April 1, 2025, marks the 55th anniversary of the fire that destroyed the first Africana Studies and Research Center (ASRC) at 320 Wait Avenue. The fire was assumed to be arson, and set off a significant amount of racial tension and violence.
The building had been built as a wooden frame residential building. Until December 6, 1968, the building provided offices for professors and graduate students of the CALS Education Department. On that date, a group of black students “took over” the building and ordered the three CALS staff members present to leave. The occupants were allowed to return the next day to remove essential items. The black students put a sign on the door announcing that, effective immediately, 320 Wait Avenue was the new home of Cornell’s black studies program.
While Day Hall had agreed to make 320 Wait Avenue available for that purpose beginning in Fall 1969 after CALS could move the Education Dept to other quarters, the December 1968 takeover was quite a surprise. However, Day Hall responded to the complaints of the affected professors and grad students that it was powerless to do anything to reclaim the space or property left behind.
The Board of Trustees approved the formation of the Africana Studies and Research Center (ASRC) on April 10, 1969, with classes to begin the following Fall semester. The first year it enrolled 160 students in 10 for-credit courses. Seven months after the start of those classes, on April 1, 1970, Cornell was on Spring Break. In the early morning, an arsonist set the building on fire.
Other than the arsonist, there were no people inside the building, but its wooden structure rapidly burned. Although the building remained standing, its contents were destroyed, and the building was a complete loss.
The Ithaca Police and Fire Departments picked through the wreckage in search of clues, but the identity of the arsonist has never been determined. Ultimately, the building was leveled to the ground, and all that remains is a set of concrete steps leading to what had been its front door.
When students returned from the 1970 spring break, racial tensions ran high. Black students responded with weeks of protests, vandalism, and violence. Black students vandalized the newly opened Cornell Store in retaliation. A fire watch staffed by 250 faculty volunteers patrolled the campus. The Arts College fired one of their conservative deans, Pearl Lucas, in an apparent effort to appease the militant students.
Prof. James Turner, Director of the ASRC, had been under pressure to complete his dissertation as a Ph.D. candidate at Northwestern University, but all of his dissertation drafts and notes were destroyed in the fire. So, Cornell did not press the matter. Turner never completed his Northwestern dissertation. However, he earned a PhD from Union Graduate School in Cincinnati in 1975.
Different theories circulated regarding the race and motivation of the arsonist, but the truth remains a mystery.
The ASRC temporarily relocated to a vacant North Campus Low-Rise and then to a converted fraternity house at 310 Triphammer Road, its current location.
In November 2015, the Black Student Union (BSU) sent a list of 14 demands to then-President Elizabeth Garrett, including a commemoration of the 320 Wait Avenue site. On Homecoming Weekend, Sept. 24, 2016, then-Provost Michael Kotlikoff dedicated a plaque set in a garden of plants. “In acknowledging the history of this site, we stand with our current students and alumni and all those who want Cornell to be an inclusive and welcoming environment,” he said.
The plaque and its setting
The text of the plaque hedges on the question of arson, and states that “a fire that was suspected to be arson destroyed the center.” At the plaque dedication ceremony, the only person to take issue with the wording of the plaque was James Turner, who insisted that it was definitely arson.
Another speaker at the dedication was Amber Aspinall ‘17, BSU co-President. “Today we’re telling the truth, the truth about what occurred on this campus and the truth about what is still occurring today,” said Aspinall.
