Ohio University - Athena Yearbook (Athens, OH)

Page 12 text:

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.

Page 11 text:

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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But the overwhelming freshman support for self-determination of hours apparently had a null effect on university administrators, who vowed to continue the FRP unchanged for the remainder of the academic year. Crewson said, after meeting with representatives of SGB and the Freshman Inter-Dorm Council, which consisted of one representative from each freshman dorm, that he viewed the vote as, only one part of the total evaluation which must be made of the FRP before changes can occur. Crewson also confirmed strict enforcement of the hours. Those who choose to violate university regulations will be reprimanded to the disciplinary procedures and, if found guilty, will be subject to being suspended from the university, he said. The following day, SGB abandone d plans for the party, fearing that beer might be an added incentive drawing students to the party. Instead, the board announced the sit-in to begin at 11:30 Thursday night in Boyd Hall and lasting indefinitely past midnight in order to violate the visitation hours. Four hours before the sit-in, in a routine meeting, SGB voted eight to two in electing Adrian Harpool as chairman of the board in its quarterly elections. Harpool replaced Student Worker ' s Union organizer Bruce Mitchell. Crewson, pleased to hear that the board had elected a new chairman, informed SGB member Jeff Mason to tell Harpool to call him. Shortly before midnight, Mason pushed his way through the sit-in crowd, estimated at 500 and growing restless, to deliver Crewson ' s message. Crewson said he was happy that we didn ' t elect Bruce chairman, Mason reported, adding that Crewson had commented, I just can ' t talk to Bruce. Harpool slipped over to Sargeant Hall and phoned Crewson, who reportedly instructed the newly elected chairman to order the group to disperse. LEFT: Students pass the time during the Boyd Hall sit-in. which was organized with the intention of violating the restricted visitation hours.