1960s Timeline

Students demand a say on rules that govern their personal lives.

Feb 27, 1960

An Invitation to Participate 

New CSA president initiates monthly “sounding board” for students to share opinions and ask questions of faculty and administration. 

March 19, 1960

League Mandates Differ 

While Men’s League works on freshman week, traditions, court, big and little brothers, housing and dining, and admissions, Women’s League is “primarily a disciplinary body.” 

Jun 23, 1960

FDA Approves the Pill 

Enovid is approved for sale by GD Searle as an oral contraceptive.

March 22, 1961

Open House Regs Can’t Stop Us

Editorial: “The longer you dam up the stream the longer the flood when the dam gives way—and dam breaking at Carleton is an annual event, as soon as the spring breezes dry out the Arb.” 

Aug 4, 1961

The Beginning of the End for In Loco Parentis

In Dixon v. Alabama, SCOTUS rules against schools using the common law doctrine of in loco parentis to discipline or expel students. The National Student Association follows up with a resolution broadly condemning the doctrine.

Aug 18, 1962

Romper Room Host Goes Abroad for Abortion

After learning that the thalidomide in her sedatives has been linked to severe birth defects, Sherri Chessen causes a national sensation by traveling to Sweden, where doctors confirm the baby would not have survived. Half of Americans polled support her, and 77 percent believe abortion should be legal in cases where it could protect the life of the mother.

Sept 1, 1962

Searle Disputes Pill Health Risks

The 1.2 million American women using oral contraceptives may be at higher risk of heart attacks or blood clots.

June 10, 1963

JFK Signs Equal Pay Act

The average woman earns 60 percent of the average wage for a man.

Fall 1963 

First Women’s History Course

Gerda Lerner teaches Great Women in American History at the New School for Social Research.

Jan 8, 1964

Students Agitate for More Cross-Campus Visits

President Nason grudgingly allows more scheduled open houses in men’s and women’s dorms but reemphasizes rules: hall patrols, no drinking, lights on, doors half open.

July 2, 1964

Civil Rights Act Signed by President Johnson

The law prohibits discrimination or segregation in employment and public places on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, or religion.

Jan 4, 1965

Patsy Mink Elected to Congress

The first woman of color and first Asian American elected to Congress (D-HI), Mink goes on to become the principal author and sponsor of Title IX, which passes in 1972.

Jan 26, 1965

Student Faculty Administration Council Established

New SFA votes to increase the number of open houses.

June 7, 1965

SCOTUS Bans Criminalizing Birth Control for Marrieds

On the basis of the right to marital privacy, Griswold v. Connecticut strikes down Connecticut’s attempt to prevent the use of birth control.

Oct 5, 1965

Students Outraged by Disrespect of New Coed Court

Hundreds protest when the dean of women suspends a student for a social infraction while the court is in recess. President Nason tells students to get used to the idea that their having input on policy is a long way off.

May 8, 1966

Torchlight March to President’s House

After spring open houses are canceled and observation of SFA and FAT committee meetings is denied, more than 750 students present Nason with a request for “a significant student vote” on social rules. Deans suggest they are willing to give students a vote but revise this to a “voice.”

June 1, 1966

Doctors Support Abortion

The deans of 128 American medical schools file an amicus brief in the California Supreme Court on behalf of the San Fransisco Nine, doctors who risked losing their medical licenses by performing abortions on women exposed to rubella, linked to severe birth defects.

Nov 21, 1966

Coed Court: There's No Law Against Sex

New coed student court declines to adjudicate case of two students caught in bed, saying there’s no rule against it.

Sept 29, 1966

Open Houses Impasse

Administrators reject students’ requests for liberalized rules and instead cancel open houses. 

Oct 6, 1966

Asking for Votes, Students Are Denied Even a Voice

After demonstrating at the trustees’ meeting for the right to vote on rules, students are removed from SFA committee on social policy. FAT recommends abolishing SFA altogether.

Oct 27, 1966

CSA President Draws Retaliation

Local dailies cover the turmoil when the CSA president says Carleton's president and deans lack the courage to lead and should resign, and he’s fired from his job as a proctor for “disloyalty” to the administration.

Jan 12, 1967

Open Houses in Peril 

Women’s League debates opting out of having to enforce rules it never endorsed. Women’s dean Jean Phillips threatens to cancel open houses while considering the possibility of hiring paid proctors for women for the first time.

Feb 2, 1967

Desire for Contraceptives Merely a “Whim”

FAT declares premarital sex will lead to disciplinary actions. College physician Willard Hanson will not provide contraceptives, information, or referrals to students on what he calls a "whim." Dean Phillips says students can get whatever they need in town but has to retract when Northfield doctors confirm they won’t supply birth control devices to unmarried women. 

Feb 8, 1967

Women’s League Contemplates a Redefinition

After reviewing systems at other colleges the Women’s League holds a vote on becoming a body “solely representative of the interests of women students with no direct responsibility to the college administration.” 

Feb 14, 1967

Women’s League Backs Down, So Officers Quit

When the dean threatens to cancel open houses indefinitely, the WL votes to postpone its redefinition. Four house presidents resign in protest, as do all Evans floor presidents.

Feb 19, 1967

Evans Holds “Illegal” Open House

“We feel that we have the right to determine the social rules which will govern us.” (See Carleton Spotlight.)

Feb 20, 1967

CSA: Unfortunately, Evans Is Above the Law

Evans’s “illegal” open house can’t be adjudicated without a referral from an Evans officer. CSA passes a resolution supporting the “Evans movement.”  

Feb 22, 1967

Evans Rejoins the Women's League, Dean Advises Them to Give Up 

Evans women agree to rejoin Women's League after members vote redefinition should occur in the fall. Women’s dean says students are wasting their time on “a fight they can't win.”

April 20, 1967

Women’s RAs to Be Paid as the Men Are

Women’s League submits report to the FA committee proposing to enforce only the rules it endorses but retaining some hours rules. Dean says new paid student RAs will combine the duties of floor counselor and proctor. 

Sept 21, 1967

Liberalized Rules for a New Year

New rules take effect on drinking rules, open house procedures, and women’s hours: “the partial achievement of many long-sought student goals.”

Jan 8, 1968

Students Added to Faculty Committees

Faculty add voting student members to ten committees, stopping short of the Faculty Administration Social Policy Committee.

Oct 30, 1968

Students Invited to Trustees’ Meeting

Dean Bardwell Smith calls the invitation of 30 students to the trustees’ meeting the beginning of a "new openness." CSA president gives them a petition signed by 1,045 calling for greater student participation in open-house policy making.

Nov 21, 1968

In Loco Parentis “Crumbling”

The Faculty Administration Committee on Social Policy votes to bring back student members, this time with equal representation and voting power. “We are justifiably impatient with the crumbling process,” says an editorial. “And would like to see constructive action towards a flexible, democratic social policy that we can support.”

Jan 30, 1969

Trustees Approve Looser Social Policy

Despite “obvious apprehension,” they follow SFA’s recommendation of nearly 24-hour open houses and abolish rules on lights, liquor, and open doors. One trustee seeks reassurance that "anarchy" will not prevail.