Kansas State University - Royal Purple Yearbook (Manhattan, KS)

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20 anderson bell tower

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K-State ' s Union celebrated its twenti- eth birthday on March 6 and it ' s come a long way from the barracks which housed a makeshift coffee shop of the 40s. Students began paying into the building fund in 1 941 . Five dollars were extracted from their student fees each semester a sum comparable to $22 each semester according to 1 976 val- ues. World War II and the Korean War interrupted the fund raising, however, and it was not until 1 954 that construc- tion began. Two years later K-Staters replaced the stand-by coffee shop with a building that offered a small recrea- tion area, food service operations, an activities center, and an information desk. Two additional periods of construc- tion in 1961 and 1968 provided the Union with a recreation area that dou- bled the size of the original area, expanded the activities center, added the K, S, and U ballrooms, and made the Union the facility it is to K-Staters today. Union lab draws rush crowd by Jerri Phillips It was 8:45 am. I was late and I knew it. So did the rest of my lab table. Nobody comes late for Union labs, and now I ' d have to pay the consequences. In three years I had never spent more than a few minutes in the Union between classes. But this semester, I was stuck j with a half hour here, two hours there, and time off on Fridays to show my good behavior off elsewhere. But now I was late, and facing the group was going to : be ugly. Maybe they ' ll be easy on me, I told myself as I ran across campus. First offenders get off easy. Maybe Mr. Monitor won ' t be there today, I tried to convince myself as I opened the front door of the Union. But all my hopes melted to the floor as I walked through the cafeteria doors and saw his beady eyes looking just at me underneath the bill of a Chester White 1 hog hat. I squared my shoulders, swal- lowed hard, and began my death march i to the table. You ' re late, Phillips! came the booming voice of Mr. Monitor. Nobody ' s late at this table! Nobody! he shouted, slamming a rolled-up 1974 Collegian on the edge of the table. I closed my eyes and shuttered inside. In the few weeks I had been to Union lab, I had learned to hate that Collegian. Whenever one of us forgot why or how he had become table monitor, he would unroll that paper and show the finished crossword puzzle completed in record time of 16.5 minutes. What ' s your excuse? he yelled, slamming the paper down on the table top again. I knew I had to play it cool so I sat down and decided to try my luck. Sorry, I said, rubbing my sweaty palms together. I was signing up for credit-no credit. That ended last week! he screamed, this time drawing noticeable stares from the other lab tables. Not for Union labs, I said. My fellow lab partners, who had been trying to fin- ish today ' s crossword puzzle within Mr. Monitor ' s 20-minute time limit, stopped writing and looked up at me. What a per- son wouldn ' t do for an audience, I thought. Please Mr. Monitor, don ' t kick me out of the Union! I pleaded. Where will I go? What will I do between classes? If you throw me out, I ' ll lose the 10 hours of credit I just signed up for my Union labs. Please, Mr. Monitor! I was on my knees . by now and Mr. Monitor was looking at me with a confused stare. I decided to push my luck a little further. The ladies at the Office of Continuing Education were really nice to me, I said. After I found out I met the four-hour-a- week minimum requirement for Union lab credit, they issued me a discount card for food and drinks bought during labs, assigned me a tutor for crossword puzzle help, and even fixed my transcript. Mr. Monitor pushed his Chester White hog hat back on his head with the news- paper and listened for more. I was ready to deliver the final blow. Besides, Mr. Monitor, now I ' ll be able to graduate a semester early. And they ' re even making it retroactive. For every hour of Union lab spent since 1974, you get one half of a credit. One lady said I could ' ve graduated a semester ago if I would have come in earlier. I ' d just begun another sentence when the table emptied in seconds and a mad dash through the cafeteria doors toward the continuing education office was in progress. In his haste to collect what was rightfully his, Mr. Monitor had left his sacred Chester White crown and vintage Collegian. I picked up the hat and placed it on my head. Slamming the rolled-up newspaper on the table, I could feel the power. It felt good. I then picked up a cur- rent Collegian and spied an unfinished crossword puzzle. By the wall clock it was 9:05. Leaving lab early, without my permis- sion, and not finishing the puzzle, I said to myself. That ' s inexcusable! I slammed the Collegian down hard on the table and smiled. And they thought they had it rough before. k-state union 1 9

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Attic belfry echoes heritage by Rita Shelley A student of the early part of the cen- tury would surely be lost on today ' s K- State campus. Who would have thought cornfields could sprout all those build- ings? What possible logic could have contributed to converting the Domestic Sciences Building into a home for the geology and geography departments? Many campus buildings house differ- ent facilities today than they were origi- nally built for. Anderson Hall, formerly the Main College Building , contained a chapel back in days gone by. It also had the early 1900 ' s answer to today ' s stu- dent union: a canteen. And may the male students of those days never forget an important concession offered by Ander- son the haircut. There is one feature of Anderson Hall that still exists in its near-original form the legendary old bell. Pigeon droppings notwithstanding, it is now used only to announce commencement exercises. Any visitor expecting a bell tower just like in the movies won ' t be disappointed by rickety stairs reaching to eerie heights and a view of too much distance between up here and down there . Flashes of headlines reading, Student Falls From Umpteenth Floor Window D oesn ' t Live To Tell Story come to mind. Several students of earlier days found their ways to the upper reaches of Ander- son from time to time. Their business, not necessarily official, was probably con- ducted at odd hours of the night. One prank, attributed to a group of sopho- mores, involved stealing the bell clapper. Perhaps they were sentenced to herding the sheep brought to Anderson lawn to control dandelions? What has been described as a chilling experience for the bell happened when wintertime pranksters turned the bell upside-down and filled it with water dur- ing the 1 870s. Rumor has it that custodi- ans had to light a fire under it to melt the ice. Another time, the bell failed to ring when rags were tied around the clapper, producing only silence during the early morning hours when it usually sounded. Not only a victim of intentional pranks, the bell suffered accidental damage in a 1968 fire attributed to faulty wiring. More trauma was experienced by the squirrels, though, than the tower itself, Vince Cool, of the planning department, said. During the late 50s and early 60s, it was a custodian ' s job to ring the bell, sig- naling the approach of 8 am and 1 pm classes. One such custodian, Mark Riat, described this aspect of his job to the Collegian several years ago. ' Every morning there are pigeons in the tower, ' he said. They aren ' t any hap- pier about being awakened at 7:45 am than a lot of students. They fly out when the bell begins clanging, but are always back when I go to work again at 12:55 pm ' . The bell hasn ' t always been in Ander- son ' s attic. Donated by eastern philan- thropist Joseph Ingalls in 1861, it was first housed in the Bluemont Central Col- lege building. It was moved in 1875 to Farm Machinery Hall, which was located near Burt Hall. When the central part of Anderson was completed in 1882, the bell was installed in the belfry where it remains today. A K-State historian, Charles M. Correll, told the Collegian in 1960 that the bell once rang every hour to signal the begin- ning and end of classes since time pieces were not common in those days. What had been a tradition at K-State became history in 1965 when the old bell was replaced by an electronic carillon. Presented by Mr. and Mrs. Ralf Hockens in appreciation for Kansas State ' s serv- ice to us, and to the people and the state of Kansas, it put Ingalls ' s gift into retire- ment. Contrary to popular belief, no hunch- backed centenarians are responsible for the music coming from the carillon. Instead, it consists of an electronic sys- tem with 98 bells that are struck by tiny hammers to produce sound. Rolls of music, similar to those used on a player piano, are used. Ken Heywood, director of the Endow- ment Association, decides what music to play, Marge Van Buren, EA secretary, said. He chooses from about 80 selec- tions that have been donated by campus groups. Besides playing every hour and half- hour, the carillon has been used for longer recitals. John Klein, a world- renowned carillonneur, played a dedica- tory recital on it in 1966. Occasionally, the bells announce a wedding in Dan- forth Chapel. Time marches on. And changes come with its passing. The Avi-Tron pigeon controller installed in Anderson has sent former feathered inhabitants to new roosts. The Anderson barbershop no longer exists. Barbers of those days would be hard put to fulfill requests for fros and other styled haircuts of today. Telling time has been of paramount importance to people since the sundial. Perhaps all would be better off not worry- ing about being there before the bell rings. But time is here to stay. Somewhere the green freshie will metamorphosize into a seasoned senior. Can ' t stay in school forever , kid. Whether appreciated or not, Anderson cupola melodies are there as a reminder of time ' s passing. anderson bell lower 21