Thomas Whyatt, Hudson Riverkeeper, gave the Gussie and Israel Matz Lecture on "River Business First."
After New York State Regents officials visited Kendrick House, they decided that it violated the Regents policy in regard to segregated living areas.
Nine Vassar students and one non-student on the Vassar campus were among 43 people in Dutchess County who were indicted for drug trafficking. The Vassar students were areested on charges of possession and sale of marijuana in a predawn raid conducted by the police.
Daniel Bell, Harvard University, lectured on "Technocracy and Politics."
Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, lectured on "The Secular Priesthood."
Michael Shub, Queens College, CCNY, lectured on "Dynamical Systems."
The Board of Trustees of Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, formally appointed Vassar College Hispanic Studies Professor E. Inman Fox as the college's 14th president. He officially took office on July 1, 1974.
Queen Mother Moore gave the Angela Davis Lecture on "Nationalism."
Bernard Berofsky, Columbia University, lectured on "Responsibility and Necessity: The Metaphysical Character of Free Will Debate."
Charles Rosen, State University of New York at Stony Brook, gave the Matthew Vassar Lecture on "Romantic Theories of Language and Expression and Schumann."
The music library at Skinner Hall was robbed sometime during the night. The perpetrators, who used the window as an exit, stole two turntables, four amplifiers, four speakers, and a tape deck. Library staff estimated the stolen items would cost approximately $2,000 to replace.
William Murphy, Union College, gave the Class of 1928 Lecture on "The Wanderings of the Yeatses: The Early Years of W. B. Yeats."
Pierce Lewis, Penn State, Rowan Rowntree, Syracuse University, and Barry Gordon, U.S. Forest Service spoke on a panel on "The Visual Environment and Visual Pollution in the Hudson Valley."
Howard J. Samuels, candidate for the Democratic Nomination for Governor of New York State, lectured on "Distribution of State Services: A Management Dilemma."
Edwin Newman, NBC News Correspondent, gave the Poynter Lecture on "The Presidency and the Press."
Grainne Yeats, Irish Harpist, presented an evening of traditional and contemporary Irish music for the Matthew Vassar Concert.
Harvey W. Wood, Tulane University, lectured on "Grow We Must."
Kool and the Gang, popular music group, performed for a student dance in Kenyon.
Under the auspices of the Political Science Department, Morris K. Udall, U.S. Congressman from Tucson, Arizona, addressed the Vassar Campus. He was invited to Vassar in order to answer the students' questions on the impeachment of President Nixon.
Evelyn Reed, Marxist anthropologist and author, lectured on "Is Biology Women's Destiny?"
J. K. Banerji, Hindusthan Standard, India; Gitta Bauer, Springer Foreign News Service, Germany; Jurij Gustincic, Politika, Yugoslavia; and Frederik Roos, Sydsvenska Bagbladet & Goteberg's Tidningen, Sweden, spoke on a panel on "Foreign Journalists' View of the American Press."
Alexandre Casella, Institute of International Studies, Geneva, Switzerland, lectured on "China: Education Today."
Jerold Katz, Massachusetts Institute of Technology lectured on "Where Things Now Stand with the Analytic-Synthetic Distinction."
Paul Roland, IBM, lectured on "Energy: Crisis or Not?"
Steven Orlen, poet, read some of his works for the Matthew Vassar Lecture.
Eric. A. Nordlinger, Brown University, gave the Barbara Bailey Brown lecture on "The Performance of Military Governments in the Non-Western States."
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., City University of New York, gave the Poynter Lecture on "The Presidency and the Press."
David Y. F. Ho, University of Hong Kong, gave the Matthew Vassar lecture on "The Prevention and Treatment of Mental Illness in the People's Republic of China."
Karly Wolfram, Wandering Minstrel from Germany, sung songs from the Middle Ages through the Thirty Years War, accompanying himself on the lute, the theorbo, and the hurdy gurdy.
John Gorman, Mid-Hudson Legal Services, lectured on "Legal Services and the Poor."
Acting president Barbara Wells held an early morning ceremony to announce "President's Day." The tradition of a President's Holiday, in which all classes were cancelled and social activities were held, was a yearly event held at Vassar until World War II. To mark the event, which was kept secret from the student body, the president would ring the chapel bells early in the morning, which indicated to the students that classes were cancelled. Once the war began the tradition was forgone as administrators feared that the ringing bells would be mistaken for air raid warnings. A special edition of the Miscellany News was put out by the College to announce the first "President's Day" since World War II.
Dr. Earnest Seglie, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, lectured on "Complete Fusion of Heavy Ions."
Peter Reddeway, London School of Economics, lectured on "USSR: Dissent and Détente."
Martin Kilson, Harvard University, gave the Angela Davis Lecture on "Education."
Robert Fisher, University of Redlands, California, gave the Class of 1928 Lecture on "Mystics and Mandalas: Bronzes and Paintings of Tibet and Nepal."
Benjamin Suchoff, Curator of the New York Bartok Archives, lectured on "New Approaches to Bartok Research."
Seymour Slive, Harvard University, gave the Class of 1928 Lecture on "Rambrandt's Self-Portraits."
Daniel L. Alterman and Michael A. McLaughlin, Center for Constitutional Rights, New York City; Carl D. Berry, Green Have Correctional Facility; and Lawrence White, New York Urban Coalition, spoke on a panel on "Law and Public Policy, Part 1: Prisoner's Rights."
Joseph Papp, New York Shakespeare Festival and Public Theater, lectured on "Creativity in the Artist."
Herbert Moss, TV producer (Truth or Consequences) lectured on "The Science of Creative Intelligence."
Maharishi Mahes Yogi, Transcendental meditation instructor, lectured on "The Psychology of Fulfillment."
Erica Jong, poet and novelist, read from her works for the Matthew Vassar Lecture.
Susan Larson, Columbia University, lectured on "What Benefits a Woman."
Alexander Caldwell, formerly with AID in Thailand, lectured on "Aims and Impact of American Aid in the Third World."
Evelyn Thomas, University of Connecticut, lectured on "Disturbances of Early Mother-Infant Relationships."
Jerome A. Berson, Yale University, lectured on "The Chemistry of Some Trimethylenemethanes."
Lynn Gottlieb, Rabbi of Temple Beth-Or for the Deaf, New York City, lectured on "A Woman in the Rabbinate."
Vassar held a "Women's Weekend," featuring numerous lectures, films, workshops, poetry readings, and a play, all of which focussed on women's issues.
The Town of Poughkeepsie served Vassar College with a summons for a violation of the town's noise ordinance. The noise complaints, which began at 11:30 p.m. on April 12, continued throughout the night as a result of a performance by the Chamber Brothers that was held in Kenyon Gymnasium.
Karen Burstein and Carol Bellamy, State Senators of New York State, lectured on "Women and Politics in New York State."
Paul Novograd, Columbia University, lectured on the "History of the Japanese Garden."
Maxine Williams, author and founder of the Third World Women's Alliance, lectured on "Black Liberation."
Robert Young, Watson Research Center, lectured on "Metal Oxide Semiconductor Devices."
Friedrich Katz, University of Chicago, lectured on "Pancho Villa: Myths and Realities."
Alfonso Ortiz, Princeton University and the Association on American Indian Affairs, lectured on "Native American Visions of Life," and led discussions on both "Structural Principles of Dual Organization" and "The Anglo-American Problem."
Vassar held a "Philosophical Film Festival," at which P. Adams Sitney, Yale University, lectured on "Postulation of the Self in Avant-Garde Cinema," and Arthur Danto, Columbia University, lectured on "Moving Pictures: Semantical Aspects of Cinema."
Ewart Guinier, Harvard University, gave the Angela Davis Lecture on "Survival in the Seventies: Some Social Science Perspectives."
Herbert Gans, Columbia University, lectured on "Poverty, Inequality, and the Case for More Equality."
Edwin O. Reischauer, Harvard University, gave the Barbara Bailey Brown Lecture on "Japan and East Asia: Reflections on the Nixon-Kissinger Foreign Policy."
Three Vassar students, along with representatives from SUNY New Paltz, Barnard and Sarah Lawrence, plus two state senators, met with Board of Regents member Dr. Kenneth Clark and his assistants. The group met to discuss the forced desegregation throughout New York of African-American housing. The Board of Regents claimed that Kendrick House, Vassar's African-American cultural center, was in violation of Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
George W. Carey, Rutgers University, gave the Matthew Vassar Lecture on "Demography, Education, Urban Renewal, and the Washington, D. C. Ghetto: A Statistical-Cartographic Analysis."
Sylvia Molloy, Princeton University, gave the Matthew Vassar Lecture on "Critical Approach to Borges."
John Loring, printmaker, gave the Class of 1928 Lecture on "Various Photographic Techniques in Printmaking."
Dr. Robert Young, Watson Research Center, lectured on "M.O.S. -- The Story Behind the Low-Cost Calculator."
Donald L. Thomsen, Jr., SIAM Institute for Mathematics and Society, lectured on "Mathematics and Society."
Donald Mitchell, University of Sussex, lectured on "The Vocabulary of Expressionism: Music and Related Arts at the Turn of the Century."
Alice Rossi, Goucher College, gave the Helen Kenyon Lecture on "Research and Politics on Sex and Gender."
Ronald H. Bainton, Yale University, gave the Matthew Vassar Lecture on "The Women of the Reformation."
Stephanie Lewis, Princeton University, lectured on "When Legitimate Rule is in Doubt, So is Legal Validity."
David Lewis, Princeton University, lectured on "Could a Time Traveler Change the Past?"
Dr. Jeremiah P. Ostriker, Princeton University, gave the Matthew Vassar Lecture on "High Energy Astrophysics and the Death of Stars."
Vassar held an "Asian Conference and Festival," featuring lectures, films, concerts, and panels about Asian economics, politics, and culture.
Mary Daly, feminist, writer, and radical theologian, lectured on "Scapegoat Religion and the Sacrifice of Women."
Charles Berlitz, linguist and grandson of the founder of the famous language schools, lectured on "Atlantis and the Startling Underwater Bimini Discoveries."
Patricia Carbine, Ms.; Charlotte Curtis, New York Times; Lenore Hershy, Ladies' Home Journal; and Geraldine Rhoads, Woman's Day, spoke on two Poynter Panels, one about "Women in the Profession of Journalism," and the other about "Women's Magazines and the Changing Image of Women."
Donald Bellinger, Independent Candidate for Governor of New York on the Real Party Ticket, lectured on "The Confessions of a One-Time Political Apathetic."
Martin Bronfenbrenner, Duke University, gave the Martin F. Crego Lecture on "That 'Insoluble' Inflation Problem Again."
Angela Davis lectured on "Racism and Repression in the U.S. Society."
Edgar Robinson, American University, lectured on "John Dewey -- Prophet or Loss: Individualism and Political Relevancy in the 1970's."
Bonnie Raitt, blues singer, performed a concert.
Sheldon S. Wolin, Princeton University, lectured on "Politics and Education in Technological Society."
Carol Muske and Martin Steingesser, poets, read from their work for the Matthew Vassar Lecture.
John Perreault, Village Voice, lectured on "My Critical Attitudes."
Judith Tavel, physicist, lectured on "The Thermodynamics of Small Magnetic Particles."
Charles Owen, University of Connecticut, Storrs, lectured on "The Order of the Canterbury Tales."
John Gadol, Sarah Lawrence College, lectured on "Women in the Renaissance."
Vassar's Board of Trustees voted against complying with the New York State Regents' order to "desegregate" the African-American Cultural Center (AACC), which was housed in Kendrick House. According to Vassar's housing policy, all housing assignments were non-discriminatory and were made without regard to race, color, creed or national origin. The Board agreed that Vassar's black students, just like students of all races, should be able to live where they wanted and with whomever they wanted.
The Master Planning Committee presented the final plans for an extension wing to enlarge the library. This plan for the new wing, with a limestone facade, replaced earlier plans of an extension made mostly of glass.
The New York State Board of Regents amended its policy on segregation at educational facilities in which they allowed Vassar College to maintain Kendrick House as the African-American Cultural Center and as a dormitory which housed primarily black students. Negotiations between the Board of Regents and the Board of Trustees were to continue before the issue would be completely settled.
Vassar held a "Symposium on Nuclear Power," as which Andrew Hull, Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York, lectured on "Health and Safety Aspects of Nuclear Power;" Alan McGowan, Scientists Institute for Public Information, lectured on "Social and Political Implications of Nuclear Power;" and Paul F. Zweiful, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, lectured on "Are There Viable Alternatives to Nuclear Power?"
Richard Burian, Brandeis University, lectured on "Conceptual Change, Cross-Theoretical Explanations, and the Unity of Science."
E. Setliff, Carey Arboretum, lectured on "Light and Electron Microscopy of Fungi."
The Board of Trustees approved the formation of the Friends of the Art Gallery, an "organization designed to help improve both its financing and its collection...."
Joan Stambaugh, Hunter College, lectured on "Nietzsche on Creativity and Decadence."
Sheldon Simon, University of Kentucky, lectured on "The Cambodian War: The Current View from Washington, Peking, and Hanoi."
Philip Levine, poet, read his own poetry for the Matthew Vassar Poetry Reading.
Vassar held an "Edward R. Murrow Panel," at which speakers were: Donald Wilson, Time; Edward Blass, Jr., American University; Wallace Carroll, Journal and Sentinel and New York Times; Reed Harris, Freedoms Foundation; and Richard C. Hottelet, CBS News.
The Concentus Musicus of Vienna performed works by Marais, Couperin, Vivaldi, and Purcell.
James Banner, Princeton University, held an open forum on "Common Cause and Its Role in the 1974 Campaign."
Robert Heilbroner, New School for Social Research, gave the Barbara Bailey Brown Lecture on "Second Thoughts on the Human Prospect."
Laszlo Versenyi, Williams College, lectured on "Ought There to Be 'Ought's' in Moral Philosophy?"
Vassar dedicated the Olmsted Hall of Biological Sciences, at which spoke Dr. Ruth Ellen Buler '58, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Dr. Elizabeth D. Hay, Harvard Medical School; Dr. R. Malcolm Brown, Jr., University of North Carolina; Dr. Beverly Blatt Lavietes '65, New York University; Dr. Richard G. Skalko, New York State Birth Defects Institute; Dr. Richard Evans Schultes, Harvard University; Dr. George Miller, Rockefeller University; Dr. Mary Bunting '31, president of Radcliffe; Helen Bassatt Gardner '57; and Dr. Elizabeth Ballentine Gardner '62.
Henry Heisenbuttel, Dutchess County Planning Board, lectured on "Selected Urban Problems."
Carl Woodring, Columbia University, gave the Phi Beta Kappa Lecture on "Nature and Art in the Nineteenth Century."
Robert Massi, Socialist Labor Candidate for the U.S. Senate, lectured on "Reform or Revolution?"
The Early Music Quartet, Munich, sang and played music from the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries.
David Lyons, Cornell University, lectured on "Burdens of Ethical Relativism."
Stephan Thernstrom, Harvard University, gave the C. Mildred Thompson Lecture on "History as Social Science."
Peter Dickinson, University of Keele, England, lectured on "A New Perspective on Charles Ives: Local Composer Becomes International."
At a college Halloween party, a violent incident broke out between nine white Vassar students who had chosen to masquerade as members of the Ku Klux Klan, and twenty black Vassar students who were offended by the costumes. Two students were injured and John Duggan, vice-president of student affairs met with those involved.
Vassar students celebrated the official opening of a new quarter-mile running track, located behind the townhouses, with music, refreshments, and speakers. The ceremony was followed by a home soccer match at which Vassar beat Skidmore, 4-1.
Dr. Margaret Olson, Poughkeepsie College Center and PURA, lectured on "Urban Social Planning."
Sir John Pope-Hennessy, British Museum, gave the Class of 1928 Lecture on "Italian Renaissance Art."
Cary Goodman, Fairleigh-Dickinson University, lectured on "Judaism and Sexuality."
A. Wilson, Miami Medical School, lectured on "Protein Synthesis in Neurons: Roles in Brain Function."
Leslie Fiedler, State University of New York at Buffalo, gave the Class of 1928 Lecture on "What Was Literature?"
Thomas Kuhn, Princeton University, lectured on "Puzzles Versus Problems in Scientific Development."
Neva Pilgrim, soprano, and Ursula Oppens, piano performed songs by Charles Ives.
Jeffrey Garten, Staff Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs, lectured on "Resource Scarcity and International Politics."
Sister Mary Eleanor Mahoney, Mount St. Mary College, lectured on "Fundamentals of Catholic Theology."
Shuichi Kato, Yale University, gave the Class of 1928 Lecture on "Japanese Calligraphy and Painting: An Analysis of Brush Form and Ink Line."
President Alan Simpson broke ground for the Helen D. Lockwood extension to the Frederick Ferris Thompson Memorial Library.
Arthur Mitchell's Dance Theater of Harlem performed.
Rossell Hope Robbins, State University of New York at Albany, gave the Matthew Vassar Lecture on "Witchcraft: Yellow Cross and Green Faggot."
Robert Spall lectured on "Eckankar, the Science of Total Awareness."
Vassar held a "World Population Conference," at which several panels explored the effects of population and economics, politics, and human rights.
Mladen Soic, Yugoslav Information Bureau, New York City, lectured on "Yugoslavia: An Alternative to China and the Soviet Union."
Vassar held a Poynter Panel on "Investigative Reporting," at which spoke Lucinda Franks and Richard Severo, New York Times; Carey McWilliams, The Nation; and Jules Witcover, Washington Post.
At a meeting between Vassar Trustees and the New York Board of Regents, the latter threatened Vassar College with severe penalties if it did not "desegregate" Kendrick House.
Rush Welter, Bennington College, gave the Matthew Vassar Lecture on "The Failures of Intelligence."
Anton Refreier, artist, gave the Class of 1928 Lecture on "The Current Art Scene in the Soviet Union."
Dr. James Brain, State University of New York at New Paltz, lectured on "The Deteriorating Position of Women in Africa: A Tanzanian Case."
David Carr, Yale University, lectured on "History and Transcendental Philosophy."
Jay Katz, MD. Yale Law School, lectured on "Who's Afraid of Informed Consent."
Daniel Aaron, Harvard University, lectured on "The Unholy City: Urban Landscape in Late 19th and Early 20th-Century American Literature."
Irving Horowitz, Rutgers University, lectured on "Sociology and Futurology."
Stuart J. Woolf, Professor of History, Essex University, England, gave the Matthew Vassar Lecture on "The Italian Risorgimento."
Oatricia Jette, Yale University, lectured on "Deviance, Identity, and Labeling Process: The Case of Legal and Illegal Abortion."
Vassar held a "Women's Health Conference," which included workshops, panels, and debates.
Dan Hodas, State University of New York at New Paltz, lectured on "The Immigrant Experience in The United States."
Vassar held a "Black Cultural Weekend," which included a bazaar, concert, workshops, dinners, a talent show, and a chapel service.
An exhibition of contemporary collages assembled by Peter Morrin, Director of Vassar's Art Gallery, opened at Vassar's gallery. The art, collected from galleries throughout New York State, was mostly created by New York artists.
Trustees agreed to "desegregate" Kendrick house by planning to no longer use it for a student residence and moving the Afro-American Cultural Center to another campus building.
Last updated: 10 November, 1999, by Jeremy R. Linden, '00.