1960

IBM invades the campus.

New buildings open, including a women's dormitory (Dearmont Hall), the science building (Magill Hall) and the women's physical education building (Parker Hall).

Student Government begins as a small organization known as Student Assembly.

The first Student Judicial Board is formed in Myers Hall followed by judicial boards in all residence halls on campus.

Southeast houses 10 social societies.

President Scully announces State College would offer all courses for the master’s degree, independent of the University of Missouri.

Tremendous growth in automobiles necessitates the first traffic committee in the early 1960s.

Campus-wide ban on kissing, compulsory ID checks and a dress code is enforced by President Scully.

The University initiates its first campus security force.

The Physical Education requirement drops back down to four semesters, allowing students more time to take classes in their field of study.

1961

A music building (Brandt Hall) opens.

Fall
A group of students earn national attention by dribbling a basketball 140 miles from Cape Girardeau to Evansville, Indiana, the site of the NCAA Division II national championship game in which Southeast participated. Southeast lost that game to Wittenberg College 42-38.

1962

At the age of 36, Billy Joe Thompson Sr. graduates with an associate’s degree in nursing, making him the first male graduate of the nursing program.

Fall
The school adds a general education program and a specialized education program.

The first computer, an IBM1620, arrives on campus.

1963

Seating on the north side of Houck Field is added prior to the 1963 season.

Fall
To emphasize practice in teaching rather than theory, the University began requiring a professional semester for all education students. Education students began spending a semester student teaching and taking specific education courses.

Several Department of English faculty members publish a journal of poetry, the “Cape Rock Quarterly”.

The Greek Housing Complex opens. The Complex consists of six buildings each containing 92 living spaces.

1964

May 1964
The College rents the upper two floors of the Marquette Hotel for male students, who paid $8 per week to live in the facilities.

Spring
The Board of Regents approves construction of an academic building to house classrooms and a 100-seat theater on the southeast corner of Normal and Pacific streets. (Grauel Building)

The Faculty Senate is formed.

1965

Students talked politics in their dorm rooms and listened to Janis Joplin, the Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead and the Beatles.

The college is approved for loans to build four high-rise dormitories (Towers Complex).

The first outdoor commencement ceremonies are held in spring 1965 at Houck Field.

1966

President Scully is presented with a silver medallion to be worn with the academic robe and passed down to future Southeast presidents.

May 1966
The dress code is changed to allow women to wear slacks and longer shorts downtown and on campus after 4 p.m., except for in Kent Library.

Fall 1966
Cheney Hall is converted from a men’s to a women’s dormitory.

Due to growing enrollment, men were sent to live on the top two floors of the former Marquette Hotel, now Marquette Tower.

Southeast launches its own graduate program after Southeast achieves accreditation from the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools for its own master’s degree program. This underscores Southeast’s longtime mission of providing a comprehensive, quality education to the residents of southeast Missouri.

1967

Students start sticking their gum to the original “Gum Tree.”

April 1967
Mandatory attendance at baccalaureate ends.

1968

November
Kent Library is rededicated following a $3.16 million expansion project

1969

A Regional Crime Laboratory is established on campus.

World Events

1960
Disney releases “101 Dalmatians”.

The first episode of “The Flintstones” airs.

The Beatles form in Liverpool.

1961
John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as president of the United States.

1962
Marvel’s Incredible Hulk superhero makes his first appearance.

Spider-Man makes his first appearance in comics in Marvel’s “Amazing Fantasy” #15.

Marilyn Monroe dies.

Pope John XXIII opens the Second Vatican Council.

1963
The Beatles release their first record, “Please Please Me”.

Participants in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom march from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

On Nov. 22, President John F. Kennedy is assassinated.

1964
The Beatles make their first visit to the United States.

The Civil Rights Act abolishes segregation in the United States.

Disney releases “Mary Poppins”.

1965
Winston Churchill dies.

Malcom X dies.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibits racial discrimination in voting, is signed in law by U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. It protected voting rights for racial minorities across the country.

1966
A German computer scientist at MIT, Joseph Weizenbaum, completes ELIZA, the first ever chatbot.

Walt Disney dies.

1967
The “Summer of Love” in which about 100,000 young people in hippie attire converge near San Francisco.

The Beatles release their album, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”.

1968
“Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” debuts on National Education Television.

Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated.

Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated.

1969
Richard Nixon is inaugurated as president of the United States.

The first manned mission to the moon is recorded.

The Woodstock festival is held in Bethel, New York, drawing more than 400,000.

The first episode of “Sesame Street” debuts.