As LeClair awaited trial, a debate raged over the housing rules, students’ relationship with the college, and changing parietal rules.
The incident garnered national news coverage: serious, sensational, angry, and mocking.
Ordinary people as well as national newspapers weighed in, mostly negatively, on LeClair’s behavior, exposing the widening gap between generations.
On campus, the unofficial “Ad Hoc Committee for a Fair Housing Policy” surveyed the student body about the housing and parietal rules. 73% of those surveyed admitted breaking at least one housing rule. The majority of respondents felt the rules were unfair.
Students urged the administration to re-evaluate these seemingly antiquated rules that did not correspond to actual behavior of young people of the late 1960s. Official committees formed to do just that.
