Cellphones, credit cards, computers, cars and condos.

According to alum Jack James, these are “the five C’s” that make up the major differences between life on campus now and when James went to Oswego State in 1962.

“To think about life on campus in the 60s, life was much different than the life day-to-day that student live in today,” James said. “I just get the biggest kick out of thinking about what the students have today personally compared to the rather stark but very enjoyable life we had.”

Student culture changes with influence of society

In the 1960s, the student population totaled approximately 1,200 students, compared with the current student population of roughly 8,000, which affected to the campus environment.

“Every student knew every other student,” James said. “Every faculty member as you walked across campus knew you by name and you knew them by name and personally.”

Compared with the social norms of today, the Oswego State campus in the ‘60s had policies in place to support the social etiquette of the time period.

1965 alumna Marie Scarcella said each year students received a booklet called “The Oswetiquette,” illustrating expectations from the student body.

According to the policy at the time, women were not allowed to wear slacks to classes. Female students had to wear dresses or skirts all year, even in the harsh cold of the Oswego winter. According to Scarella, females had to dress up in high heels and “a dressy dress” to go to the dining hall on Sundays.

“It is probably hard for [students] to even imagine,” Scarella said. “We had to wear skirts and I used to wear knee highs or socks, but you still froze.”

James mentioned the lack of diversity of the student body on campus in the ‘60s. According to James, by actual count, there were three African American students on campus when he went to school.

James remembers more of a religious difference among students on campus at the time. According to him, there were a lot of Jewish students on campus from Long Island and New York City.

“Growing up in western New York, Niagara County, I never met a Jewish person in my life,” James said. “Two months into my freshman year, I discovered that my roommate was Jewish and I didn’t even know what that was. It was kind of humorous. I went home to Long Island with him once for spring break and he introduced me to lox and bagels.”

James described the demographic of Oswego State at the time as “a narrow strata of middle-class students from Central New York, New York City and Long Island.”

Campus size expands with the passing of time

In the early 1960s, Funnelle Hall was in the process of being built. West campus, Tyler, Lanigan and Mahar Halls, among other buildings, did not exist until the late ‘60s or early ‘70s.

“The size of the campus has just expanded so much since I’ve been there,” Scarella said.

Sheldon Hall, Rich Hall and Park Hall were the primary academic buildings at the time. According to James, there were 10 short buildings in the fields across from Shady Shore that were permanent classroom buildings. Students in the 1960s called them “mudflats” and students would have to trudge through mud to get to the classrooms on long raised wooden planes.

At the time there were two dining halls, Lakeside dining hall and Hart Hall.

According to 1965 alumna Kay Benedict Sgarlata, by spring of 1964, a cafeteria had been built in the basement of Hart.

“This made mealtimes a bit easier,” Sgarlata said. “That is, except for lunch, when those of us who lived in Hart and had all classes back on the Main campus, we had to walk to the high rise for lunch. I can say we were all slim and fit in those days from the walking.”

The Marano Campus Center was not a part of the campus setting in the 1960s. The place where students met up to study or hang out was in between Lonis Hall and Moreland Hall, which was then known as Hewitt Union. According to Scarella, this is also where all students received mail.

Like the cash services on campus today, there were snack bars located in the basement of Johnson Hall and what, at the time, was Hewitt Union.

Scarella recalled working in the dining hall at Lakeside and getting paid 85 cents an hour in the fall of 1963.

Academic growth impacted by opportunity.

Today, Oswego State offers over 150 majors and minors. In the 1960s, there were only two degrees students graduated with” a degree in elementary education or a degree in industrial arts. Tuition was $100 a semester, according to Scarella.

Scarella said she was a student during the last year before students were required to get a master’s degree in order to be certified to teach. She remembers college being more focused on general education classes.

In the 1960s, Scarella said the college focused on general education classes, although Scarella knows there are more opportunities now for women and students in general.

“In general, there is so much more available in careers and so much more available for women,” Scarella said. “There were five choices as a woman when I got out of college; you could be a teacher, a nurse, a hairdresser, a secretary or you got married.”

James describes the classrooms as “unadorned, old-timey, square classrooms.”

Students sat in chairs and the professor used a blackboard and chalk to teach as students took notes with a pen and paper.

“None of us had cell phones, computers or Smart Boards to use the Internet on,” James said.

Penfield Library was still the only library on-campus. Books were the only resources students had to use. James said it was a “real” library.

Scarella recalled receiving a typewriter as a high school graduation present from her parents at age 18.

“Everyone had a manual typewriter. That’s what you had to write a paper or hand in assignments but if you didn’t, you had to borrow one from someone you knew,” Scarella said.

Residence halls reflect the era

During the early ‘60s, Hart Hall was the newest residence hall compared with the lakeside residence halls of today. Funnelle Hall was in the process of being built in 1965.

“I entered the first high rise building, later to be called Hart Hall, just a week before President Kennedy was assassinated,” Sgarlata said.

According to Sgarlata, the difference in the time period showed inside the residence halls. All the residence halls were segregated by gender.

Women had a mandatory curfew of 10 p.m. when living on-campus.

“Girls had to sign out and in when leaving and returning to the dorm after 7 p.m,” Sgarlata said.

According to Sgarlata and Scarella, there was also a strict policy of no men allowed in the female residence halls without supervision.

“Men were not permitted to leave the lobby or no men were allowed into the female dorms outside of the lobby and lounge,” Sgarlata said. “Even when a janitor appeared on a floor, there was a call out from the RA, ‘Man on the floor!’”

Because students didn’t have cell phones, there was a pay phone on each floor of each dormitory where calls came in from friends and family.

“If you didn’t respond to the shout out, a message was taken on notepaper and slipped under your door,” Sgarlata said.

Through all the differences from the 1960s until now, some aspects of the Oswego State community remain the same.

“We enjoyed each beautiful sunset, we experienced the snow, when alumni get together everyone has stories and that will never change,” said James “We still have a culture of learning. It may be characterized differently today with all the technology and all the different degree programs but under pinning that we still have the same committed, dedicated faculty that we had back then.”