December 11, 1964 Heights
Decembers were a bit truncated . . . and cold. I think most everyone was thinking ahead to Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and a break. Thanksgiving holidays only a short time back whetted our appetites. Here’s some of what happened at BC and in the world in Decembers 1964-67.
On campus
1964
Apparently not much was going on. The Heights, in its two issues that month, pretty much focused on routine events and activities.
1965
The December 3 edition of The Heights contained announcements of significant academic changes. The Deans Council had decided to change the rules about class attendance. Department chairs also announced that there would be expanded programs and electives in Philosophy and Theology.
Heights features editor Michael Egger had a column about the “Boston College Girl,” in which he took BC to task for how it met its obligations to women students. Mansplaining? Or ally?
The December 17 edition reported on something that would take on more significance in coming months but certainly had its effect at the time. The headline tells the story (as it should): “Drury Commission to Study Christmas Dinner Sickness.” The article notes that resident students were already complaining about the quality of food in McElroy before the December 12 meal. “Hundreds of students complained of stomach cramps, gas pains and diarrhea as a result of the food served at the McElroy banquet,” said The Heights. (I always remember the culprit as “roast beef au jus.”)
1966
BC’s annual gift to students in December was the announcement of a tuition increase. For 1967-68, it was to go up $200 to $1,600. Room and board was to increase $100 to $1,050. The new charges were not out of line with other local schools. But still . . .
The December 14 edition had a small feature on the “coffeehouse,” Middle Earth.
1967
In the December 1 issue, it was reported that BC had added a new computer. The new IBM 360 doubled the number of computers to two. This model IBM offered 128K bytes of storage, and cost $13,000 a month to rent. Yowzah!
Same issue had another article on conditions in the women’s residences, based on a visit by Heights editors and interviews with several residents.
It’s basketball season and the biggest student organization at BC is . . . the Courtside Club, according to The Heights. Fifteen hundred hoop freaks! And why not? The preseason AP poll put the Eagles at #7.
The Heights Review in the December 1 issue included the short story, “Psalm,” by former Stylus editor and classmate Richard Sawaya that resulted in its censorship by the University and his resignation.
No more Jim Miller. The December 15 Heights reported that Miller, not offered an extension of his contract, chose to resign. In an editorial, “Was it only the coach?,” The Heights described Miller as a “gentleman” who had been made “a scapegoat for the many-sided failings of a costly and frustratingly unsuccessful program.”
A feature article celebrated the 20th anniversary of the School of Nursing.
The outside world
1964
Mario Savio stood in Sproul Plaza at the University of California, Berkeley, on December 2, and told the students before him that “you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop.” The Free Speech Movement began. The FBI arrested 19 men on suspicion of their involvement in the killings of three civil rights workers in Mississippi. The US Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a Florida law that prohibited cohabitation by black and white persons of different genders. Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize. Singer Sam Cooke was shot and killed in Los Angeles in what was ruled justifiable homicide. Canada raised its new flag, with a maple leaf design. The James Bond film, Goldfinger, had its US premiere.
1965
The Beatles released the album Rubber Soul. Pope Paul VI proclaimed the end of the Second Vatican Council. A Charlie Brown Christmas debuted on CBS. The Dating Game made its debut on ABC. Doctor Zhivago is released.
1966
Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabar) made his basketball debut with UCLA. Walt Disney died at the age of 65. The destroyer USS O’Brien became the first American ship to be hit by shells from North Vietnamese shore batteries, which killed two sailors and wounded four others.
1967
South African physician Christiaan Barnard and a team of surgeons carried out the first human heart transplant. Otis Redding was killed in the crash of a small plane in Wisconsin, at the age of 26. The Concorde, the world’s first supersonic commercial airliner, made its first appearance in Paris. Evel Knievel crashed his motorcycle after attempting to leap over the fountains at Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas.