Vassar abolished curfews, and requirements on leave cards and overnights.
Charles Rembar, attorney and author, gave Sharpe Memorial Lecture, entitled "Literary Censorship under the Anti-Obscenity Laws."
Sir Ronald Syme, Braesnose College, Oxford University, lectured on the "Augustan Poets Without Augustus."
Vassar College's student Senate passed a resolution for the abolishment of parietals on a college-wide basis.
Elizabeth McCarthy '17, handwriting and document expert, lectured on "Pen Points to Crime."
Bruninlde Swasmondo Ridgeway, Bryn Mawr College, gave Class of 1928 Lecture on "Sculpture of the Siphnian Treasury in Delphi."
James Corman, University of Pennsylvania, lectured on "Do We Ever Perceive Physical Object?"
Tom Paxton, folk singer, performed.
Vassar approved an inter-departmental minor in "Afro-American Studies."
Muriel Rukeyser '34, read her poetry.
Cyril M. Harris, Columbia University, gave the Dickinson-Kayden Lecture, entitled "Acoustics, Architecture, and Music."
The Supreme Court, State of New York issued against Vassar College, a temporary injunction regarding changes in parietals. This injunction required the college to maintain the parietals as they were on September 15, 1968 due to a suit brought up by a parent on grounds of breech of contract. A first hearing was scheduled for March 17.
Nina Simone, singer, performed a concert.
Dr. Philip W. Silver, Oberlin College lectured on "The Aesthetics of Ortega y Gasset and the Generation of 1927."
Paul Zweifel, Virginia Polytechnical Institute, lectured on "The Early History of Atomic Energy."
Hans-olaf Hudemann and Huguette van Ackere gave a lecture-performance on "The Development of German Lieder from the Time of Schubert."
The New York State Board of Regents amended Vassar College's charter so that the institution can now admit men.
Frank McCormick, University of North Carolina, gave the Helen Putnam Gates Conservation Lecture, entitled "Ecological Effects of Nuclear War."
Ian L. McHarg, School of Fine Arts at University of Pennsylvania, lectured on "Design with Nature."
Patricia McAuley '55, Douglass College, lectured on "Remarks on the Fixed Point Property."
Frank Kermode, British critic, gave the 1928 Fund Scholars' Lecture, entitled "The Survival of the Classics - The Example of 'King Lear.'"
The Supreme Court of New York dismissed parietal suit brought against Vassar College.
Sydney Freeberg, Harvard University, lectured on "The Art of Il Correggio."
E. G. Weaver of Princeton, gave the Dickinson-Kenyon Lecture, entitled "The Nature of Hearing and Some Implications for Music."
David Keyt, Cornell University, lectured on "Plato's Logical Realism and the Fallacy of Division."
Edwin O. Reischauer, Harvard University, gave the Helen Kayden Lecture, entitled "Japan in the Modern World."
Louise Schultz Strong, Institute for Environmental Studies, lectured on "Crisis Mentality and the Environment."
Sterling Brown lectured on "Images of Negro Life and Character in American Literature."
The Dean's Program held a symposium entitled, "Focus on the City," to examine aspects of the "urban crisis." Speakers included were Ben Robinson, Richard Granat, Reverend Randy Nugent, and Dr. William Birenbaum.
Vassar College abolished its requirement that students have conventional major and minor fields of study or to meet traditional distribution requirements.
Robert Wilce, University of Massachusetts, gave the Helen Gates Putnam Lecture, entitled "High Arctic Algae; Their Systematic and Role in the Ocean Ecosystem: A Cool Subject."
Dr. Sidney Morganbesser, Columbia University, gave open seminar on "The Nature of Scientific Theories."
Raimoundo Lida, Harvard University, lectured on "Miguel de Cervantes."
James Merrill read his poetry.
The Student Afro-American Society gave a list of demands, entitled "A Search for Relevant Education," to the office of Dean Nell Eurich. The list included calls for the establishment of an Urban Center of Black Studies, a black-students' co-operative residence and cultural center, a black counselor empathetic with black students' circumstances, and a budget for black-cultural event programming.
The Vassar student body elected David Galbraith '71 as the first male class president.
Henri Ghent, Brooklyn Museum Community Gallery and the Black Artists Emergency Coalition, lead informal discussion on "The Invisible Art, the Museums, and the Community."
The Vassar faculty approved the Student Afro-American Association's "A Search for Relevant Education," "in principal" and called for the college to begin its implementation immediately.
Grace Paley read from her work.
Leona Baumgartner, MD., Harvard University, and former Commissioner of Health, New York City, gave the Savel and Gertrude Folks Zimand Lecture, entitled "Society and the Revolution in Health Care."
Vassar held a symposium on "Tomorrow's Electronic Classroom."
Dr. Sidney Morganbesser, Columbia University, lectured on "The Unity of Natural and Social Sciences."
Jan Millie Lochman, Union Theological Seminary, lectured on "The Legacy of Reformation."
Vassar College hired Milfred. C. Fierce as the first director of Black Studies.
Vassar began hosting Union College's graduate program.
Trustees approved a $50 million comprehensive capital campaign, the largest in Vassar's history. The campaign aimed to raise the money by 1972 for strengthening the academic program at Vassar and to construct new buildings, as well as renovate old ones.
President Alan Simpson received anti-Vietnam War petition signed by over 150 faculty and over 1,000 students.
President Alan Simpson called the first College Council, a body of representatives from the administration, faculty, and student body, to serve as an advisory council to the President and meet five times a year, as well as during times of crisis.
Adele Davis, nutritionist and author, lectured on "Your Health Is in Your Hands."
Charles Shaffner, Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, was appointed as planning director for the proposed cooperative graduate center at Vassar.
Ada Louise Haxtable, architecture critic, gave the Helen Kenyon Lecture, entitled, "Is Architecture Obsolete?"
By request of many of the faculty and students, President Alan Simpson authorized all interested faculty to close classes on this day to protest United States involvement in Vietnam, as part of a nation-wide Moratorium.
R. B. Tate, Cornell University, lectured on "The Writing and History of 15th and 16th Century Spain."
Protesting the erection of a new house for John Duggan, Vice President for Student Affairs on Sunset Lake Hill, over ninety students and five faculty filled back in its recently-dug foundation.
Hugo Munsterberg, State University of New York at New Paltz, lectured on "Chinese Buddhist Sculpture."
C. L. Barber, State University College at Buffalo, gave the Class of 1928 Fund Lecture, on the "Use of Tragedy for Shakespeare."
The Student Afro-American Society (S.A.S.) presented President Alan Simpson with the following "nine points," designed as 'logical follow-ups which reiterated and expanded" the original proposals S.A.S made in its April 30th "A Search for Relevant Education:"
1. That Black Studies be expanded into a degree-granting department.
2. That an increased number of black professors be hired to accommodate this expanded program.
3. The immediate renovation of the entire Urban Center.
4. That we receive those funds which had been promised in addition to any extra funds needed for the expansion and continuance of the Black Studies program.
5. That the college buy a bus for transportation to and from the Urban Center,
6. That Vassar College hire a separate black counselor whose additional job was to place black students after they leave Vassar.
7. That a black housing facility be provided by 1971 which will eventually accommodate at least 200 students.
8. That an architect be contracted to design this facility by Monday, November 17th, 1969.
9. That black students were provided with agreeable black housing until the construction of this facility was completed.
Protesting the administration's failure to act on their demands, thirty-eight black students demonstrated in front of Alumnae House, during a Seven Sisters Conference.
The Master Planning Committee suggested eleven other possible sites for the construction of a house for Vice-President of Student Affairs John Duggan.
Chester Pierce, Harvard University, gave the Savel and Gertrude Folks Zimand Lecture, entitled, "The Success of the School System: The Most Common Problem for Black Youth."
Stanley M. Elkins, Smith College, gave the C. Mildred Thompson Lecture, entitled "Slavery in the Americas: A Reappraisal."
At 3:20 AM, approximately thirty-five African-American students took over parts of Main Building protesting the administration's failure to respond to the S.A.S.'s nine points.
Despite its new co-educational nature, Vassar announced that it would still remain part of the Seven College Conference, more commonly known as "The Seven Sisters."
President Alan Simpson signed an agreement with Claudia Thomas '71, resident of S.A.S. in which the college agreed to fully implement points one through six, as well as a modified version of the last three points dealing with an all-black dorm. At 9:30 PM, the demonstrating students re-opened Main Building.
Ellen Johnson, Oberlin College, gave the Class of 1928 Fund Lecture, entitled "Oldenburg's Analogies, Metamorphoses, and Sources."
Carolyn Bird lectured on "The New Feminine: What's Ahead for Little Girls."
The Budaya Troupe from Indonesia performed "Ramayana."
Richard Krautheimer, visiting scholar, lectured on "Piazza of St. Peter's."
Vassar held the Martin H. Crego Conference, "Revolution and the Technological Society."
Gary Gappert, American Committee on Africa, lectured on "The Absence of the Black America in U.S. Foreign Policy."
Dr. Nell Eurich, Dean of Faculty, resigned at the request of President Alan Simpson.
Herbert Marshall, Southern Illinois University, lectured on "Sergei Eisenstein, His Theory and Practice."
Rita Mae Brown read her poetry.
Vassar held a "Seminar on Pan Africanism" with Acklyn Lynch, Howard University.
The Cologne Chamber Orchestra performed.
Grainne Yeats, harpist and her husband, Senator Michael Butler Yeats, son of William Butler Yeats, performed traditional Irish Music.
Nelson R. Rockefeller, the Governor of the State of New York, gave a lecture.
Charles E. Shaffner submitted the first draft of his report on the feasibility of a Vassar Institute of Technology (V.I.T.) to president Alan Simpson.
The Committee on IBM's Corporate Responsibility, a group of Vassar students and faculty, attempted to introduce a an anti-war resolution at IBM's April 27th joint-stockholders' meeting.
M. D. Kagome, Editor, Pan-African Journal, lectured on "Pan-Africanism Today."
Roger Brown, Harvard University, lectured on "The First Sentences of Child and Chimpanzee."
Eve Carey, New York Civil Liberties Union and New York University Law School, lectured on "Women's Liberation and Civil Liberties."
Kenji Imagawa lectured on "Aspects of Japanese Literature."
John Varey, Westfield College, University of London, lectured on "A New Approach to Spanish Romanticism: Popular Entertainments and the Dissemination of Romantic Themes."
Mr. and Mrs. William C. Ford give $1,000,000, one of the largest donations in Vassar history, to the college's capital fund drive.
The Foo Hsing Opera Academy's operatic and acrobatic troupe performed "The Legend of the White Snake."
Vassar held a symposium entitled, "The Week America Died."
The Kendrick House informally became an all-black residence for interested upper-classmen in fall of 1970.
The Barbara Bailey Brown Lecture, entitled "Politics and Foreign Policy," given by Nicholas deB. Katzenbach, I.B.M.
The Vassar chapter of Protect Your Environment (PYE) sponsored a lecture and some films for the first annual Earth Day.
The C. Mildred Thompson Lecture, entitled "Vienne's Redevelopment and its Critics 1860-1910," given by Carle E. Schorske, Institute for Advanced Study.
Dr. Howard Levy, HEALTH-PAC, lectured on "Dissent in Military Service."
Robert Creeley read his poetry.
Howard P. Jones, former American Ambassador to Indonesia, lectured on "The Past and Future of United States-Indonesian Relations."
William Kunstler, civil rights lawyer, lectured.
130 students, faculty, and administration, including President Alan Simpson, lobbied in Washington, D. C. against United States involvement in Vietnam.
In a referendum, 87.9% of Vassar students vote against the construction of the proposed Vassar Institute of Technology (V.I.T.).
The Barbara Woods Morgan Concert was performed by New York Chamber Soloists.
Diane Wakoski read her poetry.
Evelyn Harrison, Princeton University, lectured on "The Marathon Painting and the Nike Temple Frieze."
Roger Goldwin, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and I.B.M., lectured on "The Evolutionary Process in Data Analysis."
James E. Robinson, Housing Development Administration of New York, lectured on "The Relevance of Urban Planning for Black People."
Ronald B. Baily, Washington University, St. Louis, lectured on "The Marshall Court Revisited: The Slavery Issue."
The Vassar College library established an inter-library loan program.
Peter Marshall, McGill University, Montreal, lectured on "Radicalism and Revolution: The Anglo-American Eighteenth Century Experience."
Sir Ronald Syme lectured on "Tolerance and Bigotry in the 4th Century, AD."
Vassar held the Martin H. Crego Conference on "Does Economics Provide and Meaningful Answers to Today's Problems?"
Irving Lavin, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, lectured on "The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa: Bernini's Creation of Heaven in the Chapel St. Teresa in Santa Monica, Vittoria, Rome."
Dr. Denes Barta, Franz Liszt Academy, Budapest, lectured on "Beyond Phrase and Period: A New Method in the Functional Analysis of Classic Music."
Last updated: 10 November, 1999, by Jeremy R. Linden, '00.