2008 Woodie Awards
Butterfield's Legacy
Matthew M. Robare, Collegian Staff
Issue date: 9/26/08 Section: Editorial / Opinion
Our fair campus is home to many fine dorms, but there is one in particular around which legends swirl like the autumn leaves, viewed as a kind of paradise lost for college students - Butterfield.
Many stories are told about that dorm. Stories of how it had it's own meal plan and dining hall that was a front for drug selling, how it was discovered when it made more money than all other student businesses combined, how all who lived there were so different from the rest of the school and how the dorm seceded from UMass once. All these legendary stories took place in the 1970s.
Though it's a cliché, it's true that all legends have a basis in fact. Solving the mystery of Butterfield, revealing the dorm behind the paradise and whatever perfidious fate that caused its downfall all must have had some basis in truth. The story about Butterfield that interested me the most was of its secession. I mean, that's not a usual political activity even for this campus. Not to mention, how was it possible, or permitted by the administration?
Through UMasswiki.com, I was able to track down the man who was there from the beginning - Marc J. Randazza, First Amendment lawyer and adjunct professor at the Barry University School of Law. Professor Randazza was enormously helpful. I owe this column to him. His story was simple. Back in the days when George H. W. Bush was president, Butterfield had no house council, so the residents half-seriously decided to make one. Professor Randazza was elected president of the council, a throne was made out of a La-Z-Boy chair and he was invested with a Burger King crown.
One of his friends climbed to the roof and hoisted a pirate flag over the building. Area Coordinator Matt Ouelette turned it into an incident by having the flag removed by a crew with a cherry picker. The next night during a rainstorm, Randazza and a few friends climbed the roof with a new flag and hoisted it on the shortwave radio antenna. Later, because the housing office's authority ultimately descends from the government, the Butterfield House Council declared independence; not only from the school, but also from Massachusetts and the United States.
Many stories are told about that dorm. Stories of how it had it's own meal plan and dining hall that was a front for drug selling, how it was discovered when it made more money than all other student businesses combined, how all who lived there were so different from the rest of the school and how the dorm seceded from UMass once. All these legendary stories took place in the 1970s.
Though it's a cliché, it's true that all legends have a basis in fact. Solving the mystery of Butterfield, revealing the dorm behind the paradise and whatever perfidious fate that caused its downfall all must have had some basis in truth. The story about Butterfield that interested me the most was of its secession. I mean, that's not a usual political activity even for this campus. Not to mention, how was it possible, or permitted by the administration?
Through UMasswiki.com, I was able to track down the man who was there from the beginning - Marc J. Randazza, First Amendment lawyer and adjunct professor at the Barry University School of Law. Professor Randazza was enormously helpful. I owe this column to him. His story was simple. Back in the days when George H. W. Bush was president, Butterfield had no house council, so the residents half-seriously decided to make one. Professor Randazza was elected president of the council, a throne was made out of a La-Z-Boy chair and he was invested with a Burger King crown.
One of his friends climbed to the roof and hoisted a pirate flag over the building. Area Coordinator Matt Ouelette turned it into an incident by having the flag removed by a crew with a cherry picker. The next night during a rainstorm, Randazza and a few friends climbed the roof with a new flag and hoisted it on the shortwave radio antenna. Later, because the housing office's authority ultimately descends from the government, the Butterfield House Council declared independence; not only from the school, but also from Massachusetts and the United States.
Viewing Comments 1 - 9 of 10
Ed Cutting
posted 9/26/08 @ 12:32 AM EST
The problem housing had with the flag was the very real fear that someone would fall off the slippery slate roof and then sue the school. It wasn't like they were exactly sober when they were going up there. (Continued…)
HAHAH
posted 9/26/08 @ 12:44 AM EST
All fun and games until Ed Cutting makes a comment!
The crumb
posted 9/26/08 @ 9:22 AM EST
Ed,
Thank you for your first hand account of Butterfield in the 70s. I'm sure it is nice be a living primary source for UMass history. While I'm sure you have a high affinity for research, like "an Alana Goodman," it must be so nice to simply recall events from your own memory, like UMass' days as an agricultural school or the civil war, when commenting on stories. (Continued…)
HEHE
posted 9/26/08 @ 11:58 AM EST
what a great story! hahaha
A
posted 9/26/08 @ 4:27 PM EST
Love the story! Interesting and fun. I wish there were more columns like this written for the Collegian.
L33to
posted 9/26/08 @ 9:12 PM EST
Young people today are so disrespectful.
They should beware lest I deposit them into my feared Axlotl Tanks to become mindless gholas!
Tread the Golden Path or face damnation!
umass
posted 9/27/08 @ 2:26 PM EST
What a fabulous article. I think the Collegian should attribute more stories regarding the history and past events of Umass. :)
B-fielder
posted 10/06/08 @ 10:30 AM EST
70's?! Um... George H. W. Bush was president '89-'92... And, for those that doubt it, Butterfield was a great place to live in those days.
dave k
posted 10/07/08 @ 10:35 PM EST
I lived there in 2006, and so I thought it only fair to at least learn a bit of the mythos that once surrounded it. I heard that the decision to succede was partially over anger surrounding the Gulf War. (Continued…)
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