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memorabilia:
1961-1970
1961
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addresses more than 700 students in Sadler Hall.
1961
The student handbook insists women must never wear slacks or Bermuda shorts to class, dinner, or in public living rooms. "When merely crossing campus to attend a function where slacks or Bermuda shorts are the appropriate dress, a long coat is required."
1961
-Ernie Davis and President Kennedy in New York City in 1961
Running back Ernie Davis becomes the only Orangeman-and the first African American-to win college football's most prestigious award, the Heisman Trophy. Two years later he dies from leukemia.
1962
Publisher Samuel I. Newhouse donates $15 million to construct a communications center.
1962
In an attempt to relieve some of the misery from the long lines in Archbold Gymnasium, registration is moved to Manley Field House. Manley's floor, a layer of fine sand for track and field events, is covered with boards. Unfortunately, students kick up the sand, which covers the punch cards used by IBM machines, causing them to jam, shred course cards, and grind registration to a halt. Registration returns to Archbold the following year.
1964
President Lyndon B. Johnson dedicates Newhouse I and addresses the attack on United States warships in the Gulf of Tonkin. His speech concerns the "Communist challenge in Southeast Asia" and foretells the escalation of the Vietnam War. "The world must never forget that aggression unchallenged is aggression unleashed."
1966
More than 42 inches of unexpected snow begins pelting the campus on January 30. Traffic is halted, dining hall food is rationed, and registration is delayed three days. Francis Wingate, SU's vice president and treasurer, borrows his son's snowshoes to travel to work.
- Joyce Green
1966
Senior Joyce Green becomes SU's first African-American homecoming queen.
1966
Men are required to wear socks in dining halls.
1966
All-American basketball player Dave Bing leads SU to the NCAA tournament and its most wins (22) since 1946.
1966
The Freshman Skeptics Corner enjoys another year of weekly discussions with Hendricks Chapel Dean Charles Noble. Twenty students spend Wednesday afternoons discussing everything from God to abortion. There are no assignments, tests, or grades, just freewheeling conversation.
1967
The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti, Ben Shahn's three-panel marble and enamel mosaic on the east wall of Huntington Beard Crouse Hall, is dedicated. Created in France, it depicts two Italian immigrants, draft dodgers, and radicals on a street corner demonstrating, in custody, and in their coffins after being executed in 1927. They were convicted of robbery and murder in a payroll holdup, though no evidence ever linked them to the crime. It's widely believed that discrimination and public hysteria over radicals were responsible for their sentencings and executions, which caused a sensation throughout much of Europe and South America.
1967
Campus concerts are given by Martha and the Vandellas, Neil Diamond, and Marvin Gaye.
1969
Approximately 100 African-American students demonstrate peacefully, demanding that SU meet their needs. The protest eventually results in the formation of the Afro-American Cultural Center, the Afro-American Studies Program, and a Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial library collection.
1969
John E. Corbally becomes SU's eighth chancellor, but resigns 18 months later to become president of the University of Illinois.
1970
The era of student unrest left an indelible mark on Syracuse University in 1970, when national and local events conspired to tarnish SU's Centennial Celebration and produce two of the most tumultuous events in school history - the student strike and the football boycott.
- A Sign of Rebellion at SU
President Nixon's decision to send United States troops into Cambodia and the shooting deaths of four Kent State University students by Ohio National Guardsmen prompted campus meyhem in early May. Students barricaded campus roads. The Daily Orange called for a student strike and classrooms quickly emptied. Led by student government president David Ifshin, more than 100 students staged a sit-in in Chancellor John Corbally's office and demanded SU pay $100,000 to the Black Panther Defense Fund to bail out jailed president Bobby Seale. After more than 24 hours, the demonstration ended quietly. Soon after, administration officials cancelled the final six weeks of classes.
At the same time controversy swelled within the football program. Eight African-American players accused coach Ben Schwartzwalder of discriminatory practices and boycotted spring practice. They were later kicked off the team after refusing to sign a statement absolving the University of guilt. The ensuing season began with a home game against Kansas and the most potent riot in campus history. A pre-game confrontation between nearly 100 policemen and at least 400 students featured flying rocks, bottles, and wood, pepper gas, and nightstick beatings.
1970
Daily Orange personal advertisement: "Jesus will forgive all those who have participated in the student strike. Send your donation and confession to: FORGIVE, P.O. Box 732, Tulsa, Oklahoma 59673."