Issue link: http://latinschool.uberflip.com/i/246730
UNREST them leave home looking like that?' But the parents couldn't control the children either." Former History Department Chair Steve Sommers described the atmosphere similarly: "This was a time of great change and real division in the Latin community. There were trustees, teachers, parents and even students who were traditional and wanted things to go back to what they had been, and there were those who were extremely progressive. This tension between traditionalists and progressives continued even into the 1980s." Rumblings of discontent among students in particular began as early as the mid-1960s, according to John Friedman '67. Students were voicing frustration with the school's restrictive ways when he arrived at the Scott Street building for seventh grade. "Our class was part of a new generation," said Friedman. "The class was bigger. A lot of us weren't rich, some of us came from the public schools. We took public transportation. We resented Latin. We thought it was too structured, the school day was longer than anywhere else, and we were angry at our parents for sending us." ΒΈ With no better options in sight, the board moved ahead to negotiate an agreement with the City of Chicago that would allow the upper school to hold classes at Navy Pier during the two-year building period. (Navy Pier had been used by the University of Illinois since after the war to offer classes to veterans and had classrooms, labs and a gymnasium.) The school was about to sign a short-term lease for the facility when Mayor Richard J. Daley intervened because of his own plans for the property. In 1966, it was announced that the Plaza Hotel at North Avenue and Clark Street had been condemned and would be torn down. The city would be offering the land, which was located next to Chicago's biggest experiment in urban renewal, Sandburg Village. To Berger and a number of board members, this sounded like a tremendous opportunity. Yet, Clark Street at North was still a neighborhood in transition, and others on the board were hesitant about moving the school there, according to Berger. Eventually the possibilities for the space won out. With The Sun-Times coverage of Latin's new building. A 1967 editorial from the Forum. LATI N SCHOOL OF CHI CA GO 71