1970s

Decade Summary

While Northeastern University advertised the 1960s as a period of substantial change for their cooperative education program, the University officially reported minimal changes during the 1970s. However, certain archival documents such as the handbooks that were given to students to inform them about co-op reveal that the co-op program did undergo some changes during the 70s. The co-op handbook was shortened from 48 to 33 pages between 1969 and 1979. The university briefly stopped including a co-op agreement about how students were to treat their positions on co-op in 1971 before shortening it in later versions of the handbook. In addition, the specific graduation plans by college were removed from the handbook in 1976. The University narrowed the focus of the handbook to provide a more concise and accessible resource. In this process, however, they also added an Equal Opportunity Policy in 1973 which showcased the adoption of Title IX at the time. Written on the second page, it outlined “the institutional policy that there shall not be any discrimination against any employee or applicant for employment…” The 70s also saw the addition of an Afro-American Studies department in 1973 as listed in the accompanying handbook from that year. Moreover, the advertising of Northeastern’s cooperative education program during the 1970’s morphed to match their newly introduced departments and policies. The university’s advertising within co-op handbooks in the early 70s as well as 60s began with several images featuring primarily white men in STEM fields or office jobs; however, as the years progressed the handbooks began including photos of a more inclusive array of jobs and people than prior examples, inviting a wider audience to take part in Northeastern’s co-ops.