University Provost Dorothy Brown spoke about the changes the Hilltop underwent during the 1960s in Sellinger Lounge Tuesday in a speech entitled “Georgetown in the 1960s.”

The presentation, which addressed university trends from the ’60s to the present, covered a variety of topics, ranging from campus construction to the women’s movement.

Brown spoke to students about the diversity of ’60s, emphasizing that while it was characteristically a dynamic time in American history, Georgetown was undergoing many changes as well.

“[The ’60s] was a period of great building,” Brown said. Beginning with the opening of New South in 1959, campus development rapidly picked up. In 1962, the Reiss Science Building was completed and two years later in, January of 1964, construction on both Darnall and Harbin Halls started. Brown told students that at that time, signs posted around campus advertising Harbin’s completion date read, “Luxury hall slated for fall.”

In the mid-’60s the large number of students living in off-campus housing troubled several local residents. By 1966, the amount of students not living on campus had escalated to approximately 1, 500. “They thought that off-campus housing was going to hit an all-time high,” Brown said.

Also at that time, several disturbed residents were battling against the granting of a liquor license to the university. With faculty persistence, however, the license was ultimately obtained and, according to Brown, before long a different spirit pervaded campus. “The times began to sing soon after,” she said.

Undoubtedly, the university social scene was bustling with guest musical performers and political speakers. Bo Didley, Peter, Paul and Mary and the Shirelles were among a few of many musical groups to perform on campus. While Joan Baez’s no-show was a let-down to students in 1963, the fact that one lucky Hoya writer got to interview The Beatles in 1964 made up for the previous years’ disappointment.

Brown also discussed campus sports during the ’60s, emphasizing the relative inexperience of the basketball team. “In 1959 NYU beat us. So did American,” she said. Despite this, however, Brown told students that the advent of one organization in 1960 attracted attention to the sports arena. “In 1960 we got the pom-pom girls and the Hoya guys didn’t seem to mind,” she stated.

Changes in curriculum were also a defining part of the ’60s transformation. The removal of a Latin language requirement and the decrease in philosophy and theology requirements were a few of the several changes that occurred. “A lot of administration changes caused a big shift of power,” Brown told students. One such radical change in administration was the admission of the first non-Jesuits onto the board of directors in 1966.

Finally, Brown spoke of cultural developments and revolutions finding their way on to campus and encouraging students to become social activists. In 1963, Georgetown students, along with students from Howard and George Washington Universities, marched Capitol Hill lobbying for Civil Rights. In 1968, students and faculty collected funds to support the Poor People’s March and also at that time the anti-war effort was in force. “For a while 17 students would give a peace protest from 12 to 1 every day in Healy Circle,” Brown told students. The most pivotal of these transformations was that of the admittance of women to the university in October of 1968. “Admission was very selective. Only 50 women were accepted,” Brown said. “They were very brainy, and remarkable women of a very discreet group,” she told students.

“In short, Georgetown was a very interesting place in the ’60s,” Brown succinctly concluded her presentation. Although many associate the time period’s diversity with its unique fashion trends, Brown insisted that the era’s uniqueness transcends this superficial level. “Beyond the clothes . . . [the ’60s] were different because of how you looked at authority, at culture in general and at your place in it,” she told students.

Founder of the American Studies program at Georgetown, Brown has been an active member of the history department for many years. At one point the history department chairwoman, she has taught about the 1960s as a history professor at the university, as well, before assuming the position of chief academic officer for the main campus.