Peace, love and rock n’ roll.
The Seventies was a time of pivotal change among our country’s social progressive values and economic upheavals.
But what was it like being a college student during those times?
Two of DCP’s faculty members were students here in the 1970s and fondly remember what it was like being a student at that time.
“It was a great time to be a student,” said Tina Gurucharri, chair and associate professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture, who was a DCP student from 1973-78. “It was exciting to be here at a time when things were quite rich.”
Many might remember the decade as a time of protests, hippies and streakers.
“We were all hippies,” she said. “We were very environmentally conscious in a time of environmental crisis.”
Peggy Carr, professor and director of the Program in Sustainability and the Built Environment, who was a DCP student from 1972-75, recalls the Vietnam War being a very influential factor during the 1970s.
“The war really weighed heavily on all our minds,” she said. “We had several veterans in our classes.”
Carr describes a scene from 1972 when a major protest took place in Gainesville after the U.S. invaded Cambodia.
“We took over 13th Street and University Avenue,” Carr said. “It was rough.”
Even though Carr and her fellow female students were a distinct minority in the program at the time, she said there was never a sense of discrimination. The all-male faculty and male classmates were welcoming and supportive.
Carr remembers fondly the interdisciplinary classes taken in lower division, but also special courses in the upper division. She went with such a group to the Yucatan lead by Bernie Voichysonk.
However, social issues weren’t the only thing prevalent during the 1970s.
In 1975, the College of Architecture and Fine Arts was split into two separate entities: the College of Architecture and the College of Fine Arts.
At the time, the College of Architecture was composed of the Department of Architecture, Department of Building Construction and programs in Interior Design, Landscape Architecture and Urban and Regional Planning with Arnold Butt as the Dean.
DCP facts
– Dean(s):
- Robert Stephen Bolles (1967-74)
- Arnold Butt (1975)
- Mark T. Jaroszewicz (1976-86)
- 1972: Preservation Institute Nantucket (PIN) is the nation’s oldest field school for historic preservation, which was officially launched in 1972.
- 1974: The program in Urban and Regional Planning was added
- 1975: The College of Architecture and Fine Arts was split into two separate entities, the College of Architecture and the College of Fine Arts.
- The College of Architecture was composed of the Department of Architecture, the Department of Building Construction, and programs in Interior Design, Landscape Architecture, and Urban and Regional Planning.
- 1976: The Department of Building Construction was renamed the School of Building Construction
DCP Enrollment
- 1970: 954
- 1971: 1,004
- 1972: 1,080
- 1973: 1,198
- 1974: 1,321
- 1975: 981
- 1976: 833
- 1977: 800
- 1978: 828
- 1979: 918
UF facts
– President(s)
- Stephen C. O’Connel (1967-73)
- E. Travis York (1973-74)
- Robert Q. Marston (1974-84)
Global events
- 1971: VCRs are introduced
- 1972: Watergate Scandal begins
- 1973: U.S. pulls out of Vietnam
- 1974: Nixon resign as President
- 1975: Microsoft is founded
- 1979: Sony introduces the Walkman