John Beckwith, Harvard Medical School, lectured on "Politics of Genetic Engineering."
Eric Mack, Harvard University, lectured on "Natural and Contractual Rights."
Security was forced to interrupt a concert being given by singer Harry Chapin due to a bomb threat. At 11:27 that evening a young male called security to report that a bomb had been placed in the chapel, where the concert was being performed. Security searched the building and the Arlington branch fire and police were notified. The bomb threat was the first the campus had received in several years.
Walter Erlebacher, sculptor, gave the Class of 1928 Lecture, showing slides and speaking about his work.
Malcolm H. Gotterer, Florida International University, lectured on "Selecting Data Base and File Structure Designs."
Irving Faust, Rockefeller University, lectured on "Growth and Regulation of Adipose Tissue."
Keith Jarrett, internationally-renowned jazz pianist, gave a concert in Skinner Hall.
A new committee, the Committee on the Quality of Residential Life (CQRL), was formed. The purpose of the committee was to determine "how the residential aspects of Vassar enhance and contribute to the goals of the college and the general well being of the community."
Ramie and Merri Arian gave a concert of Jewish folk music.
Robert Stone, novelist, read from his own works for the Matthew Vassar Lecture.
Vassar held a "Symposium on Public Health, Veterinary Medicine, and Dentistry."
Robert Meeropol, son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed on June 19, 1953 by the U.S. Government on charges of conspiracy to commit espionage, lectured on the situation surrounding his parents' deaths.
Nathaniel Friedman, State University of New York at Albany, lectured on "Mathematical Models and Difference Equations."
Marie Tarver, Poughkeepsie Model Cities Agency, lectured on urban problems in Poughkeepsie.
Leonard Jefferies, CCNY, lectured on "Black Studies and the Urban Crisis."
Jay Schulman, psychologist, lectured on "The American Jury, the Administration of Justice, and the Role of Social Science."
Carolyn Heilbrun, Columbia University, lectured on "Marriage: The Modern Discovery."
Alan B. Spitzer, University of Iowa, gave the C. Mildred Thompson Lecture on "Post-Revolutionary Youth: The French Generation of 1820."
Over spring vacation 25 rooms in Main dorm and two Terrace Apartments were broken into and robbed. Because of the nature of the robberies, students assumed it was a professional job. They reported that it seemed as if the robbers had known exactly what to look for.
Morton Levine, Fordham University, lectured on "The Basques: An Example of Ethnic Stubbornness."
Dr. Kai Pedersen, University of Uppsala, Sweden, gave the Matthew Vassar Lecture on "The Importance of the Work of the Svedberg and Arne Tiselius in Early Development of Modern Protein Chemistry."
Thomas W. Tucker, Colgate University, lectured on "The Marooned Mapmaker Meets the Euler Characteristics" and "Mathematics and Art: Why Dürer Wasn't Greek."
Estelle James, State University of New York at Stony Brook, lectured on "Income and Employment Effects of Sexual Integration."
Earle Brown, American avant-garde composer, gave an informal presentation of his recent compositions.
Frances Fox Pive, Boston University, lectured on "The Urban Crisis of the 1970's."
Ronald Brady, Ramapo College, lectured on "Goete's Theory of Science: Some Non-Cartesian Meditations."
Walter Allen, Visiting Scholar from England, lectured on "The Comedy of Dickens."
Two Vassar security guards were temporarily suspended after an incident involving the interrogation of assistant professor of History Norman Hodges. After two employees of Olmstead Biology building reported that a black man carrying a black bag was seen walking down the Olmstead ramp, security approached Hodges, thinking he was the man from the description. When security asked Professor Hodges to show identification, Hodges refused. The matter was cleared up when Hodges was identified by the secretary to the Dean of the Faculty. The incident angered Hodges, who that though he felt security precautions were necessary, they should no be "at the expense of human rights and dignity."
James Tobin, Yale University, gave the Martin F. Crego Lecture on "The Crisis in Economic Policy."
Jonathan Williams, poet, read from his works for the Class of 1928 Poetry Reading.
Vassar held a "Conference on the Politics of Hunger," featuring Jean Mayer, School of Public Health at Harvard University, and Emma Rothschild, the New Yorker and New York Review of Books.
Franco Fido, Brown University, gave the Matthew Vassar Lecture on Boccaccio's ars narrandi in the sixth day of The Decameron.
Samuel Menashe, author of To Open, No Jerusalem, But This, read some of his poetry.
Vassar held a symposium on "American Biography," featuring authors Justin Kaplan, Nancy Milford, James David Barber, and Martin Duberman.
Harry Blum, National Institute of Health, lectured on "Biological Shape and Visual Science."
Richard Crowley, architect, lectured on "Rhinebeck Area Historic Survey."
Jean Vilar, University of Paris - Sorbonne, lectured on "Inquisition and Literature in Spanish Golden Age."
Clarence Major read from his own works for the Class of 1928 Poetry Reading.
Jerry Fodor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, lectured on "Thought and Language."
Vassar held the Class of 1928 Art Symposium, "Women and Film: 1975," featuring an informal discussion with three contemporary female film-makers: Meera Banks, Maryette Charlton, and Suzanne Bauman '67.
Dr. Hasye Cooperman, New School for Social Research, lectured on "The Yiddish Language in America."
Samuel Rosenberg, author of Naked is the Best Disguise: The Death and Resurrection of Sherlock Holmes, lectured on "Sin an Punishment in the American Detective Story."
Sidney Dickstein, Defense Attorney for Ralph Ginzburg, lectured on "The Supreme Court vs. Ralph Ginzburg or All's Fair in Sex and Law."
Klaus Mehnert, expert on relations between China and the USSR, lectured on "China Events and Chinese Foreign Policy" and "Observations on American Youth Radicalism."
Pierre Tabatoni, French Cultural Attaché in New York, gave the Matthew Vassar Lecture on "Pratiques et Mythes de Progrès Social en France."
Stanley Rosen, Pennsylvania State University, lectured on "Socrates as Midwife."
Robert Rehwoldt, Marist College, gave the Matthew Vassar Lecture on "The Determination of Heavy Metals Using Neutron Activation Analysis."
Nancy Erickson, Woman's New York Center, lectured on "The Equal Rights Amendment."
Nancy Erickson, Woman's New York Center, and Lucinda Cisler, author of Women: a Bibliography, lectured on "The Politics and Impact of the Supreme Court Abortion Decisions."
Anthony Giddens, University of Cambridge, England, gave the Savel and Gertrude Folks Zimand Lecture on "Recent Trends in European Sociology."
Maria de la Soledad Carrasco Urgoiti, Hunter College, gave the Matthew Vassar lecture on "The Moor of Granada in Literature."
Maria Muldaur and Tim Moore performed a concert in the Chapel.
Robert Black, Julliard student, performed piano works by Lizst, Busoni, and Chopin.
Dr. George Harris, Arthur D. Little Corporation, lectured on "Mathematics and Operation Research."
Dr. Leonard Silk, New York Times, lectured on "Economic News Coverage."
Gerald Malanger, poet and film maker, read from his recent work.
Margaret O'Brien Steinfels, author of Who's Minding the Children: The History and Politics of Child Care in the U.S., gave a lecture.
Patricia Lambert, artist, gave a demonstration and lecture on etching for the Class of 1928 Lecture.
Dr. Mark Bieber, Columbia University, lectured on "Essential Fatty Acids, Brain Development, and Parental Nutrition."
Drew Middleton, New York Times, lectured on "The Press and the Pentagon."
Julian Pitt-Rivers, London School of Economics, gave the Matthew Vassar lecture on "Genesis: Myth or History."
Ruth Stone read from her poetry for the Class of 1928 Poetry Reading.
Robert J. Winn, International Meditation Society, lectured on "Transcendental Meditation."
Samuel R. Delany, science-fiction author, read from his works.
Robert Tucker, Princeton University, lectured on "Reflections of a Stalin Biographer."
Jane Marla Robbins performed her one-woman play, Dear Nobody, for the Dickinson-Kayden Event.
Dietmar Seyferth, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, lectured on "Organocobalt Cluster Compounds-Carbon in an Unusual Environment."
Michael Wood, Columbia University, lectured on "Nice Guys Finish Last: Images of Success in American Movies."
Joaquín Calvo Sotelo, Royal Spanish Academy, lectured on "Personajes Universales del Teatro Espanol."
Anne Hollander, costume-maker, gave the Matthew Vassar Lecture on "Fabric of Vision: The Role of Drapery in the Pictorial Imagination."
Dr. Milton White, Afro-American Datanamics, lectured on "Computer Technology and Black America."
Vassar obtained a club license, which allowed the sale of beer, wine and liquor in the college center's pub.
Vassar was selected from 15 colleges to oversee the Common Application Experiment. This experiment was part of a national effort to streamline the college admission process. All of the colleges involved agreed to use an identical application form known as the "Common Application." This application form allowed high school students to fill out just one application which they would mail to all of the colleges they applied to.
Last updated: 10 November, 1999, by Jeremy R. Linden, '00.