Franklin & Marshall College

The Class of 1973 shall be always associated with one of the most significant events to have occurred in Franklin and Marshall history.  In January of 1969, the Board of Trustees of the College, following a hardy debate on this issue, announced that it had voted to admit women as full time students.  After more than 180 years as an all male institution, F & M opened its doors to 83 women and 507 male students who became the first Co-educational class at the College.

These 83 women from the Class of 1973 displayed a pioneer spirit and brought a new energy to campus.  As a result of their presence, we saw a great qualitative improvement in the college’s programs, attitudes, and environment.  However, for some of the male students, particularly the upperclassmen, who had chosen to enroll in an all male school, the sudden presence of women on campus caused some measure of discomfort.  And, because of the disparity in numbers between male and female students, it was indeed an awkward time to be a Co-ed on campus.  In that first year at F&M, everyone, including the administration and faculty, found themselves in a position of treading on new terrain as these 83 women members of the Class of 1973, along with 34 women transfer students, helped to redefine the culture of a College that had been a single sex institution since 1787.

As we arrived on campus to begin our college careers in September of 1969, we embraced new attitudes, independent living and freedoms, that we as high school students had never experienced.  Our Class came to the F&M Campus at a time when college students across the country were at the forefront of changes that were occurring across our nation.  We became a part of a generation of students who fervently believed that we could affect changes in the course of world events.  We immediately joined with students in the sophomore, junior, and senior classes and with college students all across the country, to protest our government’s involvement in Vietnam.  During that first year, we also questioned and challenged decisions by the College Administration, which affected us as students on campus.

Everyone surely recalls the one-day moratorium that occurred on October 15, 1969 when F&M students and faculty joined with college campuses across the county in protesting against the Vietnam War.  Most, if not all, of our professors cancelled their classes for that day so that we as students could participate in this moratorium.  Many of us remember during our freshman year the candle light march from College Avenue to the center of Downtown Lancaster, where protest speeches were made.  We have memories of Stahr Hall being chained shut during the moratorium and how Hartman Hall was used as a command center for the many protests had during our freshman year.  On one occasion, we marched to President Spaulding’s residence to protest the war and for many of us that was probably the only time we were at his home.

It was also during the fall of 1969 that President Spaulding proposed to the Board of Trustees that the campus security force be permitted to carry firearms.  That proposal lead to student petitions and additional protests.  Fortunately, our voices were heard on that one and the proposal was withdrawn.

Our freshman year was not just about protest, however.  The Class of 1973 certainly knew how to have a good time and we always made sure that partying was part of our college experience.  Homecoming Weekend brought to us the first of many top-notch concerts sponsored by the Student Union Board.  Blood, Sweat & Tears performed before a sold out Mayser Gymnasium crowd.  Many other memorable concerts appeared on our campus during our first year, including Sly and the Family Stone in November, Three Dog Night in February, Santana in March, Joe Cocker in April and Judy Collins in May.  Looking back, it is hard to believe that student ticket prices for these concerts were as little as $5.00.

We also won’t forget the experiences of freshman dorm life that included those middle of the night winter fire alarms, water fights between dorm floors, a midnight House of Za pizza run because there was nothing on the Saga Food Service menu worth eating that night, those greasy hoagies from Maria’s and yes, the smell of marijuana lingering through the hallways, coupled with the sounds of the stereo blasting In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.

With the advent of Co-education at F&M, we recall that all of the female students lived in the dormitory known as Marshall Hall and that the College Administration initially instituted a strict curfew policy that barred male students from visiting the girls’ dorm during the evening hours.  Our Co-ed classmates surely remember seeing the crowd of male students, mostly we freshman, who would congregate in the lounge outside Marshall Hall.  By early November of our freshman year, however, the College Administration, after hearing our protests, completely abolished the curfew rules for the women’s residence hall.  Although the administration’s decision to eliminate all curfew rules for Marshall Hall, probably did not sit well with our parents, we as students learned early in our college careers that protesting can often achieve a good result.

During the second semester of our freshman year, the level of protests on campus and around the country escalated.  At F & M, much controversy arose when Henry Mayer, a popular lecturer in the History Department, was notified by the college that he would not be recommended for appointment to the faculty.  This announcement, along with the notification to Professor Anthony Lazroe of the Sociology Department that his teaching contract would not be renewed, lead to significant student protests on campus.  The Lazroe-Mayer Incident, as it came to be known, culminated in the memorable East Hall sit-in on April 30, during which time more than 100 students took over East Hall and prevented the College Administration from conducting normal business for most of one full day. 

It was at the same time in late spring that the opposition to the Vietnam War escalated and F&M students joined college students nationwide in a strike protesting the U.S. invasion of Cambodia.  Student marches took place on all College campuses, which ultimately lead to the tragic events that took place on the Kent State Campus in May.  As a result of the Kent State incident, the College Administration gave students the choice of taking the course grade earned at that point, completing the course, choosing an incomplete grade or taking the very popular pass-fail option.  As we remember, Kent State lead to the abrupt and complete shut down of our campus and within days, most of us were packing up and looking forward to spending some quality time with our parents. 

During our sophomore year, many of our classmates joined organizations on campus, such as the Student War on Poverty, Students for a Democratic Society, the Afro-American Society and the Young Americans for Freedom.  College fraternity life for many of us was also a big part of our experience while at F&M and many members of the Class of 1973 who had rushed fraternities in our freshman year assumed leadership positions in those fraternities.  Just about every weekend, you could find a fraternity party with bus loads of Co-eds attending from Hood, Wilson, Bryn Mawr and Goucher Colleges.  Our Student Union Board continued to book big name acts for our concerts, including The Guess Who in November, James Taylor in December and The Grateful Dead in April of our sophomore year.  How many of us remember attending the James Taylor concert with Carol King as the first act and having to evacuate Mayser Gymnasium in a rainstorm because of a bomb threat that had been called in to campus security. 

During the fall of our junior year, we also watched our football team, comprised of a large group of our class, win the MAC Southern Division Conference for the first time in several years.  Whether it was intercollegiate or intramural programs, many of our classmates participated in the athletic programs at the College.  Despite the fact that the physical education requirement as a pre-requisite to graduation was abolished by the College Senate in the spring of 1970, athletics for both men and women was an integral part of campus life.  As the number of women students increased on campus, we saw the expansion of women’s athletic programs.  We also remember packing the Mayser Gymnasium stands to watch outstanding wrestling matches between F&M and the likes of schools from Army, Penn State, Pittsburgh and Iowa State.  The Pit, as Mayser Gymnasium was known during wrestling matches was quite an intimidating place for visiting teams because of an enthusiastic and vocal student crowd that packed the gymnasium.

We also experienced as participants and spectators wonderful theatrical renditions at the Green Room Theater, which included watching our own classmate, Treat Williams, perform.  We also were treated to the performances of the Poor Richards Group, who regularly sang at small concerts on campus.  Who could forget the music of Steve and Steve in Old Hartman Hall?

As we began our senior year of college, tuition, room and board had escalated to $3,670.00 per year.  What a bargain in relation to today’s tuition and fees that approach 40K per year!  Our senior year did bring to us the realization that college life was soon coming to an end.  We finally had to decide whether to enter the workforce or extend our education by attending medical, law, or business school.  We recognized that we certainly needed to keep our nose to the grindstone for at least part of that year, pass our courses and keep our GPA at a sufficient level in the event we opted for graduate school.

During our senior year, we remember continuing to be actively involved in the politics of the world.  Notable speakers such as Pierre Salinger, Jane Fonda, and Tom Hayden all made appearances on our campus.  The campus rallied around and supported the undefeated football team.  In addition to winning the MAC Southern Division Conference that year, our team became at that point only the third team in Franklin and Marshall history to finish the season undefeated and untied.  Lead by eleven members of the Class of 1973, the team was awarded the Lambert Bowl, emblematic of the best small college team in the East.  Despite fielding some pretty good teams that followed, this feat has never been duplicated at F&M.

In the last semester of our college careers, we remember putting our studies on auto-pilot, but making certain that we passed those last few courses so that we could participate in graduation ceremonies and not disappoint our parents.  In April, our college radio station, WFNM, had its first official FM broadcast after receiving SEC approval in 1972.  Then on May 5, most of the campus participated in the first annual F&M Spring Games organized by our classmate Jeff Karp.  How many of you remember that the entire student body was split into the Blue and White teams and competed in such contests as Tug of War, Pie Eating Contest, Cage Ball, Co-ed Pyramid Building, Capture the Flag, Balance the Equation, Tissue Paper Wrap and, yes, unbelievably The Beer Drinking Contest.  Keep in mind that this was a College sanctioned event and at least two of our professors, who shall remain nameless, even served as referees for the contests.  And in case you may have forgotten, it was the White Team which squeaked by the Blue Team for a memorable victory only after the Blue Team player who was running in the final dash threw up all of that cherry pie and beer which he had consumed in the earlier events, when he was only 30 yards from the finish line.

When we look back at our four years at Franklin and Marshall, we should consider ourselves so fortunate to have experienced all that occurred during those years.  Students attend colleges in the hopes of receiving the gifts that the institutions of higher education have to offer its students.  College is so important in shaping the future lives of its students.  This certainly was the case for our class.  However, more special was the fact that we had an opportunity to understand that we, as individuals, were given the opportunity to help shape Franklin and Marshall as an institution and to contribute as citizens to the events of our time that so greatly affected a world much larger than our campus.