Fifty years ago, The Student reported on a war of pranks between the Class of '54 and the Class of '55, an example of the classic, neverending power struggle between freshmen and sophomores.
The trouble allegedly began when some unruly freshmen locked two sophomores in the ladies room of James Hall. Enraged, a group of sophomores avenged the prank by luring unsuspecting members of the Class of '55 who were around the library or on the way to Valentine and giving them what The Student called "short, if somewhat irregular haircuts."
Not only were the freshmen subjected to shoddy hairdos, but they were also led into waiting cars to be dropped some distance away from campus and forced to walk back in the pouring rain.
To the disapproval of some sophomores and freshmen, the attacked freshmen were not involved with the James bathroom incident at all. However, leaders of the foray said that "this was a class measure designed to punish the Class of '55 for the wayward element that had grown in their midst," according to The Student. To deter the Class of '55 from attempting another insurrection against the Class of '54, one leader also promised that "there will be more head-shaving even if every freshman in the school has to be shaved," reported The Student.
There was also a questionable head-shaving attempt the following night but since reliable sources attributed it to Bowdoin College men and only one freshmen, the vengeful sophomore leaders decided to overlook it.
-Young May Cha
Homecoming 1989
At this dynamic College, Homecoming Weekend is one of the few events which remains constant year after year. As such, the weekend often becomes an appropriate time to reflect on campus history. Twelve years ago, The Student took the opportunity to look back on twenty-five years of activism at Amherst.
The Student cites a Feb. 1966 protest of the war in Vietnam as the first major public protest staged by Amherst students. "Everybody from the President on down says they want peace, but they renew war," said Dory Fleigal '67, who organized a protest march through Northampton.
Concurrent to the anti-war campaign on campus, protests were staged over issues of civil rights. On Feb. 18, 1970, black students from the Five Colleges occupied Converse Hall, Frost Library, College Hall and Merrill Science Center. "Amherst was chosen because it, more than any other school has given us the run-around," said Russell Williams '72, a leader of the sit-in.
Beginning in April 1972 and continuing, students protested the College's investment of millions of dollars in corporations which operated in apartheid South Africa. The College ceased such investments in March of 1988. "[The trustees] were persuaded by powerful and cogent arguments by students who had a sophisticated knowledge of the investment process," trustee Ted Cross '46 told The Student.
By the late 1980s, when causes grew more scarce, student activists became more proactive, and, according to Steve Mancini '90, "more realistic."
"Activism has changed a lot since I was a freshman," he said. "There are less people taking over buildings and more people tutoring disadvantaged children and working in homeless shelters."
-J. Robinson Mead