As parents return to campus, The Spectator looks back at the college’s history to see what happened this week at Hamilton in years past.
1981
Starting off the retrospective with a bang, this week in 1981 was nothing short of eventful. It saw the start of discussion with the administration about Greek life on campus, ones that would later lead to the complete destruction of on-campus Greek life with the death of on-campus Greek housing and dining. In terms of new rules, the College this week also joined together with the Student Council to ban all drinking by students at Hamilton sporting events. However, the resolution did include other critical information, drinking in dorms, dining halls and campus grounds was now allowed. This critical infrastructure would lead to the now infamous culture around C&C day.
In criminal news, a man was arrested by New York State police for illegally entering Emerson Literary Society and watching a female student take a shower. If we thought our on-campus legal troubles have been bad, this is a reminder they could always be worse. The man allegedly took another student’s camera from their dorm room to take photos of the student before fleeing the scene after campus security was notified.
1982
In comparison to the chaos of the previous year, 1982 was relatively calm. A now campus titan, Hillel, got its start this year on campus, and this week in 1982 saw its first meeting! The Gay Alliance, despite being founded in 1980, for the first time in 1982 got an on-campus office. That location would be room 017B in the basement of Dunham formally the Math department, and now in modern times the printing studio. Turning to sports, The Spectator republished then college president Dr. Robert McEwen piece for Sports Illustrated from 1955 about the struggles of athletics and being at a small school.
1983
The college’s first ever Harassment Board was created this week, in part as a response to an English professor at Bowdoin having a relationship with a student and later being fired because of it. The campus was also hit with severe blackouts alongside loss of water to many dorms and academic buildings after a crack in a main water pipe caused it to burst and later that week, Clinton was hit with a large power outage courtesy of severe storms.
1984
As the current football season comes to a close, the 1984 Hamilton football team’s win against Middlebury this week gave the college its first winning season since 1967. All eyes on campus however, were on the 1984 presidential election between Reagen and Mondale. The Spectator published findings of voting habits of students, finding the campus split evenly between Republican, Democrat and independent with around 30 percent of students identifying with each. Even with that, Hamilton students claimed to have voted more for newcomer Mondale rather than incumbent Reagan.
1985
The fall 1985 semester saw “a string of violent or harassing incidents which have plagued the campus” including a student being assaulted by a man on College Hill Road this week. These incidents lead to the mass amount of lights now seen around campus, especially in many of the more out of the way areas. In more light-hearted news, graduating seniors chose their class gift, new benches around campus. Similar to this year, field hockey played incredible as this week in 1985 the team made states and were ranked 6th in New York State.
1986
Hamilton College published a study finding that being a fraternity resulted in a significantly lower GPA, with AD and SIG being the worst offenders. This was yet another push by the college to dismember frat housing and culture on campus. This week also saw faculty changing the calendar system at Hamilton, transitioning into the two semester model we still follow today.
Protests on campus are nothing new as during parents weekend in 1985, 150 students and faculty protested the College’s involvement in the activities in South Africa, paraded a coffin in the style of a traditional South African funeral through the library in front of parents and alumni.
