Issue link: http://latinschool.uberflip.com/i/246730
Background: A lower school class photo. the first of its kind in the United States and plans for a domed fourth floor that never came to be. In November 1967, Mayor Richard J. Daley dug the first shovel of dirt in the groundbreaking ceremony. In the spring of 1969, Carole Mendelsohn '69 visited the almost completed new school and tried to ease student concerns about the building in the Forum student newspaper: "TERRIFIC!! That's the impression I went away with after touring Latin's new upper school at the corner of North Avenue and Clark Street. Frankly, after listening to so many students discuss the white-washed walls, the lack of character and the overall change in the school that the new building may bring, I was amazed to find that it has a character of its own and not only seems functional, but a fantastic place in which to work and study," she wrote. Just as the days in the Scott Street building were coming to a close, one development was noted in school publications that would have a huge impact on the future of Latin: The school purchased its first computer. Latin's first computer. 74 L AT I N M AGAZINE The Forum student newspaper of the '70s addressed student grievances ranging from uniforms, censorship and perceived greed in the administration and board of trustees, to student apathy, racial tension and unfair discipline. Those who did not feel that they could voice their opinions freely in the Forum, wrote for the underground publication of the '70s, The Affluent Drool. In a letter to the editor in the March 1970 Forum, Dick Connette '69 commented from college on apparent change in students' attitudes in the year since his graduation: "From what I have read in the Forum, things seem to have changed. I believe Latin has lost its apathy. The letters to the editors, the rebuttals, the articles themselves indicate that the students burn with interested anger and indignance. The interest delights me. The anger and indignance worry me. I remember doing a lot of smiling at Latin, albeit I didn't concern myself with those important issues. I now regret my own indifference a great deal. But I also regret the bitterness I read between the lines of the Forum." Retired science and affective education teacher Susan Humphrey, who started at the school in 1971, likened Latin to a bottle that had been corked too tightly: "Once you uncorked that bottle, it all came out." Students felt free to voice their opinions. And, with their newfound sense of freedom, they also tested the boundaries at school and outside of school, she said.