Junior Year
Fall 1965

Junior year for the Class of 1967, at once both restless and content, was a time to grow from adolescence to maturity and to assume the yoke of responsibility. The transition happened slowly and it came to each of us individually. For some it came right away, for some it came late, but at one time or another during the year we all realized that the time for making the most of our Princeton careers was upon us.

We still had a few things to learn about the ins and outs of Princeton. Club life, for example. It took a few months before we knew all our clubmates’ names and could thoroughly relax watching the tube, playing pong or pool, or studying in the upstairs library. It also took a while before we discovered the idiosyncrasies of the bureaucracy of our particular department. There were always two versions of every rule, and there was always one secretary who would tell you that neither was enforced.

The class had 12 new female members by virtue of the Critical Languages Program. After wishfully watching upperclassmen covet this supply of feminine charm for two years, we were particularly appreciative of the chance to ask one of the girls to dinner or for a cup of coffee. Talking to a girl casually on a Wednesday afternoon was somewhat iconoclastic for Princeton, but each of us knew one or two of them, whether it was Ann Bennett, Carol Marshall or Linda Pollack.

The rumor of the fall was that President Johnson was coming to speak at the dedication of the new Woodrow Wilson School building. The University shrouded the plans for dedication in secrecy, but when the President announced that he was declining the invitation – apparently because of his gall bladder operation – the University postponed the dedication until the spring.

The controversy of the fall was the proposed construction on the 13-story math building. A number of undergraduates and townspeople felt that the 160-foot tower would be entirely out of place with the surrounding architecture and would stand out as an eyesore. In order to protest the construction of the building Dick Hesel formed SCAR, Student Committee for Architectural Responsibility, and began circulating a petition. When the University countered by revealing a model of the proposed building, most students were appeased. A month or two later even the town agreed to waive the 100-foot limit imposed by local zoning laws, and thus the University giant won one more battle.

Other less crucial problems also marked the fall. When Princeton was approached with an invitation to send a team to compete on “College Bowl,” all the various extracurricular organizations looked around at each other and passed the buck. So Steve Fox formed an ad-hoc committee of his own and organized a team. In the spring when the group finally competed, they defeated Mount Holyoke but were eventually knocked off by a bunch of girls from Agnes Scott.

The best part of the fall was the football season. Picking up right where they left off the year before, the squad kept winning and winning, at least until the Dartmouth game at the end of the season. Members of the class were playing an even more important role on the squad than they had a year before. Joining the ranks of those who had seen action as sophomores were Pete Zeitzoff, Bill Potter, Jim Kokoskie, Jack Seifert, Carl Behnke, Marty Eichelerger, Dave Martin, Ron Grossman, Hayward Gipson, John Bowers and Bill Berkley. The loss to Dartmouth dampened everyone’s spirits, but at the post-season bonfire celebrating the Big Three victory no one could deny that it had been an exciting and largely successful campaign.

© 1997 by The Class of 1967, Princeton University. Reprinted from the 1967 Nassau Herald.