One of the major campus issues at the time was a proposal to arm campus security officers. Students were opposed to this and while it didn’t happen then, I remember that it continued to be an issue for many years. Much of our work was centered on trying to implement reforms in student government. I remember it being a pretty chaotic year—we probably took on more than we could realistically do.
At that time, the Student Association of the State University (SASU) was growing and the SUNY Board of Trustees had decided to create a Student Assembly. We saw this as the SUNY administration’s attempt to push SASU to the side, while establishing a body that they could have some control over. Collectively, those of us from among the campuses that were SASU members figured out how to circumvent the potential problem by ensuring that the officers and executive committee of the Student Assembly and SASU were the same people.
Within UB student government, there were tremendous battles over funding of student clubs and activities. The athletic department was also a prime target and we gave them a tough time. I remember that Tom Toles [now the Pulitzer Prize–winning political cartoonist with the Washington Post] was on the Spectrum staff and did a cartoon of me grinding up the athletic program. Student life was different in 1972 than today—there were no Greeks and the athletic program was very limited. 1972 was also a presidential election year—McGovern vs. Nixon—and Watergate. Most of us were very involved with the McGovern campaign.
At the time, the “new” campus in Amherst was under construction and the law school building opened. I remember meeting with architects to go over plans for the student center. For me, student government was about improving quality of student life and politics.
On the personal side, I met the person who later became my husband as a result of being SA president. Brian Petraitis was the SA president at Brockport and became president of SASU and the Student Assembly. We both served on Chancellor [Ernest] Boyer’s committee of 10 student government presidents whom he met with on a regular basis. Twenty-two years ago, Brian and I bought Dr. Boyer’s summer camp that he and his family used while he was chancellor of SUNY.