Northeastern University - Cauldron Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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The Year Well-done burgers A fire in tlie Ell Center cafeteria Nov. 2, 1 977 caused $30,000 worth of damage and forced the evacuation of the Ell Center and Ell Build- ing during midterms. The fire was discovered in the dishroom by Campus Police at about 9:30 a.m. The Boston Fire Department extinguished the flames with- in an hour and large panes of glass were broken to ventilate the smelly, smol e-filled building. A fire official said the blaze was probably caused by careless smoking and started in a trash container containing plastic materials. All food had to be discarded per order of the Board of Health. Smoke penetrated walls so extensively that students taking midterms in the Ell Building were forced to finish their exams in the front Quad when the smell became too intense. The cafeteria was reopened the following day. South African investments criticized As the apartheid situation in South Africa increasingly drew the attention of civic groups and societal spokesmen, student organiza- tions began criticizing the university ' s invest- ments in American companies doing business in that region. But Northeastern ' s Board of Trustees de- cided that the $6 million invested in those 12 American companies would remain, despite pressure from some students to withdraw the inv estments. In the June 7, 1981 issue of the Northeas- tern News, D. Thomas Trigg, then chairman of the board ' s Funds and Investment Committee said, We were satisfied that they (the com- panies) were acting responsibly in efforts to improve the employment situation in their plants in South Africa. President Kenneth G. Ryder said the univer- sity can have a greater chance for making an impression upon the corporations that are In- volved by continuing. as stockholders. He said that one-third of Northeastern ' s stockholdings were invested in companies that had plants in South Africa and that a divestment of those stocks would not have much of an influence on the firms ' hiring prac- tices. Scholarship day makes debut Offering topics such as The Decline of Epi- demic Disease, The Language of the Deaf and Why We Repress it, It, Issues of Crimi- nal Administration, and What are Oraks? , Scholarship Day made its debut at Northeast- er in the Spring of 1978. About 1,000 students decided not to split the school scene on the free day to hear 19 professors discuss a variety of subjects. Sponsored by the Phi Kappa Phi honor so- ciety. Scholarship Day apparently drew enough attention to become an annual Spring event at Northeastern. Dorms at the Y To shorten the waiting list for university housing, administrators struck a deal with the YMCA in August of 1977 to have 150 students move into the top two floors of the building where Northeastern got its start in 1898. Comprised mostly of singles, the place where you can hang out with all the boys was generally clean and offered students the privacy they lacked in most dormitories. But, as one student who lived there the pre- vious winter told The News, The rooms were clean, but it was the people who got to you. You should see the loonies they got there, Students got used to calling YMCA home in the fall quarter of 1977. Rising enrollment combined with shrinking housing space forced university ad- ministrators to lease the top floors to accommodate a portion of the waiting list for dormitories.

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A city lived in fear New York ' s young lovers were scared the summer of 1977. The big blackout was almost forgotten by the time Stacy Moskowitz was killed on an otherwise quiet night in Brooklyn. Even if you weren ' t a Islew Yorker, it didn ' t matter. The idea that some nut with a .44-caliber revolver might come sneaking up on your parked car and blow you away in a single blast was enough of a scare to send you and your date home early on a Friday night. Six fatalities and seven- wounded survivors were victims of those circumstances between the Fall of 1976 and that following summer before the New York City Police Department tracked down one of the nation ' s most hated and mysterious mass murderers. Who could have guessed that a 24-year-old postal clerk from a small Westchester commu- nity about 30 minutes driving distance from New York City would turn out to be the cause of all that hate and fear? David Richard Son of Sam Berkowitz was arrested Aug. 10 just outside his home after Tlie Blizzard of ' 78 Surely, you were thinking, the snowing would stop. You ' d seen enough blizzards to know that even Mother Nature ' s bad side pe- ters out once in a while. And it did stop. The snowfall lasted only two days — but what a two days! When the clouds blew over and the sun cast its rays across the city, you saw the devasta- tion. Boston was buried, in some parts, in 44 inches of snow. Thousands of residents living along the coast were homeless, their houses having been swallowed by the ocean. Seventeen bliz- zard related deaths were reported in New Eng- land. Cars were buried everywhere you looked. police traced his name from a vehicle that received a parking ticket the night of the Moskowitz murder. He was charged later that month with all of the shootings. It was a command. I had a sign and I followed it, was his explanation for killing people. Evidence retrieved during his arrest showed that Berkowitz was on his way to shoot up a Long Island discotheque when police cor- nered him in his car in Yonkers. After being declared fit to stand trial and pleading guilty to the charges, Berkowitz was sentenced to maximum prison terms for all six murders. He would be eligible for parole in the year 2007 at the age of 54. Massachusetts was in a state of emergency while National Guardsmen and municipal workers took a week to get things moving again. Classes were cancelled for five days starting when snowflakes began falling Monday after- noon, February 6, 1978. Cabin fever caused some students to throw snowballs and ice at campus police who were busy untrap- ping cars and plowing parking lots. A few win- dows were broken, but people generally stayed indoors playing cards, drinking and getting to know their fellow dorm inhabitants. Unless you owned one of the countless number of automobiles covered with the cold, white stuff, there simply wasn ' t any reason for you to go outside. Nothing was opened and trying to walk through four foot drifts was pret- ty much impossible. The university spent $195,000 for the cleanup, further reddening an already over- blown snow removal budget for that horren- dous winter by $220.00. While the university coped with the situation with virtually no major damage, Boston and its citizens struggled. People were out of work for a week. Many were separated from their fam- ilies without any means of transportation or, in some instances, communication because electricity was knocked out in 100,000 homes. Major highways became pedestrian walkways full of cars and trucks that couldn ' t be moved anywhere. But like past emergencies, people learned to help one another. Shovelling snow off a neighbor ' s car, lending assistance to the el- derly or offering a home to a lost stranger were some of the ways Bostonians tried to make the problem easier to handle. Man ' s will to survive was tested that Febru- ary, In the final grading he emerged with a few scars, yet able to reestablish his lifestyle and keep on going. The power of television was brought to trial in Florida in the fall of 1977. A 15-year-old boy pleaded innocent by reason of insanity in the slaying of his 82-year- old neighbor. The de- fense tried to prove that violence on television had made Ronny Zamora incapable of distin- guishing right from wrong in the highly cele- brated murder case. Zamaora ' s attorney named television an accessory to the crime. He said the youth was suffering from prolonged, intense, invol- untary, subliminal television intoxication. The jury did not agree and brought down a guilty verdict of premeditated murder. 8

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Discs Also . . Sept. 20, 1977 - Vietnam admitted to United Nations. On Jan. 3, 1978 Vietnam occupies Cambodia Sept. 18, 1977 - Ted Turner aboard Coura- geous successfully defends America ' s Cup. Dec 2. 1977 - Leroy (Nicky) Barnes, 45, convicted in New York City of selling 40 pounds of heroin a montti from a Harlem garage. He was New York ' s Mr. Untouch- able for his ability to beat several raps in the past through acquittals. Jan 18, 1978 - Hartford Civic Center ' s roof collapses under weight of snow. March 6, 1978 - Hustler magazine ' s owner Look ... up in the sky! Faster than a speeding bullet, more power- ful than Amtrak, able to fly over tall buildings in a single swoop, the Concorde streaked to America amid much hoopla and protest over its expected ear-shattering noise levels. But the Supreme Court on Oct. 17, 1977 lifted a ban on the Concorde ' s arrival at New York ' s John F. Kennedy International Airport to allow test flights. Test results showed that the supersonic jet ' s decibel levels on take-offs and landings were lower than those of a Boeing 707. A few stubborn scientists insisted that the Concorde may have been ' eroding the Earth ' s ozone layer. Nevertheless, passenger service began Nov. 22. Words remembered: I never forget a face, but in your case I ' ll make an exception. — Groucho Marx and publisher Larry Flyht is shot. ■ May 8-11, 1978 - Iran has riots in streets in rebellion against government under Shah. June 5, 1978 - Resorts International Hotel, the country ' s first legal gambling casino out- side of Nevada, reports revenues of $2.6 million during first six days of operation in Atlantic City. July 25, 1978 - World ' s first test-tube baby is born to British couple. Aug. 4, 1978 - Plans for construction of nuclear plant in Seabrook, N.H. approved. June 6, 1978 - California voters passed Pro- position 13 by 65% majority to cut their property taxes by 57 % . Things we were into Jogging. Perhaps incited by Jim Fixx ' s Complete Book of Running or increased press coverage of Bill Rodgers ' marathon records, people of all ages began donning sneakers and jogging clothes and took to the streets. Morning, afternoon and evening, joggers were everywhere. America was on a health kick and jogging seemed to be the most popu- lar method of staying trim. One of the most in things to say on cam- pus was, Yeah, I ' ll meet you in the Cask in a few minutes. I wanna go do a quick five or six miles. Any J.R.R. Tolkien book. Watching for U. F. O. ' s. ' Buying Elvis Presley memorabilia. Thousands and thousands of diet books guaranteed to be the right one for you. People who died Elvis Presley, 42, singer Charlie Chaplin, 88, actor, silent comedy films Sebastian Cabot, 59, actor, (Family Affair ' s butler) Groucho Marx, 86, comedian Bing Crosby, 74, actor, singer Zero Mostel, 62, actor Robert Shaw, 51, actor Will Geer, 76, actor (Grandpa Walton) Aldo Moro, 61, Italian Prime Minister Star Wars Soundtrack Hotel California Rumours Star is Born Best of the Doobies ' Wings Over America Night Moves ' Songs in the Key of Life John Williams Eagles Fleetwood Mac Barbara Streisand and Kris Kristofferson Doobie Brothers Wings Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band Stevie Wonder Pages JMToMen jt uisi iawpw The Thorn Birds Bloodline World According to Garp Looking Out for 1 The Women ' s Room The Silmarillion The Amityville Horror Films Animal House Buddy Holly Story Close Encounters of the Third Kind Coming Home Goodybye Girl An Unmarried Woman The Turning Point Boys in Company C