PIECE OF WOOD FROM MOLLY BLACKBURN HALL

When student-built shanties on the Green were destroyed in the early morning hours of January 21, 1986, Dartmouth found itself in the national spotlight. The protest over College investments in companies operating in South Africa featured one shanty named for the anti-apartheid activist; a piece of that structure, above, is held in Special Collections. Although President David McLaughlin ’54, Tu’55, had determined that the shanties—erected the previous November—could remain on the Green as long as they were “educational,” a group of 12 students (nine were staffers at The Dartmouth Review) calling itself the Dartmouth College Committee to Beautify the Green Before Winter Carnival demolished three of the structures with sledgehammers, claiming they had been built illegally. One shanty, occupied by sleeping students, was left standing. In the wake of coverage that de- cried the incident as an example of racism at Dartmouth, the College suffered a 25-percent drop in applications from black students for the class of 1990. Not until 1989 did the College divest itself of holdings in South Africa.