A History of Student Activities, 1978-1982
Compiled by Tim Shary
1978
Feb 1
"Meltdown at Montague" is published, a book on the consequences of a meltdown accident at the proposed Montague Nuclear Power Plant; it is the first report of its kind, authored by two students and faculty members. [Climax: February 6, 1978]
Feb 6 Climax returns with the editorial staff of students Peter Hurwitz, Ruth Horowitz, and Lance Haver. [Climax: February 6, 1978]
Feb 6
The Grassroots Network, a group of students working for political change within the college, has begun efforts to raise the student work wage to the federal minimum of $2.65 per hour, and then againto $2.85 per hour in January 1979. [Climax: February 6, 1978]
Feb 6
A group of 30 students march out of a Beginning Photography class and into Dean of Faculty Penina Glazer's office with a hastily written petition demanding another photography course to be implemented due to inadequate course offerings; Glazer agrees. [Climax: March 2, 1978]
Feb 14
The Retention Task Force, a school-wide committee of representatives selected by Adele Simmons to investigate problems with the attrition rate, has issued its report and recommendations, which include adding courses to facilitate the Division I program. [Climax: February 14, 1978]
Feb 15
The Committee on Racism presents its final 28-page report to over 200 members of the community at a meeting; among the committee's many recommendations is a request for "serious, sustained, and far more agressive emphasis on third world recruitment". [Climax: February 24, 1978]
Feb 27
Adele Simmons holds an informal discussion in the FPH lounge to discuss a proposal from the U.S. Department of Transportation that would designate the Hampshire campus as a headquarters during a national emergency. [Climax: February 24, 1978]
Mar 2
A random survey of other Five College students shows that the typical image of a Hampshire student is "rich, pretentious, weird, and trying to be left-wing when they're actually conservative"; less than 10% surveyed have ever taken a Hampshire class. [Climax: March 2, 1978]
Mar 8
The Grassroots Network submits a petition with nearly 1,000 signatures to President
Simmons demanding a student wage increase from $2.35 to $2.65 per hour. [Climax: March 10, 1978]
Mar 29
Prescott mod 90 is engulfed in flames and burns for over an hour, resulting in six-
figure damages after an electrical heater ignites the bed of first-year student Liz Ross while she is sleeping. [Climax: March 30, 1978]
Apr 11
In light of recurring problems with pets in the dormitory, Merrill House bans dogs from the residence effective for the fall semester, 1978; many students contest the vote i' as being held without enough notice. [Community Council Misc.: 78S-Z13]
Apr 12
A report issued by the former residents of Prescott mods 89 and 90 charges the college with ignoring evidence that indicated the strong possibility of a fire prior to the March 29 blaze. [Climax: April 2S, 1978]
Apr 12
Third-year student Matthew Patrick is the first student to win an Academy Award; "Triptych", a six-minute 16mm film, earns the Experimental Achievement Award in the Student Film Awards division of the A.M.P.A.S. [Climax: October 5, 1978]
Apr 14
Only a small percentage of students surveyed in a poll by Climax feel that Adele Simmons has done an excellent (3.4%) or good (18%) job as the new President; the majority feel her efforts have been fair (37.5%) or poor (18%), with 20% undecided. [Climax: April 14, 1978]
Sep 12
The cafe that students Naomi Guttman, Karen Schmidt, Katie Downes, Brian Fradet, Mike Bird, Nichole Sumner, Martha Zimicki, and Scot Nadel had been planning since last February opens in the bridge joining the library to the RCC. [Climax: September 21, 1978]
Sep 13
The editors of "Boxspring", a literary magazine that has been in existence at Hampshire since the early '70s, vote to change its name to "Norwottuck". The editors of "Boxspring", a literary magazine that has been in existence at Hampshire since the early '70s, vote to change its name to "Norwottuck". [Climax: October 19,
1978]
Oct 17
Students cite constitutional violations as the Senate passes a motion to extend all non- student terms on the Senate by one semester. [Climax: November 3, 1978]
Nov 3
Climax publishes a special issue devoted to President Adele Simmons. [Climax:
November 3, 1978]
Nov 4
Over 30 Hampshire students join over 300 Amherst College students at Amherst to protest the college's $21 million worth of investments in South Africa; Amherst College trustees will not even consider the issue of divestment on their agenda. [Climax: November 16, 1978]
Nov 11
Student Saga worker Davis Bates is fired by his supervisor for refusing to stop garnishing salad condiments with political slogans such as "No Nukes". [Climax: March 9, 1979]
Nov 16
Third-year student Colin Twitchell has not yet been able to make his modified bicycle fly, even after he has spent nearly three years and two Division I exams trying to redesign the bike for air travel. [Climax: November 16, 1978]
Nov 16
The New England Small Farm Center, the first of its kind, is being designed on 200 acres on the east side of campus, to be a research facility for faculty and students. [Climax: November 16, 1978]
Dec 14
Long-time director of the Outdoors Program and literature professor David Roberts has resigned after Adele Simmons informed him that she must begin "dismissal for cause" proceedings against him; students express outrage and confusion. [Climax: December 14, 1978]
1979
Feb 4
Two men steal over $2,000 in cash and small possessions from students
sleeping early on a Saturday morning; security guard Brian Rust chases a suspect car into Amherst center hours later, but the thieves get away. [Climax: February 9, 1979]
Feb 9
A record 20 pregnancies of Hampshire students are reported by Health Services for the past fall semester alone; the highest number previously had been 22 in one year. [Climax: February 9, 1979]
Feb 9
Hampshire Security has been charged with hiring student workers without
interviewing them to determine if they are on financial aid; policy calls for two weeks at the start of each semester in which Financial Aid students are given hiring preference. [Climax: February 9, 1979]
Feb 17
The Judicial Council rules that the rights of Davis Bates "to freely express his ideas", as stated in the Norms for Community Living, were violated when he was fired from his job at Saga for garnishing salad items with political slogans. [Climax: March 9,
1979]
Feb 17
Director of Personnel Bob Fox claims that he is not bound by the Judicial Council's decisions in the Davis Bates case because they have "no constitutional authority to hear employment grievances". [Climax: March 9, 1979]
Feb 18
The second fire in a year breaks out in Prescott, this time caused by a baseboard heater ~ in mod 95; it is successfully extinguished by students before causing major damage, but security guards take 20 minutes to respond to the call. [Climax: February 23, 1979]
Feb 19
Students pass a Community Council referendum calling for an increase in student activities fees to rebuild the second floor of the RCC as a student center. [Climax: February 23, 1979]
Feb 23
House staff have reported that a master key to one of the dorm buildings was stolen by the theives on February 4, but no approval for the recoring of doors in either building has been approved by the administration. [Climax: February 6, 1978]
Feb 23
Leon Brown, a third-year student and the Chairperson of C.O.C.A., has reportedly used a theatre production of "Godspell" to generate hundreds of dollars in illicit revenue for C.O.C.A. [Climax: February 23, 1979]
Feb 24
Infinity, a new Hampshire television news show, debuts on Intran; it is coordinated by alum Roger Mellen and organized by students Bill Kearn, Patti Sobel, Mike Chapman, Tom Giovan, Terry Willis, and Suzie O'Gorman. [Climax: February 23, 1979]
Mar 1
Over 60 students form a human blockade around the Hampshire Mall "Freebus" when it arrives shortly afternoon protesting the economic and social impact of the mall and its bus service, students demand that the bus never return; it never does. [Climax: March 9, 1979]
Mar 9
A petition is again presented to the Board of Trustees demanding complete divestment of the college's funds from companies in South Africa after it is learned that the trustees reinvested $61,000 in such companies last fall. [Climax: March 9, 1979]
Mar 9
Climax prints a retraction to their accusations that Leon Brown was responsible for swindling money for C.O.C.A. from a theatre production, stating simply, "We were wrong." [Climax: March 9, 1979]
Mar 9
Several hundred members of the Clamshell Alliance, an anti-nuclear group, including many Hampshire students, are arrested by police in a sit-in demonstration at Seabrook Nuclear Plant when they attempt to block the delivery of reactor pressure vessels. [Climax: April 13, 1979]
Mar 9
The Board of Trustess approves divestment from three remaining companies with ties to South Africa in which Hampshire funds had been invested. [Climax: September 24, 1979]
Mar 27
After a two-month clandestine stakeout, state police with search warrants raid the campus, targeting Dakin H-l, where they arrest student Keith Dubay and an off- campus friend for possession of one ounce of cocaine and seven pounds of marijuana. [Climax: April 13, 1979]
Mar 27
Less than two hours after the Dakin raid, police take over Enfield mods 65 and 66, where they seize eight large marijuana plants and arrest students Shannon Steel, David Stern, Hiro Chanri, Ellen Blaine, David Hoffman, and Elizabeth Kaplan. [Climax: April 13, 1979]
Mar 27
During the Enfield raid, security guard Ernie Bias falsely announces that the police have a blanket search warrant, sending numerous students into a panic as they quickly dispose of illegal drugs all over campus; dogs are seen staggering for days after. [Climax: April 13, 1979]
Apr 9
All charges against the six students arrested in Enfield two weeks before are dropped; while the Prosecutor states that "intent to distribute" accusations were "unrealistic", the Judge agrees, adding that he had even seen "plants" at Amherst College. [Climax: April 13, 1979]
Apr 13
Enfield mod 57 has won the semester-long "Mod Beautiful Contest" for the most beautiful mod; among a list of other awards, Prescott mod 98 wins the prize for worst mod, and Enfield mod 46 wins the coveted Adele Smith Simmons mod award. [Climax: April 13, 1979]
Apr 13
After continuing controversy, the Chairperson of C.O.C.A., Leon Brown, has resigned; student Diane Dorries is elected to the Chair, promising reform in the mismanaged committee. [Climax: April 13, 1979]
Apr 16
The legal drinking age in Massachusetts rises from 18 (where it had been set in the early '70s) to 20; a list of changes in alcohol and party policies is handed down from the state legislature. [Climax: April 13, 1979]
May 1
Community Council elects the following students to these positions: Chairperson, David Early; Secretary, Carolyn Sheehan; Treasurer, Cindy Canary; together they help create the most organized and ambitious era of governance in years. [Community Council Minutes: May 1, 1979]
Aug 16
The Bubble, an air-supported sports dome on the west side of campus, deflates.when a 160 foot seam opens in its side; when Hurricane David hits in September, any potential to re-erect the Bubble is diminished. [Climax: September 24,
1979]
Sep 24
Cathy Hearn, a third-year student, has won three gold medals at the World Whitewater Kayak Championships held over the summer. [Climax: September 24, 1979]
Sep 24
The Enfield Solar Greenhouse in mod 46, designed by students Hiro Chanrai and Craig Sieben, is nearing completion. [Climax: September 24, 1979]
Sep 24
Second-year student John Dwork has begun to offer lessons in freestyle frisbee on evenings in the RCC. [Climax: September 24, 1979]
Sep. 25
In an election for 5 student positions on Community Council, less than 10% of the student body votes. [Climax: October 9, 1979]
Sep 29
Three black women, including Hampshire student Ada Griffin, are arrested in a violent and apparently racial confrontation at Russell's liquor store in Amherst; they are charged with disorderly conduct after false accusations of theft by store employees. [Climax: October 24, 1979]
Oct 14
Over 250,000 lesbians and gay men, including many Hampshire students, gather in Washington, D.C. to call for an end to homosexual discrimination; it is the largest gathering of lesbians and gay men in recorded history. [Climax:
October 24, 1979]
Oct 24
Visnu Wood, professor of music and noted jazz musician, has resigned due to stress and the lack of an established Afro-American music program at Hampshire, which he had been trying to develop for years. [Climax: October 24, 1979]
Oct 24
The Men's World Freestyle Frisbee Champion, Krae Van Sickle, has enrolled as a Hampshire student. [Climax: October 24, 1979]
Nov 6
Community Council, lead by Chairperson David Early and Secretary Carolyn Sheehan, sponsor the first of many community meetings entitled "Is The Experiement Over?" to address problems and changes at Hampshire in the past ten years. [Climax: December 10, 1979]
Nov 13
Hampshire defeats Cornell to win the Northeast Regional Frisbee Championship. [Climax: November 19, 1979]
Nov 15
"Is The Experiment Over?" has produced four "radials" of people working together to target areas of concern in the community, including a student work collective, the structure of governance, isms problems, and communication. [Community Council Misc.: 79F-Z24]
Nov 19
Alum Jordi Herold has opened the Iron Horse Coffee House in Northampton. [Climax: November 19, 1979
1980
Mar 3
An anonymous donor has contributed $15,000 to the college to help in constructing a community center; the administration has agreed to match that sum, but there is again no agreement within the community on where to build it. [Climax: March 3, 1980]
Mar 7
A dead and mutilated fish is left in front of President Adele Simmons' office door overnight; unidentified students who left the fish and a note cited numerous suspicions they have with Simmons and the administration's recent actions. [Climax: March 14, 1980]
Mar 22
Five Hampshire students are arrested in a small group that throws ashes, red paint, and blood on the Pentagon concourse in Virginia during a protest of nuclear power and weapons, and selective service registration. [Climax: April 7, 1980]
Apr 3
Over 250 people, including more than 15 Hampshire students, form a makeshift town on the site of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant during a protest in the plant parking lot. [Climax: April 7, 1980]
Apr 15
Community Council bans all uncaged pets from campus effective in the fall semester of 1980. [Community Council Minutes: April 15, 1980]
Apr 19
A group of students calling themselves FISH, all past members of Hampshire
governance, distribute pamphlets during Parents' Weekend detailing moves they feel the administration has made to keep students out of the decision-making process. [Climax: May 5, 1980]
Apr 20
Supporters of FISH spray-paint slogans of protest on buildings and dump or throw pounds of squid in buildings on campus; FISH members Carolyn Sheehan, David Early, Cory Greenberg, Julie Weisman, and Matt Goodman deny involvement. [Climax: May 5, 1980]
May 5
David Kerr's Research Methods for Reporters class publishes a special supplement to Climax in which they report results from a student survey detailing campus opinions on almost everything. [Climax: May 5, 1980]
Sep 9
The National Enquirer names Hampshire "America's most expensive institution of higher learning" with combined costs for the 1980-81 school year hitting $6,500. [Climax: October 6, 1980]
Sep 22
The long-awaited Community Center, organized by students Carolyn Sheehan, Mark Wineburg, and Julie Weisman over the summer, is set to open in the site of the old Atticus Bookstore on the first floor of the library center. [Climax: September 22, 1980]
Oct 9
Thousands of alumns, faculty, staff, and students gather for a four-day celebration of the 10th Anniversary of Hampshire College, featuring the Fall Colloquy theme, "Ideals Into Practice: Hampshire After Ten Years". [Climax: October 6, 1980]
Nov 2
The campus is dosed for the annual Halloween party for the first time since it began in 1970; only invited guests and Hampshire students are allowed on campus. [Climax: November 17, 1980]
Nov 3
Members of the Mixed Nuts Food Co-op are debating over a proposed 3% price increase that was originally slated to go into a political cause fund, as they cannot agree what to do with the extra $150 in revenue per week. [Climax: November 3, 1980]
Nov 3
The Ten-Year Review of Hampshire College has been published. [Climax: November 3, 1980]
Nov 3
The National Yiddish Book Exchange, directed by alum Aaron Lansky, has opened in Florence. [Climax: November 3, 1980]
Nov 3
Student Sue Strait has won the Women's World Flying Disc Championship. [Climax: November 3, 1980]
Nov 17
After the Prescott Tavern was closed last year due to losing revenue following the raising of the drinking age, College Relations Intern David Starr and a group of students have reopened the Tavern to serve as a coffee house. [Climax: November 17, 1980]
Dec 9
Students react with scorn when Community Council presents a tight budget for spring semester groups' funding; the Third World Organization is only allotted $2,750 from a $12,950 request. [Climax: December 15, 1980]
1981
Feb 23
Division III student Bonnie Gruszecki is Hampshire's first rape counselor/advocate, working out of a mod on campus. [Climax: February 23, 1981]
Mar 6
A lit cigarette tossed down a trash chute in Merrill House ignites a blaze that is discovered by student Derrick Elmes; the building is evacuated and the blaze is extinguished by the sprinkler system. [Climax: March 16, 1981]
Apr 12
Racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, and Latin American-U.S. relations are the subjects of a super-symposium organized at Hampshire during the week of the Pioneer Valley Third World Music Festival. [Climax: April 13, 1981]
Apr 28
In a college-wide referendum to ban nuclear proliferation, the community passes the decision with a vote of 934 in favor and 21 opposed. [Climax: May 11, 1981]
May 3
After months of work and planning, Division III student David Wiener enters two of his machines in competition for the International Human-Powered Speed Championship in California; noted athletes Eric Heiden and John Howard are riders, but do not win. ["Human Power" documentary, HC/MEDIA video 019]
May 11
Climax, the student newspaper since November, 1971, prints its last issue. [Climax: May 11, 1981]
June 1
Physical Plant forms a special crew to begin removing thousands of round red, white, and green stickers from campus buildings; the Italian "self-historification" artist, Guglielmo Cavellini, had been sending the stickers to students for a year. [Apostrophe: March 11, 1982]
Sep 1
The Hampshire day-care center is opening in response to a large number of faculty and staff members who expressed a need for child care service. [Apostrophe: September 23, 1982]
Sep 5
The academic year starts with a housing shortage that forces 14 new students to live in lounges; many returning students, given no housing at all, resort to camping on campus and crashing in mods. [Apostrophe: October 8, 1981]
Oct 4
Shirestyle, the Hampshire Freestyle Frisbee team, breaks two of its own world records, the multiple chestroll (15 chests) and the multiple co-op (40 players), while students John Dwork and Jason Salky win their second New England Freestyle Championship. [Apostrophe: November 6, 1981]
Oct 8
Second-year student Kathryn Baptista and her staff of student editors, Nancy Gover, Sue Gilman, Lars Pranger, Patrick Alvarez, and Steve Keller, publish the first issue of the second student newspaper, Apostrophe. [Apostrophe: October 8, 1981]
Oct 21
After a series of reports that suspicious men have been walking into unlocked rooms, a Dakin resident tips off security to a man selling drugs in the building, leading to a four hour chase across three towns until the suspect is apprehended in Granby. [Apostrophe: October 23, 1981]
Nov 6
First-year student Marcella Goldsmith has helped form an action team with other students to mobilize support for the upcoming vote to approve the Equal Rights Amendment. [Apostrophe: November 6, 1981]
Nov 27
Over the Thanksgiving break a rash of thefts are discovered in Dakin House, apparently the result of an inside job; student Keith Baker begins a petition drive to gain support for improved security; the thief or thieves remain at large. [Apostrophe: December 10, 1981]
Dec 10
Treasurer of the College, Allen Torrey, has announced that a $50 surcharge is being added to students' bills for the spring semester to pay for overconsumption of electricity during the year. [Apostrophe: December 10, 1981]
Dec 10
An all-community meeting is held to discuss Hampshire's potential divestment from companies involved in the development of nuclear weapons and power, as well as in human rights-violating countries; it is lead by students Chuck Collins and Tom Stoner. [Apostrophe: February 25, 1982]
Dec 10
The Third World Organization has redefined itself as SOURCE, Students of Under- Represented Cultures, citing the ambiguity and subordination implied by the term, "Third World". [Apostrophe: December 10, 1981]
1982
Jan 10
Three students, backed with a petition of 300 student and faculty signatures, propose to the Trustees' Committee on Investment Responsibility a policy against investments in the nation's top 100 defense contractors; the Trustees reject it as "too broad". [Apostrophe: February 11, 1982]
Jan 29
An unidentified driver runs over three dogs near Enfield while two students are walking them; no suspect is found. [Apostrophe: February 11, 1982]
Feb 5
Student Clay Craigmyle begins raising the U.S. flag each morning on the college flagpole; a week later, student Warren Goldstein steals the flag; even though it is recovered, a controversy ensues as Goldstein insists the Whole Earth Flag fly instead. [Apostrophe: February 25, 1982]
Feb 9
A small fire in the Merrill C-1 short bathroom is extinguished by student Styxx Fallows on his third attempt; the two extinguishers first used were found to be empty, revealing a dangerous problem with numerous needlessly discharged extinguishers. [Apostrophe: February 25, 1982]
Feb 25
An unprecedented barrage of articles floods into the Apostrophe office, responding to student Gittemor Segal's editorial in the previous issue, in which she cited the on-going sexist atmosphere of the RCC weight room. [Apostrophe: February 25, 1982]
Mar 11
The ubiquitous Cavellini stickers are still being found all over campus as students continue to write to the artist asking for more; an opposition group, the Anti-Cavellinis, have begun placing round black stickers over the Cavellini stickers. [Apostrophe: March 11, 1982]
Mar 13
120 students show up at the scheduled CHOIR meeting (7:30 a.m. on a Saturday) to support a motion calling for divesting the college's funds in the top 75 American weapons contractors; by a vote of 6 to 2, the committee moves to divest. [Apostrophe Extra: March 15, 1982]
Apr 1
Led by handicapped student Pablo Halpern, Action for the Disabled invites students and administrators to participate in a day-long experiment in which they are confined to a wheelchair in order to show the drastic need for access on campus. [Apostrophe: April 8, 1982]
Apr 20
A female student walking from the RCC to Enfield is kidnapped, raped, and beaten by a stranger; despite pressure by students over the past months, the administration still refuses to fund a Counselor Advocates coordinator position. [Apostrophe: March 3, 1983]
Apr 22
The Admissions Office has hired the firm of Krukowski and Associates to investigate why the student applicant pool has dropped; preliminary recommendations from Krukowski state that "Hampshire should be aiming at potential Ivy League students." [Apostrophe: April 22, 1982]
May 13
Students Charles Harris and Cathy Hearn, and alum Cathy Sisk, have been named members of the United States Whitewater Team for 1982 after three races held in New England over the past month by the American Canoe Association. [Apostrophe: May 13, 1982]
May 17
After the Board of Trustees' Finance Committee rejects the CHOIR vote to divest from nuclear-weapons related companies, a group of over 30 students calling themselves Students for a Responsible Institution takeover Cole Science Center. [Hampshire College Press Release: May 17, 1982]
May 18
An administrative order forces the closing of Central Records due to the occupation, despite the request of Students for a Responsible Institution that it remain open. [Community memo from Adele Simmons: May 18, 1982]
May 20
The administration and Students for a Responsible Institution agree to a list of demands after four days of negotiations; results include promised commitments by the administration to finacial aid, affirmative action, and active work against oppression. [Community Council Misc.: 82S-Z22 & Z23]
Sep 8
Students join in support of workers at an Amherst copy store called Gnomon, where employees have begun a strike for higher wages and better working conditions. [Apostrophe: September 23, 1982]
Sep 11
Up to 200 students show up for Hampshire's first "Dressed To Get Laid" party, organized and hosted by students Ken Wachs and Laurie McKenna in Prescott mod 77; plans are made for the next party, "Get Dressed For A Meaningful Relationship". [Apostrophe: October 7, 1982]
Oct 7
The Krukowski Report on admissions has been released and is met with controversy by students who feel that its recommendations, such as "avoid appearing as a counterculture institution," are counter to the idea of Hampshire. [Apostrophe: October 7, 1982]
Oct 7
A student job shortage has been detected as 30 of the college's 417 financial aid students are still without work; the Financial Aid office responds by indefinitely extending the priority period, in which jobs are only offered to finacial aid students. [Apostrophe: October 7, 1982]
Oct 18
26 Hampshire students join a group of over 200 protestors at Selective Service headquarters in Washington, D.C. to protest the increased mobilization of draft plans; 7 students are arrested for crossing police barricades. [Apostrophe: November 4, 1982]
Oct 21
The Long Range Planning Committee has released its report on weaknesses and strengths in the college and its mission; the committee worked for two years on the report after they were formed following the Ten-Year Review. [Apostrophe: October 21, 1982]
Nov 4
The Hampshire Nightline, a drop-in center and hotline for students feeling isolated and depressed, is operating out of the Prescott house office on weekend nights; founders include Jane Lerner, Randy Curtis, Pat Mistark, and Oare Dozier. [Apostrophe: November 4, 1982]
Dec 1
Division II students Roger Gilbertson and Dean Ritz begin to sell their 1983 Hampshire College Calendar in the bookstore, with photos of students and staff taken by student Becky Dimling, and featuring obscure dates including Mac Davis's birthday. [Apostrophe: November 18, 1982]
Dec 9
After a three-month strike in which many Hampshire students joined, the owners of the Gnomon copy center in Amherst have agreed to several of the protesting employees' demands. [Apostrophe: December 9, 1982]