Ohio University - Athena Yearbook (Athens, OH)

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BY RON IORI PHOTOS BY BILL WADE The Freshman Residential Program was one of those ideas that met with adversity from the word go. And an attempt for change of the policies this year was inevitable ... it was just a matter of how and when. When the program was announced in the spring of 1974, students had spoken out against it, objecting to the idea of isolating freshmen from upperclassmen and to restricting freshman visitation rights. The objections to the program stewed over the summer and through the fall until, during the second week of winter quarter, objections became actions. Prompted by Student Governing Board, freshmen spoke out in the form of meetings, petitions and protests which ended in a sit-in in Boyd Hall (West Green freshman women ' s dorm), the referral of 23persons and no change in the freshman dorm policies. Tuesday, January 14, SGB sponsored a mass meeting which was attended by about 225 freshmen. The group approved the idea to hold a vote in which freshmen could express their preferences for visitation hours. They also expressed willingness to attend an after-hours party to be held in Boyd Hall Thursday night if the current visitation hours were rejected in the balloting. That night, University President Harry Crewson and several administrators had met until 1:30 a.m. formulating a statement reaffirming full support of the FRP including the restricted visitation hours which the president termed, reasonable. The referendum, in which 1549 freshmen or 72 per cent of the class voted, revealed that 1478, nearly 95 per cent of those voting, favored either full 24-hour visitation or 24-hour visitation on weekends with limited hours during the week. FRP hours were noon to midnight throughout the week. LEFT: Dr. Ronald Hunt, associate pro- fessor of government, expresses his views in favor of freshmen visitation rights at a rally on the College Green. ABOVE: SGB Chairman (fall quarter) Bruce Mitchell asks for opinions at an organ- izational meeting to plan the sit-in.

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li A ' We ' re Not Babies . . . Let Us Decider Freshman Dorm Frustrations End in Futile Efforts

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RIGHT: Adrian Harpool, who replaced Mitchell as SGB chairman winter Mitchell as SGB chairman winter quarter, contemplates whether to continue the Boyd Hall sit-in or to urge students to disband. BELOW: Students crowd the hallway outside of the residence services offices in Chubb Hall in a protest which took place prior to the Boyd Hall sit-in.