Susquehanna University - 1960 to 1969

In the early 1960s, chapel services were a requirement for graduation and were listed under "Academic Regulations" in the student handbook. As standards changed and attendance at chapel was no longer mandatory, worship services and meditation chapel became student services. This portion of the 1969 Student Handbook details the varieties and times of services offered by the University.

In 1967, chapel attendance, while still an academic requirement for graduation, had become somehat more liberal. Students were now required to attend ten sessions out of the fourteen convocations and fourteen services offered each semester.

Let your conscience be your guide. By 1968, chapel attendence was no longer mandatory, however, the University's Student Christian Association offered interested students a venue in which to explore and express their faith.

On April 14, 1966, 450 students held a rally in front of Seibert Hall to protest the "suppression of student dissent by the administration". The principal grievances were invasion of privacy, the construction of a chapel rather than a library and the failure of the administration to acknowledge the concerns of students. The students chose a boycott of mandatory chapel as the the chief way to force change within the University. The boycott lasted a week until the University's board of directors intervened in an effort to open a dialogue between students and administration.