A look back: Pitt in 1969

Forty years ago this past Monday, the members of the Apollo 11 crew landed on the moon, becoming… Forty years ago this past Monday, the members of the Apollo 11 crew landed on the moon, becoming the first people to do so. In light of this anniversary, The Pitt News decided to take a look at what The Pitt News was covering 40 years ago. Here’s what we found:

Jan. 13 — Pitt women earn their freedom — freedom from curfew, that is. The University offers a new program that allows female students 21 and younger to stay out past 2:30 a.m., provided they have parental permission and have been full-time students for at least two 15-week terms. Women participating in the program must have special ID cards issued by University Housing and participate in an orientation session.

Jan. 16 — The Black Action Society holds a seven-hour lock-in in the University’s computer center to push for “better action on the demands of students.” Another 55 to 65 students gathered in the chancellor’s office. Wesley Posvar, chancellor at the time, agreed to create a special team to recruit black students to the University and to formally recognize, pending approval from the faculty Senate, the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. and the anniversary of Malcolm X’s death. He promised to create an institution to provide financial aid and scholarships for black students and to designate a section for them in Hillman Library.

Feb. 5 — A student who transferred from Ohio State University to Pitt tells The Pitt News that the FBI hired her to act as a drug informer. “You become the lone Judas with the FBI hounding you for information once you’ve come through the first time. Curiosity drove me into that position, guilt brought [me] back to my senses,” the woman said.

Feb. 7 — An estimated 800 students gather in the Common Rooms of the Cathedral of Learning to give their demands to then-Chancellor Wesley Posvar. Among their demands:

—“That the Dean of Students Office cease the practice of keeping secret and unauthorized personnel files on nearly all undergraduate girls.

—That the faculty and teaching fellows be allowed to freely discard the grading system at their discretion.”

Feb. 24 — The state legislature considers a bill that would fine students using lewd, lascivious or vulgar words $50 or imprison them for 30 days. To protest, The Pitt News prints, in red ink, the words “lewd” and “vulgar” throughout the paper. It places the word “obscene” over a photo that shows a wrestler’s butt. The wrestler’s opponent had him in a headlock.

March 24 — The University took disciplinary action against eight students involved in a panty raid that occurred the previous week, The Pitt News reports. Four female students received social probation “after they were accused of throwing articles from their windows during the panty raid.” One male student was suspended and three others were negotiating their punishments with the dean.

June 3 — The Pitt News reports, “One year and seven months, hundreds of meetings and persistence by [a] dedicated student-faculty committee has produced CAS 1 — a three-credit course in human sexuality to be taught this fall.”

July 18 — “Authorities are still investigating the early Tuesday-morning bombing of Room 405, Tower B, by persons who used ‘an extremely lethal’ homemade pipe bomb,” the paper reports. “The residents of the room, Tony Embessi and David Rohanna, were not home at the time of the 3:25 a.m. blast. Ironically, Embessi — a fellow who doesn’t go out at night much — had gone to a friend’s room to listen to records. Rohanna was out of town.”

July 20 — American astronauts land on the moon.

Sept. 12 — The Pitt News reports that “the Smile is gone from Atwood Street.” An old, female resident of the central Oakland street had died the previous week. “She used to sit in her doorway next to the sidewalk from early in the morning until it got dark, listening to a yellowed radio and giving a toothless half-smile to students passing by,” the paper reports. “Oftentimes, she would ask one of them to run up the street to the Giant Eagle to pick up a loaf of bread or a quart of milk for her … They always did.

“AND THEN ONE day, she just died. She fell over backward in her chair in the early evening. A large crowd had gathered to stare at her misplaced dress and gaping eyes. No one knew her name.

“The policeman standing at the front of the crowd had a lot of trouble deciding what to do with the body. ‘We’ll have to take her somewhere,’ he said. ‘To the morgue or something. Does she have any relatives?’

“THE OLD LADY of Atwood Street won’t be sitting in her doorway anymore to say hello to strangers walking down the block. She died as she had lived, shameless — with nothing except old age, a welfare check once a month and an ancient blaring radio. Very few will know or care.”

Sept. 19 — Pitt celebrates 100 years of collegiate football. The Pitt News reports that “only 22 schools in the first hundred years won more games than Pitt’s 403 … But Pitt’s great moments on the gridiron were accomplished years ago. The 1969 edition of Panther football has no All-Americans and no hopes of an undefeated campaign. This year’s Panther team has only the memories of three consecutive 1-9 seasons and a schedule that pits them against the nation’s best.”

Oct. 15 — “Today is the Vietnam Moratorium,” The Pitt News reports. “It is a day to find out which way you are going on the war issue. It is a day to seek education and awareness.”

Dec. 3 — “For years, young men in America have been facing one of the greatest threats to the orderly continuation of their lives: the Draft. From 18 to 26, the Draft, like the ancient sword of Damocles, has hung over the heads of these youth, and caused as much fear. This week, the Congress of the United States put the Draft into mothballs and replaced it with a Draft lottery.”