Anthony Hecht, noted poet, read his poetry.
Ira Grupper, Civil Rights worker, lectured on the state of racial inequalities in the South.
The Miscellany News announced that a Vassar College survey found that 6% of the student body had "a little familiarity with or even interest in either pot or LSD" but a "fairly large number" of students use "pep" pills. 50% of the students polled stated that they "had either taken [pep pills], or expressed no disapproval of others who did." President Simpson responded to the poll by stating "[Vassar students] are by and large too self-reliant to be attracted to the notion of dependence on any drug. They have too much good sense."
Dr. Samuel Sandmel, Hebrew union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, lectured on "Christian Writers ON Judaism and Jewish Writers on Jesus."
The Vassar Committee for Civil Rights held the "Freedom How?" Conference in order to explore the question: "What role can the Federal Government ply in bringing about further changes, both economic and political, to enable its citizens to be free?" The Keynote speaker was Howard Zinn, author, who lectured on "The Politics of Protest."
Aline Saarinen'35, art critic and NBC new corespondent, gave the Helen Kenyon Lecture on "Style in Art, Politics, and Life."
Howard Nemerov, poet and novelist, read from his work.
The Vassar College and Union College Madrigals gave a joint concert, with Francis Poulenc's "Un Soir de Neige," as their principal piece.
David C. Huntington, Smith College, lectured on "The Artist, the River, and the Mountains."
John Freccero, Cornell University, lectured on "Dante."
James Roosevelt, son of Franklin D. Roosevelt, lectured on the United Nations.
Dr. Stephen Toulmin, Harvard University, lectured on "The Evolutionary Development of Natural Science."
Lenore D. Hanks, Christian Science Board of Lectureship, lectured on "The Mythology of Matter."
Fred Eggan, Chicago University, lectured on "Lewis Henry Morgan and Cultural Evolution."
Jonathon Garlock, SUNY at New Paltz, lectured on "The Relevance of Berkeley."
Gilbert Harrison, editor and publisher of The New Republic, lectured on "Lyndon B. Johnson and the Journalists."
Moshe Dothan, Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, lectured on "Excavation of the Philistine Ashdod."
Jose Ferrater Mora, Bryn Mawr, lectured on "Unamuno and the Problem of Religious Experience."
Robert Lowell, poet, read from his book The Old Glory.
J. H. Hexter, Yale University, gave the C. Mildred Thompson Lecture on "The Rhetoric of History."
Birch Bayh, United States Senator, lectured on "Politics as a Career."
Gordon R. Wiley, Harvard University, lectured on "Researches in the Mayan Area."
Stuart W. Rockwell, State Department, lectured on Vietnam.
An ad hoc student faculty committee, held a teach-in, entitled, "Vietnam: An Analysis of the Issues."
Mrs. J. Aduke Moore, United Nations representative from Nigeria, lectured on "Struggle for Political Unity in Nigeria."
A. Alvarez, SUNY at New Paltz, lectured on "What Happened to Modernism?"
Myra Roper, The Australian, lectured on "The New China."
Julius Moravcsik, University of Michigan, lectured on "Living as Recollection, as Shown in Plato's Meno."
The Dean's Program was developed to supplement the regular department and provided endowed lecture with specific-topic symposiums. In the next two years, the following were some of the topics of different Dean's program symposiums: The Politics of Youth; The Death of God Theology; Human Behavior in Terms of Studies of Animal Behavior; What's Happening in the Arts; Urban poverty; and New Direction of Liberal Arts.
Kendrick Hall became a Maison Francaise, with 32 students determined to speak only French within the house.
Denise Levertov, poet in residence, began her stay at Vassar.
Victor Brombert, Yale University, lectured on "Malraux and the World of Violence."
Dr. George F. Bass, University of Pennsylvania, lectured on "Archeology Under Water."
John Brentlinger, University of Massachusetts, lectured on the "Cycle of Becoming in Plato's 'Symposium.'"
At the Senior Convocation Ceremony, students petitioned President Alan Simpson for better communication between the student body and the administration.
Curtis O. Baer, art collector, and Visiting Scholar, lectured on "Problems Concerned with the Study of Drawing."
A. R. Ammons read his poetry.
Wolfhart Pannenberg, University of Mainz, lectured on "The Foundation of Ethics and the Kingdom of God."
Mphiwa B. Mbatha, State University of New York at New Paltz, lectured on "Zulu Culture, African Click Languages, and What Anthropologists Can Do and Contribute."
Wolfgang Stechow, William's College, and Visiting Scholar, lectured on "Breughel Spoke to the People."
John Wilkie, chairman of the board of trustees, dedicated the Jeannette K. Watson faculty housing, designed by architects Carl Koch and Associates of Boston.
Paul Zukofsky, violinist and composer, gave a concert.
President Alan Simpson announced the formation of the Committee on New Dimensions. The Committee would discuss thirteen ideas, six of which regard "various forms of cooperation with other colleges and universities," and others regarding "calendar change, four-year M. A. programs for gifted students, 'pre-professional or semi-professional' programs in fields like, teaching or museum work, field work programs, and coeducation."
The college extended curfews for seniors returning at night by car to 2:30 AM on any night of the week, provided that the individuals return accompanied by another person, and extended the hours during which Main-resident students were permitted to have men in their rooms.
James S. Ackerman, Harvard University, lectured on "Leonardo's Light: An Encounter of Art and Science."
Adele Franklin and Sadie Kasden, members of the All-Day Neighborhood Schools Program, New York City, lectured on "Serving Disadvantaged Children."
Dr. Benjamin Spock lectured at Vassar on "Child-Rearing in the Atomic Age."
Vassar held a "Conference on Journalism and Protest."
The Vassar College Administration formalized an anti-narcotic policy: "The use, possession, or dispensing of hallucinogenic drugs, and of marijuana and all other narcotic drugs, except on a doctor's prescription, are prohibited. Failure to cooperate fully with any investigation into the use, possession or circulation of any such drugs is a serious offense."
Vassar became the first women's college to have a student chapter of the National Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).
Dr. Alan Watts, noted theologian and philosopher, lectured on "Transformations of Consciousness: Fears and Fascinations."
Arthur Hyman, Yeshiva University, lectured on "Jewish Piety."
The faculty approved a new experimental honors program.
The College held a symposium on the "Psychology of Student Protest."
Walter Vickery, University of Colorado, lectured on "Pushkin's Eugene Onegin -- Some Second Thoughts."
The Lucas Hoving Dance Company performed.
David Garnett, member of the "Bloomsbury Group," lectured on "Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury."
Roger Sessions gave the first lecture of the newly established Dickenson-Kayden Fund, entitled "Opera in the Twentieth Century." Mrs. Bernard Kayden established the fund in honor of the late Professor Emeritus of Music George Sherman Dickenson.
Alan Dent, English drama critic, lectured on "Criticism and the Theater."
John Gerassi, Newsweek, lectured on "The Great Fear in Latin America."
Gian Carlo-Rota, Rockefeller University, lectured on "Combinational Theory."
The Dean's Program held a "Colloquium on The Death of God."
Vassar College and Yale University released the following official press release:
"The Trustees of Vassar College have accepted an invitation by the Corporation of Yale University to make a joint study of the possibilities of cooperation between the two institutions, it was announced today by the presidents of Vassar and Yale. The desirability and feasibility of relocating Vassar College in New Haven would be a major interest in such a study.
In making the announcement, Alan Simpson, president of Vassar, said: 'This is a most imaginative and exciting proposal. The benefits to these two distinguished institutions might be tremendous. The problems to be faced are formidable. Vassar College would have to determine whether New Haven offers a wider field for its modern mission than its historic home; whether its identity could be properly preserved; whether the site is ample enough; and whether the prodigious human, legal, and financial problems are surmountable. The possibilities of such a brilliant partnership, among the varieties of development which are open to Vassar College, merit the most thoughtful study.'
President Kingman Brewster, Jr., of Yale said: 'I am very pleased that Vassar has accepted our invitation to a joint study. The Yale Corporation made it known last March that if further study indicated that Yale could make a contribution to the education of women at the college level, the coordinate college approach would be preferable to any expansion of Yale College to accommodate women.'
'The opportunity to explore these possibilities with Vassar College is a great privilege for Yale. Whether the interests of both institutions can best be served by such a coordinate relationship cannot now be foretold. Whatever the outcome of the study, Yale will benefit greatly from this joint exploration with such an eminent and successful sister institution."
According to the Poughkeepsie Journal, Poughkeepsie and Dutchess County officials "expressed 'strong determination' to attract a state or private college or university graduate center to Vassar if the college is moved to New Haven...."
1967
Nell Eurich, Dean-Elect was made Vice-Chairman of the Committee on New Dimensions.
Dr. Henry Noble McCracken, former president of Vassar College, announced his opposition to the Vassar-Yale study, citing it as "an ethical breach of trust in the more than 1,000 individual endowments to Vassar College, dating back 106 years to Matthew Vassar's original $400,000 investment."
At its first meeting, the Vassar-Yale Joint Trustee-Fellow Committee approved the guidelines for the Vassar-Yale coordinate study.
"At a meeting with local officials...President Simpson rul[ed] out closer cooperation with the four local colleges -- Bennett, Dutchess Community, Bard, and Marist -- as a suitable alternative to moving to New Haven."
A group of legislators and businessmen stated that they would "press for the establishment of a graduate university center in Dutchess County regardless of whether Vassar College [should move] to New Haven."
The first of six meetings of a sub-committee of the Committee on the New Dimensions, chaired by Elizabeth A. Daniels, Dean of Studies, heard student thoughts on "the entire scope of Vassar education."
Merce Cunningham, Matthew Vassar Lecturer, presented a dance lecture-demonstration.
Hans-Stefan Schultz, University of Chicago, lectured on "Der Dichter und die Zeit."
Assemblyman Victor Waryas introduced in the State Assembly a bill calling for the establishment of a university center at the Vassar College site.
G. E. L. Owen, Harvard, lectured on "Plato on Not-Being."
William S. Gaud, Administrator of the Agency for International Development lectured on "The U.S. Foreign Aid Program."
The Dean's Program held a symposium on "Animal Behavior and Human Nature."
Kingman Brewster, President of Yale, addressed 1,000 Yale alumnae concerning the proposed Yale-Vassar study. According to Brewster, reasons for Vassar's move to Yale were that Yale could make a crucial contribution to higher education with Vassar's move; human, library, and laboratory resources would be better utilized; a coordinate college situation would better suit the increasing pace of the change in society; "a constructive stimulus to a higher level on everyone's part" in the presence of the opposite sex; and it would "substantially raise the moral quality of the four undergraduate years at Yale... 1,600 women would not be lost in the educational shuffle." Vassar's reasons for the move would be educational, administrative, and financial.
New York Chamber Soloists gave the Barbara Woods Morgan Memorial Concert in the Students' Building.
Robert Van Nice, Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies, gave the Class of 1928 Visiting Scholars' Lecture, entitled "Saint Sophia: An Architectural Inquiry."
Dennis Stevens, Columbia University, lectured on "Claudio Monteverdi: The Madrigalist."
Pete Seeger, folk-singer, performed.
Mary Steichen Calderone '25, lectured on "Sex Attitudes and Sex Education."
President Alan Simpson confirmed "the announcement by Elizabeth Daniels, Dean of Studies, that the Committee on New Dimensions was reorganizing to examine alternatives to the Yale-Vassar study." The possible alternatives included: the expansion of graduate work, new modes of continuing education for both men and women, pre-professional programs, programs in environmental studies, degree work away from campus, and the development of new relationships between Vassar college and the Mid-Hudson Valley region.
Arthur Weisberg, conducted the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble of Rutgers University.
The Board of Trustees approved the proposal that Elizabeth Daniels, Dean of Studies, devote the remainder of the semester as full-time chairman of the Committee on New Dimensions, in order to study alternatives to the Yale-Vassar coordination.
John Silkin, British poet gave a reading.
Whitney Young, Jr., National Urban League, lectured on "From Pledge to Performance in Civil Rights."
Juan Marichal, Harvard University, lectured on "The Intellectual and Politics in Modern Spain."
The Paris Rive Gauche (La Contrescarpe) performed.
Sir Isaiah Berlin, Oxford University, gave the C. Mildred Thompson Lecture, entitled, "The Enlightenment Century Revolution in Ethics and Politics."
President Alan Simpson addressed Associate Alumnae of Vassar College, stating "Vassar cannot go it alone...It must break out in some constructive way. Otherwise it faces a 'brain drain.'" Elizabeth Daniels, Dean of Studies also spoke on alternatives to the Yale-Vassar coordination.
Jacob Bronowski, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, gave the Sigma Xi Resa Lecture, entitled "The New Philosophy of Biology."
Ad Reinhardt gave the1928 Visiting Scholars' Lecture entitled, "Artists among Artists."
Irma Brandeis, Dante scholar, lectured on "Glimpses of the Master's Hand: Two Canti from Dante's Purgatory."
Two hundred faculty and students marched in front of Main Building in silent protest against United States' involvement in Vietnam.
Theodore Newcomb, University of Michigan gave the Helen Gates Putnam Conservation Lecture, entitled "College Influences on Change and Persistence of Attitudes."
Vera Cooper Rubin '47, Carnegie Institution of Washington, lectured on "Galaxies and Quasars."
Carl Swisher, Johns Hopkins University, gave the Sharpe Memorial Lecture, entitled "Law and Lawlessness."
William Sloane Coffin, Jr., chaplain of Yale University, lectured on "The Ethics of the War in Vietnam."
The Dean's Program held a symposium on "What's Happening in the Arts."
John Cage, musical composer, lectured.
Representatives from Vassar and Yale's corresponding academic departments held preliminary discussions on coordination.
Fritz Kracht, director, author, and lecturer, spoke on "American Theatre on the German Stage."
Kenneth O. May, University of Toronto, lectured on "Quantity and Quality of the Mathematical Literature."
Vassar held a symposium in honor of Charles C. Griffin, Dean of Faculty and professor of history, entitled "Historians Look at Latin America Today."
The Honorable Eugenie Anderson, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, gave the Barbara Bailey Brown Lecture entitled, "The United Nations Now: Problems and Promises."
Richard Ellmann, Northwestern University, gave the Class of 1928 Visiting Scholars' Lecture, entitled "Eminent Domain: Yeats and Wilde."
Yale president Kingman Brewster addressed Vassar faculty on Yale's vision for coordinate education.
Nell Eurich became Dean of Faculty.
The Vassar-Yale Committee and the Committee on New Dimensions completed their preliminary reports and submitted them to the board of trustees for consideration.
Vassar celebrated its official opening and dedication of its new computer center and its IBM 360 computer. "No other women's college...[had] a computer of this capacity," stated President Alan Simpson.
George R. Collins, Visiting Scholar in Art, lectured on "Modern City Planning."
Theodore Reff, Columbia University, lectured on "Degas and 'The Daughter of Jephthah."
The Gertrude Folks Zimand Lecture entitled, "Community Power Structure and the War on Poverty," was given by Kenneth Clark, City University of the City University of New York.
Elizabeth Daniels, Dean of Studies and Director of Special Studies for the Committee on New Dimensions revealed to the Associated Alumnae of Vassar College the results of a survey of alumnae concerning new directions in which Vassar should or should not move in order to give a better education. The majority of responding alumnae indicated that they preferred single-sex education.
Harrison E. Salisbury, New York Times, gave the Barbara Bailey Brown Lecture, entitled "America in Asia: World Crisis."
An article by Dorothy Sieberling '43 in Life magazine denounced the possible Vassar move to New Haven.
The Guarneri String Quartet performed.
Wiley Jackson, N.A.A.C.P. and Poughkeepsie Housing Committee, lead discussion on "Fair Housing in Poughkeepsie."
Manjusri Chaki-Sircar, classical Indian dancer, performed.
The Anna Sokolow Dance Company performed.
W. Wistar Comfort, Wesleyan University, lectured on "The Marriage Lemma: A Fixed-Point Theorem in Banach Space."
The Dean's Program held a conference on "Problems of Urban Poverty -- Strategy for Slums," "to discuss effective methods to deal with the problem of urban poverty." The conference included the following speakers Saul Alinsky, Franklin Thomas, John Bailey, Ruth Atkins, Zion Page, Theodore Maurer, Ron Gregory, Mrs. John Glasse, and Julio Vivas.
William M. Fairbank, Stanford University, gave the Sigma Xi Resa Lecture, entitled "Low Temperatures: A Frontier of Physics."
Dwight McDonald, critic and journalist, lectured on, "How Democratic Can A Culture Get?."
Vassar held an "Interdepartmental Conference on Fifty Years of the Bolshevik Revolution."
Dr. Jerrold J. Katz, M.I.T. lectured on "Interference and Opacity."
Fredonia State College Percussion Ensemble performed.
Elizabeth McCarthy '17, lawyer, and handwriting and documents expert, lectured on "Crimes in Ink."
Vassar held conference on "New Directions in the Liberal Arts."
The Dean's Program hosted a lecture by Bob Moore, SNCC, Selma, Alabama, on "The Black Movement in America and the Role of White People."
Bruce E. Raemsch, Hartwick College, lectured on "Recent Evidence of Man in New York 35,000 Years Ago."
President Alan Simpson announced that the trustees decided against the proposed merger with Yale. Rather, Vassar trustees approved an alternative plan -- "Vassar will remain in Poughkeepsie and undergo a multi-million dollar expansion..., including proposals for a coordinate men's college, graduate institutes, curricular innovations, and a residential unit in New York." The fourteen-page alternative plan was given to faculty for discussion and reaction.
In this alternative plan, "Two autonomous institutes, one for the Study of Man and his Environment and another for the Advancement of Teaching will be launched to serve both graduate and undergraduate men and women." They will offer degrees at the M.A. level and will also conduct research.
Christopher Ricks, Oxford University, lectured on "Milton's 'Lycidas.'"
Jacqueline Grennan, President of Webster College, gave Helen Kenyon Lecture, entitled, "Can the Academic World Seek the Living God?"
Constantinos Doxiadis lectured on "Man and His City."
Last updated: 10 November, 1999, by Jeremy R. Linden, '00.