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Over the course of the summer in 1977, students, activists, and community members set up camp all around the Gym Annex construction site. Dressed in bandanas, armbands and dark sunglasses, the Tent City protesters rallied to move the gym. The conflict with Kent City Police climaxed on July 12, 1977, when 194 people were arrested for blocking the gym's construction. They included the parents of Sandra Scheuer and Alan and Roseann Canfora. But the Gym Annex prevailed. "When I was acting president, the speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives was a very powerful man. He was Vernal Riffe, and everyone called him 'Mr. Speaker.' I had him on my spine, then on the other side Sen. Howard Metzenbaum was on the phone telling me, 'You tell that contractor to be a good citizen and not build that Gym Annex.' I don't know what that had to do with being a good citizen... "Then I and a vice president went down to Columbus to talk to Riffe. I was only old enough to be his oldest son. He pulled me aside and told me, 'If you don't build that Gym Annex where it's supposed to go, you'll never get another building on campus. Is that clear?'" And Riffe made himself very clear. "Anyone with half a brain knew how powerful he was," Schwartz says. "He meant what he said. So what, that I had the U.S. Senator and the White House talking in the other ear. Vernal Riffe was very persuasive."
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