In honor of UC Santa Cruz’s upcoming 60th anniversary year, UC Santa Cruz Magazine editors and designers dug through the archives to present some notable campus milestones and achievements during each of the university’s six decades.
During the 1965–1974 decade, we discovered the birth of a remarkable community of learning; a campus torn by protests during societal turmoil; the beginning of influential programs; and more.
Put on your best Slug pride gear, study up for your World Civilization test or ponder some new moves in a game of human chess, and take a tour with us through the years.
The birth of a groundbreaking university
An educational experiment begins
UC Santa Cruz’s first classes began in October 1965 with 652 students. The idea of starting an intimate university free of the heavy bonds of bureaucracy and entrenched thought, along with the beauty of the campus, attracted an impressive list of early faculty who had trained at universities such as Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, and Cambridge
Cowell and Stevenson
Stevenson College perspective drawing, ca. 1965
Sixty-four trailers in star-shaped clusters housed UC Santa Cruz’s first class in 1965. Cowell College, for which the S. H. Cowell Foundation helped fund construction, and the second college, named for politician and diplomat Adlai E. Stevenson, were completed in 1966.
The Arb takes root
The UC Santa Cruz Arboretum was presented with a gift of 90 species of eucalyptus in 1964, which served as the foundation for what is now the largest collection of Australian plants outside of Australia.
The library’s first chapter
The University Library opened in 1966 with 75,000 volumes.
Welcoming graduate students
The Graduate Division was established in 1966 with 27 students.
First commencement
Campus held its first commencement in the Upper Quarry Amphitheater in 1967, awarding 80 bachelor’s degrees, two master’s, and one Ph.D.
Crown College
Crown College opened in 1967, with construction funding provided by the Crown Zellerbach Foundation.
Seeds of the Farm
UC Santa Cruz Farm and Garden Project farm buildings
Alan Chadwick was invited to start the UCSC Garden in 1967. UCSC would go on to be considered by many as the birthplace of organic farming.
Merrill College
Merrill College opened in 1968, with construction partially funded by the Charles E. Merrill Trust.
College Five
College Five opened in 1969. In 1981, the college was renamed Benjamin F. Porter College in recognition of a gift of additional construction funding from the Porter-Sesnon family.
Kresge College
Kresge College accepted its first students and set up operation in the Family Student Housing complex. The Kresge Foundation funded construction of the new college.
Oakes and College Eight
Oakes College and College Eight were established. A college endowment and support for the eventual construction of Oakes was provided by the San Francisco Foundation, using funds from the Roscoe and Margaret Oakes Foundation.
Institute of Marine Sciences
The proposal to establish the Center for Marine Research, which would become the Institute of Marine Sciences, was submitted to the Office of the President in 1968.
The Great 88
KZSC 88.1 FM began broadcasting in 1973—though it had its earliest beginnings in 1967, when a group of students started an FCC-unauthorized campus radio station.
The Squiggle
The sculpture informally known as “the Porter Squiggle” (also called “the Flying IUD”), by Kenny Farrell (Porter ’74, art), was installed in 1974. A large red metal artwork, its shape is open to interpretation—some see a wave, others a doctor’s signature at the bottom of a prescription order. Even the actual name of this piece—“Untitled”—gives plenty of room for the imagination.
Women’s studies
Akasha Hull, professor of women’s studies, at the Women’s Studies Library dedication at Kresge College
One of the country’s most highly regarded and long-standing women’s studies departments began with a single class in 1971. The following year some 700 students petitioned the administration to establish a full-fledged program and, in the spring of 1975, the first degrees in women’s studies were conferred. At that time, UCSC was one of the few schools in the country to offer a major in the subject.
Passion and protest
Vietnam War
Commencement exercises in 1969 were disrupted by demonstrations against the Vietnam War.
Kent State
Protests were organized throughout the UC system in 1970 as students and faculty expressed outrage over the Kent State killings and the war in Vietnam.
Leadership shifts
Founding chancellor Dean E. McHenry retired in 1974. That same year, UC Berkeley professor of geology and geophysics Mark N. Christensen was named UCSC’s second chancellor.
Iconic images
Legendary photographer Ansel Adams held a workshop at UC Santa Cruz in 1969. Adams had been commissioned by UC President Clark Kerr to document the new campus.