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1971-1995
1971
Interim Chancellor Melvin A. Eggers, who joined SU in 1950 as an economics professor, becomes the ninth chancellor.
1971
A program for intercollegiate athletics for women is established. Varsity teams begin competing in basketball, swimming and diving, volleyball, tennis, and fencing.
1975
The men's basketball team reaches the NCAA Tournament Final Four for the first time. The Orangemen are eliminated in the semifinals by the University of Kentucky.
1976
To combat escalating energy costs, the University supplies student washing machines with cold water only. "The clothes never come clean," complains sophomore Martha Murphy. Business booms at local laundromats.
- A chair from the Hall of
Languages prior to its renovation
1979
The 106-year-old Hall of Languages reopens after $4 million worth of renovations are completed.
1980
The men's basketball team culminates Beat Siena Week with a 99-64 win. Created by the sports editors of the Daily Orange, Beat Siena Week features a campus-wide blitz of tee-shirts, drink specials, pranks, and record sales. A week later, the euphoria subsides as SU bids farewell to Manley Field House- and a 57-game home winning streak-with a loss to Georgetown.
1980
Named by virtue of a $2.75 million gift from the Carrier Corporation, the $27-million Carrier Dome opens on the former site of Archbold Stadium.
1983
Raymond Carver, professor of English, renowned author, and the driving force behind one of the nation's best creative writing programs, takes a leave of absence. He never returns to SU, dying of lung cancer in 1988.
1983
Coming Back Together, a reunion of SU's African-American and Latino alumni, attracts more than 300 former students and guests. The reunion is the first of its kind in the nation. Successive reunions are held in 1986, 1989, and 1992.
1983
The lacrosse team rallies to defeat Johns Hopkins in the NCAA championship game and earns the first of five Division I national tournament championships.
1983
Junior Vanessa Williams becomes the first African American to be named Miss America.
1984
One week after fumbling seven times in a loss to lowly Rutgers, the football team defeats No. 1-ranked Nebraska, 17-9.
1985
More than 73 years after the Daily Orange first addressed the need for a student union, the Schine Student Center opens.
1986
SU and the City of Syracuse settle a five-year dispute over taxes on non-scholastic events in the Carrier Dome. The city keeps $1.2 million in previous University payments but exempts the stadium from real-estate tax. The city gets 75 cents a ticket for major concerts and sports events and is guaranteed at least $100,000 a year.
1986
Students form Undergraduates for a Better Education, an activist organization aimed at improving both SU's academics and student relations with University administrators.
1986
College of Arts and Sciences graduate Elliott Portnoy accepts a scholarship to attend Oxford University as SU's first Rhodes Scholar.
1987
Ralph Ketcham, professor of political science, history, public affairs, and American studies, is named national professor of the year by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
1987
The men's basketball team loses the NCAA tournament championship game to Indiana on a last-second basket.
1988
Playboy magazine officials cause a mild furor when they spend several days on campus interviewing and photographing female students.
1988
Members of the student group People for Peace and Justice interrupt CIA recruiters conducting student interviews, distribute leaflets condemning CIA activities, and attempt to place the recruiters under citizen's arrest, all the while chanting, "CIA, go away! How many have you killed today?"
1988
Four days before Christmas, 35 students in SU's Division of International Programs Abroad are killed over Lockerbie, Scotland, as a result of the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
1989
The gold-plated scissors used in every formal ribbon-cutting dedication of an SU building since 1952 are lost amid the confusion of a student protest during the dedication of the Center for Science and Technology.
1991
Kenneth A. Shaw, former president of the University of Wisconsin system, becomes SU's 10th chancellor.
1991
Philosophy professor Laurence Thomas spends $108.03 on a quarter-page advertisement in the Daily Orange to chastise students for their academic indifference.
1992
The Muscular Dystrophy Association Dance Marathon celebrates its 20th anniversary and more than $1 million in contributions.
1994
Seana LaPlace becomes the first African-American woman elected president of the Student Government Association.
1995
For the first time, no classes are held in recognition of the Islamic holy day Eid Ul-Fitr.