Flashback
35 years ago this week
First classes held on North Campus
On Sept. 20, 1973, the first classes were held on the North Campus in the Law School's John Lord O'Brian Hall, the first academic building constructed on the new campus.
Orientation began for the largest first year class in the history of the Law School on Sept. 18 when 315 freshmen were addressed by Richard Schwartz, provost of the Faculty of Law and Jurisprudence. Classes for all 690 law school students began on Sept. 20.
The Law School faculty and staff began the move to the North Campus in early August and spent the month frantically unpacking in preparation for orientation, which was delayed 10 days because of the move.
There were a couple of snags. There were no seats in the classrooms for the first few days of classes. In fact, the Buffalo Evening News published on Sept. 21 a photograph of Professor Thomas Rickert lecturing to students sprawled on the floor of one of O'Brian's tiered lecture halls. O'Brian's basement cafeteria also did not open on time because UB's director of environmental health and safety was dissatisfied with its appearance and facilities.
At that time, the old Law School building on Eagle Street in downtown Buffalo was to be used for extra trial and office space for administering the state's new drug law.
—Karen Walton Morse, University Archives
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