University of Rhode Island - Renaissance / Grist Yearbook (Kingston, RI)

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DINING HALLS NEAR CAPACITY JUNE 1971 So I just completed my sophomore year at URL and it feels like I’ve been here for ages ' . Not that I don’t like it here or anything. The school’s just become a real part of my life that can hardly think that I’ve lived anywhere else. I went through alot of heavy periods this year and find myself changing alot. People keep on saying (remember Psych 103) “find yourself’ or gel your head together . Funny thing is that I thought I had my shit together in high school, and the more I’m living and experiencing this year, the more 1 realize what a long way l had to go. I go to my classes everyday, mechanically. Eng lish at 10. Philosophy at 1 1, lunch at 12 in Roger Williams, fool around till 2, and up the ‘ elephant walk’ for some more bullshit. Every night its either sneaking into the Pub or getting stoned or studying if I have to. This is, I often wonder, am I learning anything ? Ya know, you can screw my 18 credits worth of totally irrelevant classes. What I’m learning at URI is far more heavier than biology or Math. I’m really learning about myself, getting into other people’s heads and having them get into mine. So often I’m sunk under a sea of depress- ive irrelevancies, but I’ve learned to cope with them. I guess. I’ll never forget this spring. Although it was far less heavy than last year’s spring (the Strike, and look three courses pass fail, ending up with a 3.5) it was still pretty impressive. I tend to think that Nixon pulls all these dramatic moves just when the weather gets warm enough to protest about them. Or maybe its just that the kids at college find it more convenient to protest about something when spring comes and finals are in the air. Anyhow, He did have something quite legit to protest about. And the quad rallies and Eduard’s Auditorium faculty meetings really got somewhat of a community spirit going on campus. Wow, all those kids that set up tents on the quad! One evening that will always remain a vivid memory was when the Black students took over the Administration building and hundreds of kids sat outside. The State Police were called in to remove the kids from the building. But instead of just peacefully walking straight into the building, they stampeded all of us outside, squirting out mase and hitting many of us with Billy Clubs! Sixteen kids had to go to the Infirmary for head wounds. The next day there was a big rally on the quad. Even TV cameras were there filming us. We seemed to be more pissed and agravated about the police incident than the Vietnam War. Anyway it was a very heavy scene that day on the quad. May Day came and went, a strike on UR! classes was voted illegal, and everyone’s finals had to be taken. So I outgrew my freshmen cirle of friends and found some really hip people to hang with. Got into a lot of good dope (its become a way of life for me) and many intense relationships. I’ve slept with a few people and realize that sex can be a pretty heavy thing. And I’m through with dorm life. Next year its down the line in Bonnet Shores! DROP-IN DRUG CENTER BEACON NEWS EDITORS RESIGN; CROWDING PARENTS MUST FAC. SENATE APPROVES COLLEGE OBUDSMAN STATE

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2,000 STUDENTS VOTE FOR ' UNLIMITED STRIKE’ FEASIBILITY OF BIRTH CONTROL CLINIC ON CAMPUS EXPLORED Couple this with a complete disorientation because registration was in Rodman Hall, and nobody even knew where that was, and you get a pretty soggy bunch of disenchanted youth, not to mention the various fungus diseases caused by wearing that same pair of soaked jeans which were really the only ones you had ‘broke in just right’. But this is getting just a little far afield of what the real concern was in freshman year, and that was lo neli- ness. Freshman year is a very lonely time, and perhaps lonliness is the main reason people drop out of school A freshman expected two things from school: one, an education, and two, a rabid four year sex adventure. Why shouldn ' t he expect it? Especially with all those stories about College Girls that had been filing his brain, and those weird tales about Hippie Chicks? And what about when they were one and the same. College Girl Hippie Chicks??? Oh, my God, It still makes me pant!! But we all know what happened. You find out that all the girts you see are the same ones you went to high school with and they haven’t changed a bit, not even with Woodstock and your new side burns and moustache. Crissakes, we grew ten thousand feet of facial hair, and it was all over the floor and sinks before every long holiday so Mom and Dad wouldn’t know. Its hard to go back so far and remember that you were afraid to walk down the street with your new hair, because some lousy-red-neck was bound to make trouble. So it was just one more reason to stay in bed, away from other people. So you can see that the strike woj more than a strike against the action in Cambodia, which certainly deserved a strike, and still does. The strike was real anger, frustration, and hatred embodied in one movement. And this is the reason it failed. When so much tension is involved, and the leaders are talking about ‘Gay Lib’ and all you want to do is find somebody you could really talk to, and make love with in the grass, your anger is turned towards the people who are leading the strike. The strike wasn t centered on anything. If you really wanted to do something to stop the war, you were in the wrong place. After all we had marched on Quonset, for some reason. I remember, because I had a red convertible and was with a guy and we both had long hair, so some clown asked us to lead the way. but I didn’t know the way. So we followed them to Quonset, and expressed our dissatisfaction by walking around in a circle and singing. Well the strike was better than that, but not much. If you were on strike and serious about doing something about the war, you also had to be a part of gay lib, supporting Mao, and scarfing up Health Food on the way. It was prob- ably the greatest disenchantment of them all. But as with all good kiddy stories, we all struck school, got pass-fail AO’s and lived happily ever after, at least long enough to discover that we’re now becoming sophomores. BIG BUBBLE BUILT FOR TRACK AND TEAM SPORT PRACTICES 27 URI GETS LIQUOR LICENSE FOR MEMORIAL UNION BAR

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OVERCROWDING LIMITS NEW MAJORS BLACKS MAINTAIN BOYCOTT, CONTINUE WORK FOR DEMANDS OPENS OTHERS FOLLOW FEW ATTEND EARTH WEEK CRITICAL: COURSES SHUT URI LIBRARY LEAST STOCKED OF 6 COLLEGES SORORITY CONVOCATION GYNECOLOGIST JOINS STAFF ATTRACTS 300 FRESHMEN ROTC REFERENDUM OKAY 24-HR PARIETALS VANDALISM HIGH IN PANTY RAID ADMINISTRATION WANTS ARMED CAMPUS POLICE POLICE CALLED, STUDENTS REMOVED 29