{"id":39,"date":"2021-05-03T21:52:50","date_gmt":"2021-05-04T01:52:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-cswaimfox\/?page_id=39"},"modified":"2021-05-12T20:02:41","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T00:02:41","slug":"hover-house","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/hover-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Hover House"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the late 1970s, Smith College opened a second cooperative housing option named Hover House. Soon after, the house gained a reputation for being a \u201clesbian house.\u201d Many leaders in the Lesbian Alliance lived in Hover House and many of the Lesbian Alliance parties and events took place at Hover. Though never exclusively or officially lesbian, the house was clearly majority lesbian and held an important place in the lesbian community of Smith while it was open. Oral histories with students of the time remember the sexual energy of parties and wrestling matches the residents would hold in the living room. 1<\/a><\/sup> In 1984, Smith College announced that it was closing the co-op, citing \u201cinadequate interest in cooperative housing\u201d despite residents\u2019 claims that there were waiting lists for the house. 2<\/a><\/sup> Many in the Smith community saw the administrations\u2019 closing of Hover house as an attempt to quiet the influence and visibility of lesbians on campus, an issue that had already caused media attention that the President, Jill Kerr-Conway, was forced to address. In protest, students spoke to the media, wrote editorials in the Smith Newspaper, and led a sit-in in the president\u2019s office in College Hall. 3<\/a><\/sup> Despite student protests, the house was closed, renamed Parsons Annex, and students had to find housing in other locations. The history of Hover House remains an important chapter of Smith\u2019s LGBT History.<\/p>\n