Activism of the 1960s

This building is Jameson Hall on North Campus.  

Jameson is a really interesting building because it is "riot-proof". It was built during the '70s, after a very tumultuous decade, and it has little alcoves that lead to nowhere to mislead people and discourage gathering, and stairs that can only be taken down, not up.  Moreover, each floor is split on one side into two floors, making it even more confusing.  This semester I'm taking a class called "History of the United States in the 1960s and '70s," and as it turns out, Cornell had its share of riots and uprisings during the '60s, leading to the construction of buildings like Jameson.  

The '60s was a period of much radicalism and activism.  The rise of the EPA and the environmental movement caught on during the mid-sixties, and began to influence people everywhere, including at Cornell.  In 1969, Earth Art was an exhibit put on by Cornell with pieces scattered about campus.  According to the Johnson Museum, Earth Art was comprised of "separate installations and exhibitions that addressed issues related to the representation of landscape, water supply, food justice, recycling, fair distribution of natural resources, and the nature/culture divide."

Earth Art exhibition at the Johnson

So even in the 1960s, when environmentalism was just starting to catch on, Cornell University and its students were aware of the need to care for the nature that surrounds us, along with the many other aspects of "green living."  Undoubtedly, today most students and teachers continue to care about these issues, and as a University we are working together to lower our carbon-footprint and bring about positive change in the realm of environmentalism. 

The strange building that Jameson is, is partly a product of environmentalism that began with a few radicals in the 1960s.  If it weren't for the people who first realized that our relationship with the Earth was flawed, and that we had to do something about it, the environmental movement as it stands today would be a lot different.  

And although Jameson is a testament to a time of new ideas and radical activism, it was also my home for my first year at Cornell.  I will always look back fondly on Jameson and all of the memories it gave me, but on a deeper level, I will also understand its significance in a historical context, and how it serves as a product of all of the social movements of the 1960s, including environmentalism, as sociological imagination allows me to do.