Davidson College - Quips and Cranks Yearbook (Davidson, NC)

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There were five big water fights in the first month com- plete with casualities, but soon the energy turned to more constructive pursuits, like studying, with a mild sort of activism on the side. The activism started with Steve Canter- bury and a wash-bored band of indigents protesting the man- datory laundry fee. The laundry took the protest to heart and cooperated, promising a new, improved, cleaner, brighter, whiter wash, safe even for delicate and fine fabrics — like denim. The fee, of course, remained as permanent as the wrinkles in our permanent press. Good try anyway. Mark Wilensky ' s DAVIDSONI AIM ' S story about College- owned sub-standard housing shocked some, outraged others, and caused much talk. Copperheads, rats, cockroaches, broken windows, peeling paint and broken doors are the identification marks of the College-owned homes in black Davidson, Wilensky reported. The College relocated several of the tenants and razed or repaired some buildings, but the larger issue of establishing low-cost, low-rent housing in Davidson received painstakingly little attention and less im- mediate action from town hall as well as little follow-up from anyone, including the original protestors. Concern mingled with frustration. Another controversy arose with the attempt to put a card- lock system on Watts. The girls claimed they could lock their own doors. But the entire controversy came to a halt when a nocturnal expeditionary force from Richardson Dormitory stole the locks. Midway in the term, the pressures were put aside for Home- coming, the first major social weekend of the fall. The Alumni Office sponsored a Country Fair on the practice football field, complete with games of skill and chance, square dancing, clowns, fortune tellers, et al.

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E.H. Little Library Dedication — September 27, 1974 1 1 I ■■■■ J 1 -P M

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Meanwhile, at the library the exterior book drop was being dedicated in memory of Bill Edwards who, as it turned out, was a fictitious alumnus created by an imaginative class sec- retary who figured his classmates weren ' t reading their class notes very closely. Eulogies over the departed were waxed eloquently as champagne flowed and Cripple Creek, an alumni blue grass band, picked Amazing Grace. As the NEW YORK TIMES reported the event, College officials were somewhat upset when they first learned of the hoax; but when it was pointed out that the Class ' 20th reunion memorial gift had been in excess of $20,000, it was decided to let the situa- tion rest in peace. Actually, College officials had helped plan the dedication, but who bothers to correct the TIMES. At half-time of the football game, Ann Bode, a Davidson junior representing Fannie and Mable ' s, and Anne Adkerson, a University of Georgia junior representing Phi Delta Theta, shared honors as Co-Homecoming Queens. Football season came and sort of passed by. The team didn ' t exactly set the woods on fire. Though they choked twice and played fine ball in five losing efforts, they did pull off two victories. The Homecoming win over Hampden-Sydney lifted the spirits for the fall quarter Big Weekend. The new acoustics in Johnston Gym were tested with concerts by Kansas and Larry Coryell. The hard-rock playing of Kansas seemed a few thousand decibels too loud in the gym, but those who had mistakenly gone to Love Auditorium for the concert found the volume about right over there. Coryell ' s jazz rock group, featuring on drums and percussion the loose- necked, taut-fingered Alphonse, gave a fine performance; but again the acoustics were a little disconcerting. A few weeks later, the student drama production of Servant of Two Masters in Hodson Hall was a little gentler on the ears as well as quite delightful to the eyes. I WILLIAM DAVIDSON EDWARDS METUCHEN. N. J. 19311973 CLASS OF 1953