SUNY Fredonia in the Late-Sixties
How did the events of 1968 impact our small-town campus? In more ways than you might expect
Throughout the semester, our Senior Seminar class has been working towards an inclusive understanding of the year 1968 by studying global and national events, examining how these events have been commodified into a narrative, and challenging narratives that leave out the stories of marginalized in favor of voices of power. When deconstructing the narrative of 1968, I recognized the importance in understanding the local connections that are often forgotten or unknown when examining the broad history of this tumultuous year.
SUNY Fredonia was not excluded from the attitude of change and challenge that had become the predominant mood of the sixties. In fact, it was a time of change for the school itself. Much of the campus we know today came to be in the second half of this decade, with two new dorm complexes, Reed Library, McEwen Hall, Rockefeller Arts Center and LoGrasso Hall opening within a few years of each other. Class sizes were expanding, and students began to express their discontent with a range of issues, such as housing, administrative policies and course offerings, as well as their frustration with the ongoing war in Vietnam. Much of this growth and subsequent discontent was documented in the student newspaper, The Leader, which grew into a hub for discourse by the decade’s close.
I reviewed issues of The Leader from the years 1967 to 1970 at the Daniel A. Reed Library, Archives and Special Collections, as well as photographs and documents regarding on-campus activism. I want to offer the Fredonia community a chance to understand how events of the late sixties affected this campus, and demonstrate how activism was a part of the late-sixties culture at Fredonia, just as it was for larger institutions. I hope that the primary documents will help bridge the connection between the broad, national narratives of 1968 towards an understanding of our local movements, their influences, and their lasting impact.
Civil Rights on Campus
Fredonia, along with the rest of the nation, had to confront its treatment of race in the late sixties. As the decade progressed and student movements across the world demanded more representative courses and the civil rights movement reached its height, students at Fredonia became angered at the lack of Black Studies courses. The demand for these inclusive courses was an inciting cause of the the moratorium on classes in May of 1969, (discussed further in the Discontent with the Administration section below). The roll of these courses was to show the problems of the black individual in society in a historical context.
During this same moratorium on classes, there was a seminar on Institutional racism in recruiting students and in employment.
Martin Luther King was honored with a March after his assassination in 1968. Over 500 members of the campus community attended the march to Barker Commons on April 9th. An emphasis on his legacy of non-violence and the need to continue his work was echoes throughout the event (“Dr. King”)
Women’s Rights on Campus
There were many conversations surrounding women’s rights in the late sixties; at Fredonia, one of the prevailing issues in this area were the mandatory curfews places on women. In the sixties, women were not allowed in the men’s dorms after a certain hour and vice-versa, and there was a 1 am curfew for women on campus. By 1967, students were fed up with these rules, which were dubbed “archaic” in the article “Double Standards Must Go.”
In a meeting on the issue that took place in 1967, a male administrator is quoted as saying, “The question is whether it is freedom, women’s rights, or the right to get in as much trouble as the men do,” (Wild). It was the belief of a majority of students and even faculty that this question, although apt, was ultimately up to the women to decide for themselves. An opinion poll was published in The Leader that same year asking faculty, dorm directors and students about how they felt on the issue of abolishing women’s hours. Many of the respondents felt that hours should be eased up, but it would be up to women to prove that they were “responsible” enough to handle the extension of these hours. The general attitude at the time was that upperclassmen should have reduced hours, but freshman girls should still have the 1 am curfew (“Do”).
By 1969, the stricter policies on women’s hours had been rolled back through a series of legislative actions, resulting in only first semester freshman women having to abide by the “women’s hours.” The following year, Alumni Hall, a freshman dorm, was allowed 24-hour inter-visitation rights, allowing men to stay in the hall during all hours (“Separate”). Again, an emphasis on women being as mature as men was emphasized. However, the following academic year, the first semester freshman girls found these new policies insufficient, and began to organize rallies to abolish the curfew for good.
In addition to fighting for their own rights on campus, women held many leadership roles in activist causes on campus. Women were key members of the main student government at the time (SGA), and actively participated in sit-ins and marches. For example, during the 1970 occupation of McEwen hall, women gave speeches with their male counterparts.
Protests of the Administration and Demand for More Representative Courses
“The word dialogue is very important term in understanding fully the philosophy behind the moratorium. The issues causing the disruption and destruction of many college campuses throughout the country are essentially the same at Fredonia State. The moratorium has been proposed as a possible alternative. We are suggesting communication as an alternative to capituation.” Gary E. Banas, President, Student Government Association in letter to Members of the Academic Community, April 25, 1969
The growing discontent and political awareness of young adults in the sixties lead to a demand for course and administrative changes. Fredonia State was expanding at a time when campus unrest across the country was common, and members of the administration and student government were aware that the discontent. The National Student Association (NSA) was an organization dedicated to education reform and campus activism. According to a 1967 Leader article, NSA focused on reforms such as the “pass-fail system, seminar programs, independent study programs, experimental colleges, course and teacher evaluations (and) religious and sex education” and addressed issues ranging from “black power, drugs, student rights, faculty rights, Vietnam, birth control, biological warfare and educational innovation,” (Shufelt). Due to the controversial nature of these subjects, the NSA was met with both enthusiasm and warriness in the Fredonia community.
There was a growing demand for more representative courses and a review of the ethics of the administration. Students demanded a greater voice in campus decisions and new classes. As a result of the growing discontent, several Moratoriums were held. These were day-long events where classes were held on a voluntary basis and students and faculty attended discussions regarding a variety of issue, ranging from race relations to the availability of electives. The first was held on April 30th, 1969 to encourage faculty, administrative and student dialogue (Moritorum).
However, as time passed, more rallies were held as tensions rose. Student dissatisfaction grew with the responses of the leaders on campus. As a result, 250 students gathered for a sit-in in McEwen Hall on March 6th, 1970, followed by sit-ins at the President’s office, then at the top of Maytum Hall (Crisis). It was then that a proposal for an organization known as the Fredonia Students for Liberation (or FSL) was submitted. A list of student demands were made and submitted to The Leader and to the administration.
The administration responded by saying that students should try to go through the student government rather than going straight to the administration and holding protests and rallies.
The student protests at Fredonia were largely influenced by the student protests that happened at Columbia University and across the globe in the year of 1968.
Vietnam Protests
In addition to holding moratoriums on classes, the Vietnam war was contested in several on-campus and off-campus protests, and it was discussed in its own day-long moratorium later in October 1969. Students participated in a “peace march” in the streets of town to the commons show their discontent with the way the war was being handled (Image)
Students also went to Washington to participate in a nationwide student march called the “Washington March on Death” (Washington). There was a sense that Fredonia should be linked to the national movement in protesting the war.
Works Cited
“Dr. King Honored in Fred March.” The Leader, vol. 66, no. 25, 26 Apr. 1968, p. 3.
“Moratorium on Classes.” The Leader, vol. 69, 27 Mar. 1969, p. 2.
“Student Power and NSA.” The Leader, vol. 66, no. 7, 27 Oct. 1967, p. 4.
“The Pill.” The Leader, vol. 66, no. 5, 5 Oct. 1967.
“Separate Proposals For Women’s Hours Combined.” The Leader, vol. 68, 20 Nov. 1969.
Adin, Richard H. “That Horrid Paradox.” The Leader, vol. 68, 6 Nov. 1969, p. 4.
Barker, Vic. “Crisis at Fredonia State.” The Leader, vol. 68, no. 22, 13 Mar. 1970, p. 1.
Boycott Classes. 1970, Daniel A. Reed Library, Archives and Special Collections, Fredonia NY.
Eddy, Lynn A. “Black Studies Courses Reviewed.” The Leader, vol. 68, 8 Sept. 1969.
“Frosh Girls Hold Rally.” The Leader, vol. 69, no. 4, 15 Oct. 1970.
“Freshman Girls Plan Mass Walkout.” The Leader, vol. 69, no. 4, 15 Oct. 1970.
Helmer, Robert. “Vietnam Moratorium links Fredonia with the nationwide movement.” The Leader, vol. 68, no. 7, 23 Oct. 1969, p. 1.
Image of Students on Moratorium Day. 1969. The Observer, [Dunkirk, NY], 1969, Daniel A. Reed Library Archives & Special Collections, Fredonia, NY.
Lanford, Oscar E. Program for Campus Discussions, Memorandum. 4/27/1969, Daniel A. Reed Library Archives & Special Collections, Fredonia, NY.
Moratorium Discussion — History Department. [April 1969], Daniel A. Reed Library Archives & Special Collections, Fredonia, NY.
Moritorium [sic]. 1970, Daniel A. Reed Library Archives & Special Collections, Fredonia, NY.
Peace March October 1969. 1969, Daniel A. Reed Library, Archives and Special Collections, Fredonia NY.
Rothchild, Stu. “Do You Feel The Women’s Hours At Fredonia Should Be Abolished or Liberalized In Any Way? .” The Leader, vol. 66, no. 5, 5 Oct. 1967.
Rothchild, Stu. “Double Standards Must Go.” The Leader, vol. 66, no. 5, 5 Oct. 1967.
Sit-In at McEwen Hall. 1970, Daniel A. Reed Library, Archives and Special Collections, Fredonia NY.
Small, Joyce. “Washington march plans finalized for Fredonia.” The Leader, vol. 68, no. 10, 13 Nov. 1969, p. 1.
Student, Dakota. “Nobody Trusts N.S.A… WIth Good Reason.” The Leader, vol. 66, no. 8, 27 Oct. 1967, p. 4.
Wild, Sophia. “Fredonia Women Demand Equality.” The Leader, vol. 66, no. 6, 5 Oct. 1967, p. 17.
Special thanks to Kim Taylor and Patricia Cummings-Witter at the Daniel A. Reed Archives for their help in making this portion of the blog possible
