Ohio University - Athena Yearbook (Athens, OH)

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RIGHT: Students cram into the main lounge of Boyd Hall in a protest which ended in a march to Cutler Hall. BELOW; Tyrone Morris, director of residence life, told students to leave Boyd Hall, as they were in violation of university regulations. Harpool declined, assuring Crewson that the demonstration was peaceful and orderly. We are making sure that there are no hazards and that the aisles are open. At 12:15, West Green Coordinator Paul Huntsberger, Director of Residence Life Tyrone Morris and Boyd Hall Resident Director Mary Carper silently toured all four floors, then returned to Huntsberger ' s apartment in Irvine Hall, next door. They repeated the trek at 12:45, shortly after about 200 students dispersed from the lounge and into dorm rooms on request of Harpool and Mitchell. Fifteen minutes later, SGB members walked the halls and requested all non-residents of the dorm to return to the lounge for a meeting to discuss the fate of the protest. Only once did university officials present at the sit-in issue a warning to the students when Morris told the crowd at 1:15, You are in violation of university rules and you are asked to leave the building. 10

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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.

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After the students had regathered in the lounge, SGB control of the crowd eroded. An increasingly restless group, sensing that the protest was leading nowhere, favored the alternative of facing Crewson. They overruled an SGB plan to end the sit-in and hastily planned a march to the president ' s home on Park Place. About 100 students braved the sub-freezing temperatures and arrived at Crewson ' s house at around 2:30 a.m., only to find the front door ajar and the house apparently empty. One student pulled the door shut and the crowd moved on to Cutler Hall where the lights were suddenly extinguished. The crowd soon dispersed. The next day, 23 referrals were drafted and sent to University Judiciaries. Nine of the 11 SGB members present were referred while other students were chosen on the basis of recognition by residence life staff members who patrolled the halls during the sit-in. Not all of those students referred were active participants in the protest. Only two SGB members, Mitchell and Andy Karp, were found innocent by a three-student hearing board, which every student was given the option to appear before, instead of Director of University Judiciaries Bruce Gaynor. Sentences ranged from one to two quarter probations to disciplinary warnings. No one was suspended from the university. Internal difficulties affecting the cohesion of SGB prevented the board from maintaining their involvement in the FRP issue. With the year more than half over, freshmen apparently lost interest in keeping up the battle for a change in visitation hours. Realizing that they would only be forced to comply with the rules for another few months, most became content to let the issue die. Without the pressure from SGB and the freshman class, university administrators also allowed the issue to fade; no changes in policy were made and the FRP remained intact. 11