [Climax: May 4, 1972]

May 10


 * Anais Nin, famous French writer of erotica, is granted a $200 contingency by Community Council to speak at graduation. [Community Council Minutes: May 10, 1972]

May 16


 * Victor Lloyd, administrative assistant to the President, and David Roberts, director of the Outdoors Program, host the first Hampshire trivia contest on Intran, featuring a contest between Merrill and the East Module vs. Dakin and the West Module. [Climax: May 4, 1972]