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1866 to 18911891 to 19161916 to 19401940 to 1966
1967 Drinking on campus is permitted for students 21 and older.
1967 The new Isabella Watson Hall and remodeled Parish House is occupied in April.
1967 Gridley Hall is demolished in September.
1967 Black students form the Negro Affairs Committee, later becoming SOUL (Students Organized toward Unity and Liberation). The '70s sees the formation of parallel organizations of Asian and Latino students, as well as the establishment of an Office of Minority (now Multicultural) Affairs. A fourth multicultural group, of Native Americans, forms in the '80s.
1968 Black Studies concentration begins.
1968 Opening of the new Laird Stadium indoor track.
1970 Carls appear on the Today show to discuss Earth Week activities.
1970 A College Council form of government is adopted which includes student representatives as full members of major policy-making committees.
1970 Howard R. Swearer, an expert on international affairs at the Ford Foundation and a former UCLA professor of political science, is named president. Swearer and his family are installed in the newly acquired "Nutting House," henceforward the official home of Carleton chief executives.
1971 Dedication of the new Music and Drama Center on site of old Gridley Hall.
1971

Enrollment exceeds 1,500.
1971 Women's Caucus organized on campus.
1975 Completion of Seeley G. Mudd Hall of Science.
1976 President Swearer declares the first President's Day, an unscheduled 24-hour student holiday called at the president's whim.
1977 Robert H. Edwards becomes president after Swearer resigns to assume the presidency of Brown University. Like Swearer, Edward is a graduate of Princeton and Harvard, coming to Carleton from the Ford Foundation. Dean of the College Harriet Sheridan serves as acting president for eight months between Swearer and Edwards.
1977 Joe Fabeetz, an imaginary candidate, wins CSA Senate election with 1,012 write-in votes.
1977 Carleton and St. Olaf square off in the first - and possibly last - NCAA sanctioned metric football game, in which all measurements are metric. Hoopla reigns, but on the field Carleton is crushed by the Oles before 10,000 in Laird Stadium.
1978

Rededication of renovated Leighton Hall.
1978 Trustees vote to limit investments to companies adhering to a written statement of principles on South Africa. Debate, and occasional confrontation, over the merits of selective vs. total South Africa-related divestment becomes a major campus issue through the ensuing decade and beyond.
1979 Dedication of Sayles-Hill Campus Center.
1980 Strike by Carleton union workers.
1981 Innovative "Science, Technology, and Public Policy" program launched with help from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
1983 Opening of new Laird Stadium outdoor track.
1984 Rededication of remodeled and expanded Library Building.
1985 ACT (Acting in the Community Together) is established to coordinate student volunteer programs in Northfield and surrounding communities.
1985 College Council votes to set limits on need-bind admissions. The original policy is restored in 1988.
1986 Dedication of the Hadzi Arch and Founders Court outside of the Library Building.
1986 David H. Porter, Carleton professor of classical languages and music, is named interim president in April following Edwards' departure to head education agencies of the Aga Khan in Paris. In November Porter announces he will accept the presidency of Skidmore College at the end of the 1986/87 academic year.
1987 "We Are Together" vigil and panel focuses attention on issues of racial and cultural diversity at Carleton.
1987 Carleton's ninth president is Stephen R. Lewis, Jr. A graduate of Williams College and Stanford University, he comes to Carleton from a professorship in economics at Williams as well as a position as economic consultant to the government of Botswana.
1987 Phones are installed in dorm rooms.
1987-1989 Carleton runners enjoy national success. Shelley Scherer '89 wins an NCAA Division III individual cross country championship as a junior. The following year Anna Prineas '89 captures three Division III national titles in cross country and track and becomes the first Carleton athlete ever to win Division I All-American honors in track.
1988 Carleton's tunnels are closed.
1988 The Multicultural Alumni Network is organized.
1988 The Sayles-Hill expansion project is completed.
1989 Adoption of RAD (Recognition and Affirmation of Difference) requirement to ensure that all students complete courses that are "centrally concerned with another culture," or with "issues and/or theories of gender, class, race, and ethnicity as these may be found anywhere in he world."
1990 Prof. Paul Wellstone is elected to U.S. Senate representing Minnesota. He is reelected in 1996.
1991 A record 18% of incoming first-year students are students of color.
1991 Carleton celebrates its 125th anniversary year with events throughout the 1991/92 academic year.
1992 The Johnson House/Alumni Guest House complex is completed, a building designed to house guest rooms and Carleton's Admissions Office.
1993 The Center for Mathematics and Computing opens.
1995 The new Biological Sciences building (later named Hulings Hall) is completed.
1995 U.S. News and World Report ranks Carleton's faculty #1 in commitment to undergraduate teaching.
1995 Boliou Hall Phase II remodeling is completed.
1997 Olin and Mudd Hall's renovation is completed.
1998 Nourse Hall is remodeled.
2000 The Recreation Center opens.
2000 Carleton receives its first-ever presidential visit, as President Bill Clinton addresses graduating seniors at Commencement.
2001 The new Language and Dining Center opens
2001 Nine townhouse-style student residences open.
2001 The applicant pool for admission to Carleton exceeds 4,000 for the first time. (4,061)
2002 Robert Oden becomes Carleton's tenth president, coming to Carleton from the presidency of Kenyon College.
1866 to 18911891 to 19161916 to 19401940 to 1966

Last modified:
by Eric Hillemann, ehillema@carleton.edu