Springfield College - Massasoit Yearbook (Springfield, MA)

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In February of 1980, the mayor of Springfield announced that Springfield College’s East Campus was the perfect site for a new 42 million dollar high school, since it was located in the geographical center of the city of Springfield. The statement by the mayor was met with dismay and anger by all of the SC family, from the president, the school administrators and faculty to the students and alumni. Plans had been initiated to build a college chaple at East Campus, and funds had been set aside to pay for a director for the East Campus. In a speech before the school committee. President Locklin informed the city that: “If the School Committee is to get it, it will need to take it by eminent domain. Should that be attempted, the School Committee is entitled to know that I and my board, and my faculty, students, staff parents, alumni and neighbors will use every legal and ethical means to resist this needless damage to both Springfield College and the city of Springfield.” The battle for East Campus was fought and narrowly won by a 4 to 3 vote in favor of SC. This conflict resulted in a unification of the forces from both outside and within Springfield College. The Loveland Chapel was built as planned and a more organized and effective plan regarding the use of our East Campus was sought. 13

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1972 saw the first student elected to the Board of Trustees. This move allowed the senior Student Trustee full voting priviledges and a junior Student Trustee-elect the right to sit in on meetings but not the right to vote. The school’s pub was established when the legal drinking age in Massachusetts was dropped to 18. School officials felt that this would reduce the risk of students driving to and from off-campus drinking spots, and thus allowing rigid control of alcohol consumption by the campus. 1973 saw the donation of $300,000 by Mrs William C. Bemis for the completion of a biology building that was named for her late husband. The next decade saw an increase in student enrollment, a student exchange program with China, the establishing of new majors, a freeze in the tuition, room and board rates, a crisis and a near crisis. On May 11, 1979, the Memorial Field House was condemned, ordered closed within 24 hours and then to be razed. Fortunately, the school had been informed of the problem 2 weeks earlier and plans for a new 3.6 million dollar structure was underway. As it turned out the new P.E. Complex ended up costing 5.3 million dollars and was completed 29 months after the condemnation of the Memorial Field House.

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The last building to be erected during the “Locklin years” was the Fuller Arts Center. This building was different from others erected on campus in the sense that it was for the “Arts”; not a building for physical education the sciences or business areas. At first the Trustees weren’t convinced of the need or funding. One thing that convinced them of the student’s sincere interest was the donation of $1700 from the proceeds generated by productions of “Best of Broadway”. On May 4, 1984 Art Linkletter was Master of Ceremonies in the Appleton Auditorium of the new art center. On May 5, 1984 the college’s Trustees and Corporators were informed that President Locklin’s term would end on June 30th, 1985. He was quoted as saying: “Of course I’m going to miss being president of Springfield College and I do love the job a great deal, but I really love the college more than the job.” 14