Lawrence University

TIME AND TRADITIONS: 1970s

Freshmen don beanies as they are welcomed to campus, 1966.

1970 Learning in London

The London Study Center, Lawrence's second overseas study center, opens with 41 students.

1971 Generating jazz

A program for jazz studies is initiated at Lawrence, which, beginning in 1981, sparks a celebration weekend of concerts and workshops, featuring through the years such jazz greats as Dizzie Gillespie, Bobby McFerrin, Dave Brubeck, and Wynton Marsalis.


LUJE, under the direction of Fred Sturm, 1973.	Coeducational Housing.

1971 Under one roof

The university adopts coeducational housing.

1972 Blacks take a stand

Black students occupy Carnegie Library, asking that the college increase its black enrollment and hire more black professors, administrators, and counselors. UPI and AP cover the event.

1974 Women's sports strides

Lawrence initiates the formation of the Wisconsin Independent Colleges Women's Athletic Conference to provide intercollegiate competition for women's sports.

1974 Birthday bash

The Conservatory of Music celebrates its 100th birthday. Lawrence's conservatory differs from most professional music schools because it does not isolate the study of music. Rather, intensive music study is provided within a community devoted to the ideals of liberal education.

1975 Another Rhodes

James Hart Merrill becomes Lawrence's sixth Rhodes scholar.

1975 Festive days in May

Celebrate!, Lawrence's spring festival, begins as a successor to the 1973 Renaissance Fair. Celebrate! continues today and feature live bands, arts and crafts, an assortment of food and drink, and good times. More than 20,000 Appleton area residents attend the annual event.

Fraternity and hall decorating, a parade, and toilet papering the campus are Homecoming traditions.

1975 Fantastic football

From 1975 to 1985, the victorious football Vikings compile a stellar record of 72 wins, 19 losses, and one tie. Lawrence is the first Midwest Conference football team ever selected for the NCAA Division III playoffs.

1975 Changing landscape

Dutch elm disease hits the campus, killing many trees. By 1980, 300 trees are lost. Two elm trees survive today.

Main Hall, 1980 and 1941.

1976 Lawrence International

Lawrence faculty and staff host an International Dinner. International Club students now offer this dinner, complete with entertainment, to the community on an annual basis.

"Beach Day is not silly," proclaims Penn Ritter's, '79, t-shirt. Baby pools, sand, and
beach attire mark the day of fun, which is held annually for a few years in the late 1970s.

1976 Library opens

The Seeley G. Mudd Library, one of the finest small-college libraries in the Midwest, opens its doors.


The Samuel Appleton Library, built in 1963, adjions the Carnegie Library, pictured on the left side of the photo.	The Seeley G. Mudd Library replaced the Carnegie Library.

1978 Convocations reinstated

The tradition of convocations is reinstated. The roots of this lecture series stem from twice-daily chapel services, a practice which continued from 1856 to the mid-1870s, when the services became daily. Beginning in 1927, the services gave way to convocations, which were held three times each week and described as a regular college assembly. During the next 40 years or so, the frequency and duration of convocations varied, but attendance was required, a provision which was dropped in 1968, when the number of convocations was reduced to two a year -- Matriculation and Honors Day. Sentiment for reinstating the lecture series, described during Nathan Pusey's presidency as "a kind of general all-college course without formal requirements or credit," emerged in the late 1970s.

On to the 1980s

Back to the 1960s
Back to the Lawrence Time and Traditions Menu