50 Years Ago
- Seven women students at Smith’s Vocational High School filed a grievance yesterday with the state Department of Education alleging that they are victims of sex discrimination. The students charged that women at Smith’s School are “pervasively discriminated against” in the areas of course selection, job training, recruiting, athletics and other extracurricular activities.
- Downtown merchants voiced relatively few objections to the proposed downtown TOPICS plan yesterday. The members of the Downtown Business Association appeared to be generally satisfied with the city’s plan, even though it will mean the removal of some 75 on-street parking spaces. Between 30 and 40 spaces will be eliminated on Main Street alone.
25 Years Ago
- Despite repeated meetings with architects over the last 15 months and several plan revisions, members of the Elm Street Historic District Committee said last Tuesday that Smith College’s proposed 58,000-square-foot campus center still is not in keeping with the neighborhood. “It’s this huge white elephant,” said member Marisa Labozetta.
- Smith College Professor Donald Robinson will speak at the final event Sunday in this year’s “Sundays at Two” series on the topic “Must a President Be Good? Thoughts on the Relationship of Personal Morality and Presidential Power.”
10 Years Ago
- Northampton police are warning residents to remove dry leaves, grass and brush away from their homes after several fires involving ornamental grass clumps were reported recently. In a statement, Northampton Police Chief Jody Kasper called five fires reported between March 12 and 21 “suspicious.”
- Downtown shoppers could now get an additional reward for their spending: free parking. Businesses can purchase sheets of stickers from the city’s parking office for one, two or three hours of free parking. These stickers will be attached to customers’ garage tickets by participating downtown shops and restaurants.