1976-77

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.

August
Aug 22
 * Student Sig Roos and film librarian Ruth Rae are arrested in an act of civil disobedience by occupying the site of the Seabrook nuclear plant with 177 other demonstrators; they are sentenced to 30 days in prison and a fine, which they appeal. [Climax: November 4, 1976]

September
Sep 10
 * Students Steve Lewis and Mark Wittow announce the first issue of The Undergraduate Journal of the Social Sciences and Arts, which will feature student work, is being published in October. [Community Council Misc.: 76F-ZO3]

Sep 25
 * Byron Coley begins a fight in the Merrill quad with student Ed Casey; Security responds but is unable to control Coley, who pushes away the guards and tries to hide in Merrill C; he and Casey are apprehended by Amherst Police within thirty minutes. [Climax: October 7, 1976]

Sep 26
 * Byron Coley is administratively withdrawn and put on medical leave status in a meeting with house staff concerning his previous actions; he is told he cannot return to Hampshire until he seeks counseling. [Climax: October 7, 1976]

Sep 29
 * Student Scott Haas is publishing the controversial but popular magazine, Subtle Good Humor. [Community Council Misc.: 76F-Z25]

Sep 30
 * A group of students called The Friends of Michael Cannon Committee has formed to support second-year student Cannon, who was declared ineligible for financial aid when he submitted his application too late; the group argues on extenuating circumstances. [Climax: September 30, 1976]
 * Charles Longsworth has announced his decision to resign as President effective June 30, 1977, in order to take over the Presidency of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. [Climax: September 30, 1976]

October
Oct 7
 * In response to the deepening crisis in Southern Africa, Hampshire students form a Five-College group called the Committee for the Liberation of Southern Africa, which has begun to conduct meetings and seminars. [Climax: October 7, 1976]

Oct 13
 * Treasurer Allen Torrey announces that the annual Halloween Party, which last year received national media attention, has been cancelled "because it is a menace to public safety"; when students organize a petition, he calls their actions "juvenile". [Climax: October 21, 1976]

Oct 14
 * Student reporter Peeper Koechl returns to former professor Bob Rardin's home for the second part of an interview, but he refuses to talk to her; she decides to abandon the idea for an article because he "is going through a bad time emotionally". [Climax: October 21, 1976]

Oct 15
 * Five students living in Prescott House are caught by a security guard who is tipped off to a toilet paper heist taking place in Dakin House; they are cornered and apprehended in a bathroom with 30 rolls of toilet paper in their possession. [Climax: October 21, 1976]

Oct 19
 * Students Suzanne Fogel and Paul Bockelman are elected to be members on the Presidential Search Committee.[Climax: November 4, 1976]

Oct 29
 * Third-year student Bill Bambrick, a resident of mod 44, dies of cancer at the age of 20, one day after leaving campus to return to his house in Natick. [Climax: November 4, 1976]

Oct 30
 * After a compromise is reached in negotiations between C.O.C.A. and Allen Torrey, the Halloween Party is held in the Dining Commons; the size of the crowd is limited by selling the tickets, $1 for Hampshire students, $2 for guests. [Climax: November 4, 1976]

December
Dec 2
 * The Presidential search process is discussed in the first all-community meeting called by the College Council in two years; about 200 people attend. [Climax: December 9, 1976]

Dec 16
 * Protests ensue when Joel Meister, Prescott House Master and sociology professor, is denied reappointment for unclear reasons. [Climax: December 16, 1976]

January
Jan 5
 * The new Atticus bookstore opens in the place of Uroboros on the first floor of the library center; operated by a national company, the store has security guards on staff and offers charge accounts. [Climax: February 10, 1977]

February
Feb 3
 * Candidates for Hampshire's new President are being brought to campus under restricted and cautious conditions; a few students are allowed to ask certain questions, but members of the Presidential Search Committee are "worried about leaks". [Climax: February 3, 1977]
 * Student and Chairperson of C.O.C.D. David Rath has entered negotiations with Allen Torrey to open a coffee house in the basement of the Red Barn. [Climax: February 3, 1977]

Feb 15
 * Members of the Committee for the Liberation of Southern Africa present Allen Torrey with demands that the college oppose and divest its investments in corporations that operate in South Africa. [Climax: February 24, 1977]

Feb 24
 * Statistics show that the attrition rate for students has risen to 40%, twice the national average for undergraduate schools. [Climax: February 24, 1977]

March
Mar 10
 * New England Telephone has reported that $3,257 in illicit long-distance phone calls were made by students from October to January due to a problem with the "toll restriction system," which students publicized among themselves until N.E.T. discovered the problem. [Climax: March 10, 1977]
 * Climax prints its annual Women's Issue during Women's Week, held March 6-12, and featuring a reading by feminist poet Marge Piercy. [Climax: March 10, 1977]

April
Apr 1
 * Hampshire has announced the appointment of its third President, Adele Simmons, currently Dean of Student Affairs at Princeton University. [Climax: April 1, 1977]

Apr 14
 * Charles Longsworth has vetoed the idea of having an open microphone available at commencement so that each graduate may speak for one minute; he claims that an open mike format, which was only used in 1975, would make the ceremony too long and boring. [Climax: April 14, 1977]

Apr 21
 * In a special edition of Climax devoted to Southern Africa, it is reported that the Trustees have delayed making a final decision on divestiture from South Africa until the June board meeting. [Climax: April 21, 1977]

Apr 26
 * The Committee for the Liberation of Southern Africa holds an all-community meeting to address the opposition of the Trustees and administration to divesting college stocks from South African-related companies. [Climax, Special Issue on Southern Africa: 4/21/77]

May
May 4
 * The Committee for the Liberation of Southern Africa occupies the administrative offices of Cole Science Center after months of extensive attempts to make the Trustees divest the College's stocks in corporations that have South African holdings. [Statement by the H.C.C.L.S.A., May 4, 1977]

May 7
 * At the height of the occupation, Charles Longsworth announces that the Chairman of the Trustees has ordered the College Treasurer to sell the stocks of companies operating in South Africa; Hampshire thus becomes the first U.S. college to start divesting. [Statement by Charles Longsworth: May 7, 1977]