Lawrence Mark Libow was born on May 23, 1949. Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, Libow graduated from James Madison High School in June 1967. He was a graduate of Springfield College, Class of 1971, coming to Springfield College in the fall of 1967 as a Physical Education major. After receiving Advanced Standing in Physical Education, he would change his major to Community Leadership and Development, graduating with a B.S. in August 1971.

Growing out of his frustration with the disconnection between the College administration and what Libow felt was the spirit of Springfield College’s Humanics philosophy, Libow started to work to make changes within the school. He was a member of the Student Council, representing Alumni Hall, but becoming frustrated with what it could accomplish, Libow, with other students, formed a club called the Resistance Unity, and Brotherhood. The manual titled “Liberator” was created by this group. The group demanded that the administration share information, open meetings including board meetings, and pointed out flaws and inconsistencies within the school’s administration and policies. He also wrote a newspaper column called “On The Left” and was a photographer for the Springfield College student newspaper, The Student. In the winter of 1970, he was dismissed from school after he published different writings or graffiti he found on school desks throughout the college. The administration said that his article contained “rude” and “offensive” materials. The case against his dismissal was picked up by Americans with Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Due to this support and support from inside and outside of Springfield College, Libow was reinstated. Libow was also part of a group of white students who took over the Administration Building in April 1970. The takeover was in support of the black students who took over Massasoit Hall and was designed to get the administration to listen to the black student demands and to protest the punishments leveled against them. Libow and the other students were thrown into jail, but the entire student body voted to use Student Activity Funds to bail them out. Ultimately Libow and the students who took over the Administration Building were reinstated to Springfield College.

After graduation Libow stayed in Springfield, Massachusetts, eventually becoming the head track coach for Commerce High School.

Information mostly retrieved from: Research Paper, “‘I can dig it’: Libow 2019” written by Quinn Keneally, Josie Hill, and Rebecca Link. December 2019. (Research paper for HIST 201: Making History Public)

In February of 1969, a group of black Springfield College students sent a memorandum to College President Wilbur E. Locklin, in which they state that they feel displeased with the prejudices suffered by the black community at the school. They go on to list nine demands of the school that would benefit the black community, such as the enrollment of 200 students into the incoming freshman class of ‘73, the addition of a black staff member to the admissions office, and the hiring of a black coach for one of the athletic teams. Later that year the faculty rejected the demands of the black students. The day after, a group of almost every black student on campus entered the Administration building and began to hurl insults at the administrative staff until all students, led by Dr. Jesse Parks (the only black faculty member on campus at the time), left the building voluntarily and marched across campus and then off campus. Later that year, President Locklin began plans to build an experimental black cultural center at the school. In March of the next year, unsatisfied with the progress of civil rights at the school, a group of 49 students and several “outsiders” enter the Massasoit Hall dormitory, forcibly ejecting the students on the third floor and taking control of it. The protesting students would remain there for two days, until the college obtained a Superior Court civil injunction and the Sheriff’s Department led all the occupiers out of the building and onto a motor coach bus to bring them directly to court. No one was sentenced to jail time, but all were fined. All the students were dismissed and ordered to stay off campus “for their own safety.” In addition, the college leveled their own fines and required to serve 300 hundred hours of community service before students would be considered, individually, for re-admittance to Springfield College. Most of the students chose not to return. Nearly two years after the first incident, student protestors again seized the Administration Building on April 6, 1970, this time by white students in protest of the perceived “double jeopardy” placed on the black students in that they were punished by both the Superior Court and the College. The students were arrested by police and charged with trespassing and were later expelled from school. The students sued the college in Probate Court because the college judicial system offered no due process to students. The court agreed and prevented the college from proceeding against any of the occupiers until a new judicial system was in place and approved by the court. During the Collegium that took place over the summer of 1970, college officials determined that the students that were removed from campus should be invited back by the President, and, if they chose to return, participate in a series of workshops with a group of College representatives to improve black-white relationships on campus. The list of black demands continued to be worked upon by administration, and some of the demands of black students were met gradually over the next several years.

Information mostly retrieved from: Finding Aid Historical Note, RG108 - Office of the President: Series 18 - Dissent and Student Protest over Black Rights at Springfield College, 1969-1972, written by Matthew Tenbroeck Cole (December 17, 2018) & revisions suggested by Lawrence Libow (February 2020): https://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15370coll2/id/21088