February 28, 2007

This Week in History

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Ujamaa Formed
On Feb. 24, 1972, The Cornell Chronicle reported that students began planning for Ujamaa residential college. Ujamaa, the article stated, is a Swahili term “that embodies the concepts of self-reliance, hard work and cooperative economics.”
“It is hoped that Uja Maa would be a center of black thought on the campus and in the Ithaca area,” the article stated.

Ithaca Mayor Tries to Ban Deep Throat
On Feb. 21, 1973, The Sun reported that Ithaca Mayor Edward J. Conley was, in the company of the district and city attorneys, to view a special showing of the seminal adult film Deep Throat in order to determine whether or not he would revoke the Ithaca Theater’s license.
The City Charter at the time, The Sun article stated, charged the mayor with preventing “vice or immorality.”
On Feb. 23, a Sun editorial ridiculed the City Charter.
“There is more significance to the cancellation of Deep Throat than the fact that Ithacan glands will have to be stimulated by a movie of equal redeeming social importance but less notoriety,” it stated.
The editorial noted that beyond Ithaca’s borders, the movie was “Up to its, er, neck in court proceedings.”
“If blue movies are to be blacked out,” the editorial stated, “it should certainly not be at the unpredictable and irrevocable whim of one man.”

Weather Emergency Policy Set
In the wake of a snowstorm the week before, The Chronicle reported on Feb. 24, 1972, that the University announced new policies on operations during snowstorms. Employees were in an uproar about how the University had handled the storm.
After a weekend-long blizzard, classes were cancelled starting at 6:30 a.m. Monday, but the University remained open. Employees claimed that the University, while looking out for students, had not paid adequate attention to their safety.