Torch, 1972

The 1972 Torch was edited by Ronald Simmons, a gay Black man whose deep involvement in LGBTQ+ activism began during his time as a student at UAlbany from 1968-1972. The Torch was independently produced but funded from the Student Association. When the book was released in April 1972 there was considerable opposition to the inclusion of provocatively graphic images of a deceased Vietnamese man among the senior portraits. The Student Association disavowed the book and froze the Torch budget. Student leaders called the book "a catastrophe" that offended people and exerted more control over the next editor who had to agree to certain guidelines before the yearbook budget was unfrozen.

After earning two graduate degrees at UAlbany in the 1970s, Ronald Simmons completed his doctorate at Howard University in 1987 and became a pivotal figure in Washington D.C.'s gay and lesbian activist community as it confronted HIV and AIDS. He became involved in several Black LGBT activist efforts and groundbreaking organizations such as the National Coalition of Black Gays and the DC Coalition of Black Lesbian and Gay Men. Following his own HIV diagnosis in 1990, Dr. Simmons became Executive Director of Us Helping Us, a pioneering Black gay men's health organization from 1992 to 2016.

The 1972 Torch yearbook is a curated collection of photography and text capturing student life on campus, including discussions of sex and depictions of drug use. It also documents protests against the state's response to the Attica uprising, as well as topics such as environmentalism, poverty in Albany, feminism, and gay and lesbian liberation.