Late 1968
Two hundred and fifty members of Black United Students stage a walkout in response to inequality on campus. The university responds by placing black students on an interview committee and later offers an African-American Affairs Department.
Early 1969
A panel of 10 black students selects Edward Crosby, a professor at the time, to start the Institute for African-American Affairs.
Late 1969
The university’s first classes in African-American Studies are offered.
BUS protests for the university to grant them a culture center. The university offers the Ward House, a ramshackle house on Summit Street.
1970
Classes are halted due to the events of May 4th.
1971
Crosby asks the provost to give the program more space.
The department is given five rooms on the second floor of Lowry Hall.
The university tears down the Ward House to build the new Business & Administration Building. The culture center is immediately moved to the second floor of Rockwell Hall (now the Fashion Design Museum).
Late 1971
Crosby petitions the university to have both the African-American Studies program and the black cultural center moved to the ground floor of the vacant Student Union (now Oscar Ritchie Hall) and to consolidate both entities.
1972
The institute and the culture center move to the old Student Union building after the opening of the new Student Center. The ground floor houses the program and the cultural center, now called the Institute for African-American Affairs and Pan-African Culture.
1977
The old Student Union is dedicated as Oscar Ritchie Hall, after the first black professor at Kent State and at a public Ohio university. The department is still housed on the ground floor with the art department occupying the second floor and the Honors College on the third floor.
Early 1980s
When the Honors College moves, Crosby petitions to have department space extended to the third floor. The second floor is still occupied by the art department, but the university grants space to Pan-African Studies on floors one and three.
1985
The art department moves out of the second floor. Pan-African Studies now claims the entire building.
1990
The registrar’s office tries to put courses in the cultural center, but Crosby refuses to allow them to do it. Carol Cartwright, who is sworn in as president the following year, backs up Crosby’s request.
2004
BUS holds a protest in Risman Plaza in order to get renovations for Oscar Ritchie Hall and a new anti-discrimination policy.
2004
Over the summer, $200,000 in repairs to the building are completed. Oscar Ritchie gets bumped up on the renovation plan to be completed following the renovation of Franklin Hall.
Faculty Senate votes down BUS’s anti-discrimination policy because of its wording.
2005
The Board of Trustees approves BUS’s anti-discrimination policy.
2007
Oscar Ritchie is slated for a major overhaul, with $9 million in renovations.
The Burr is produced by students at Kent State University twice per academic year.No part of The Burr may be reprinted without permission.