History abounds in Athens. It oozes from the red bricks and worn storefronts. You can see it in the aging monuments, and you can feel it in the hundred-year-old trees that line College Green.
Athens and Ohio University have been perpetually entwined, from their conception in revolutionary America to the modern-day battles for Court Street.
In this history, a constant struggle ensues.
For the first hundred years, OU administrators and townspeople clashed over land disputes. Except for a few small plots, OU owned all of Athens. It took several lawsuits and Ohio Supreme Court decisions to settle the differences.
As OU and Athens moved into the 20th century, the land battles left the university-town relationship shaky. But it wasn't until the 1960s that the relationship would truly be tested.
In the mid-1960s, OU students changed almost overnight.
Politically active, a little bit shaggy and ready to fight, this new breed of student pushed the limits of the university, the city and the nation.
Change and conflict
The clean-cut students of the 1950s generally followed the rules and remained polite.
On April 13, 1958, a cool, rainy Sunday, two students left Shively dining hall tossing an orange back and forth.
The fruit tossing became boisterous when one or more East Green students were struck by oranges. They retaliated in the attack
according to an April 14, 1958, Columbus Dispatch article.
After Athens police officers broke up the orange throwing, more than 3,000 students assembled Uptown in protest. Student Council President George Voinovich, who would later become an Ohio governor and U.S. senator, aided law enforcement officers in breaking up the crowd.
It stared out as a fun thing Voinovich said, adding that after awhile students began to cause damage. Twenty students were arrested. The Orange Riots were a simple prank run amok.
During his freshman year of college in 1966, Tom Hodson, Director of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism and Associate Editor of The Post 1969-70, always wore a tie to cover student government. Four years later, he covered the 1970 riots as students threw bricks and rocks at police, who retaliated with canisters of tear gas.
Between fall of 1966 and spring of 1970 the world changed he said. Students immersed themselves in a culture of drugs, sex, rock and politics, but city residents hardly changed - creating a rift that is still evident today.
The political involvement of OU students in the 1960s and 1970s spilled over into the lives of many Athens residents during the union strikes of 1967.
On March 5, the non-faculty employees left their lines in the dining halls and joined the picket lines after weeks of in-action from OU President -
a term used at the time to describe a stricter law enforcement attitude with students, according to a Post article.
The lottery draft system of the Vietnam War was final catalyst, Hodson said. The men drafted were the brothers, boyfriends and best friends of the students.
On May 14, 1970 an anti-war protest escalated into a night of violent riots between OU students and the Athens police. At 3 a.m., the National Guard was called in to close the university, ending the school year almost a month early.
Today, student riots are more focused on drinking, rather than oranges or politics.
On April 3, 2003 anti-war protesters flooded the steps of the Athens County Courthouse to protest President George W. Bush's actions against Iraq. Two days later, more students protested in the streets because the bars closed an hour early during the annual time change riots.
Many Athens residents who remember the turbulent times of the 1960s and 1970s look at today's riots as trivial, said -
she said.
Give and take
The riots and violent outbursts from students against the university and the city often overshadow the subtle benefits OU and Athens give one another.
The whole area benefits from the presence of the university, said -
I am not wholly discouraged I shall not give up the Ship until the masts are under water OU President -
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Lauren McDowell
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