University of Massachusetts Amherst - Index Yearbook (Amherst, MA)

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W ' - ' ' The student had heard strange and wonderful rumors of a good and powerful place at another part of the campus. The place was called Whitmore, and there were very im- portant people living there. In September of the year Nine- teen Seventy-one, the student ventured off to find one of these people, in order that he might converse with him. The student brought with him a piece of paper containing a question which only a person in Whitmore could answer. What steps, said the question, have been taken by the Administration to break down the walls of red tape which separate the student from the Administrator? The student was hopeful that the person ' s answer could be used in the noted Yearbook, INDEX. Upon entering the portals of Whitmore, the student found one of the persons. It was, in fact, a dean . . . one of the greater persons in the land. The dean said that, sure he would answer the question. Just as soon as he got a chance. The months passed, and the student had to keep re- minding the dean that the answer was very necessary, for the INDEX had deadlines which had to be met. In the month of May of the year Nineteen Seventy-two, the dean told the student that, of course, he hadn ' t had a chance and, of course, he wouldn ' t be able to get to it. The stu- dent would never have an answer to his question concern- ing the relations between students and Administrators, Little did he know that his question had been answered. M-

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22 S.A

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Seven Days In October A different kind of confrontation occurred on campus during the first week of October, 1971 — a confrontation whicli involved students more as spectators than as partici- pants. It was a confrontation which provided a week filled with confusion, fear, and speculation — a week that helped determine the future of UMass-Amherst. It was the week that Chancellor Oswald Tippo resigned. The whole episode, from the start, was marked by sus- pense. When TIppo spoke to the Faculty Senate on Thurs- day afternoon, the last day of September, It was In special closed session. Only the reporters who agreed not to print any of the Chancellor ' s speech were allowed to remain. The next morning Massachusetts Daily Collegian (MDC) could only drop hints. Without revealing what Chancellor Tippo said at the closed session, it quoted Larry Ladd, then vice-president of the Student Senate: It took things like Tippo ' s speech to unite students and faculty for a common cause . , . The Student Senate will go along with the Faculty Senate in supporting Tippo ' s position stated in the closed session. And as a foreshadowing of that eventful first week of Oc- tober, the MDC anticipated that, more detailed information will be available concerning the content of Tippo ' s speech in forthcoming editions of the Collegian. Saturday morning, October 2, the Springfield Union broke the story. The Chancellor and several other high-ranking campus officials, it reported, had resigned in a dispute with Pres- ident Robert Wood over the budget and the role of the Am- herst campus in the University system. That one state- ment succinctly summed up the feud which had been brewing for months between TIppo and Wood, and the strained relations which had existed between the Amherst and Boston campuses. Rumor and speculation abounded that weekend, but Monday morning ' s MDC revealed the detailed informa- tion as It had promised. The major dispute between Tippo and Wood, it seemed, involved a proposed transfer of $850,000 from the Amherst campus to Wood ' s System ' s office In Boston. This $850,000 figured prominently in the discussion which en- sued that week. Tippo claimed that, by the transfer of these funds, UMass-Amherst would suffer. Wood argued the contrary. Throughout the ordeal, however, Tippo remained un- communicative as to the actual reasons behind his resig- nation. I guess I ' ve been in administration too long, he said, and I think I ' ve had enough. Other sources, including his wife, claimed that Tippo had been tired of fighting alone all the time. 24 i l Lf .r! .r.T ' ivxCTvrai v ' ;. rpj.w, v.r