Knox College - Gale Yearbook (Galesburg, IL)

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One of the mos! densely populated rooms in Old Main is the Commons Room. Here students gather after every class for a chat or a smoke. Also ff is many a cu! class has been spenl lounging in the comforlable chairs of this room. ter quarter teaching Chinese history and bio-psychology. But the faculty suffered losses in per- sonnel, too. Both Dean of Freshmen Carpenter, and Arnold, assistant to the President, took special jobs in Washmg- ton, D. C. Carpenter,s job was to help in selecting colleges for Army and Navy Specialized Training Programs. I-Ie was a member of the committee which was to play a big part in deciding what would happen to American colleges. Once again rumors about Knox's part in the program were rife. The last of the good old col- lege daysl' was almost over. Ac the end of winter quarter the Army reservists were finally called to service. Almost simul- taneously the Air Corps invaded the Knox campus. By April the hundreds of uni- forms had made Knox a military school. Open house at the gymnasium game room The scenery crew on the Arsenic and Old Lace set

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Back in the stacks at Seymour Library Shortly after Homecoming, the war ten- sion began to increase slightly. There were two problems in particular which formed bases of discussion and rumor. One of these was: how soon will the reservists be called out of school? The other: what is going to happen to the college itself? By this time nearly every Knox man was a member of some reserve program. The flow of rumors as to what was to happen to them seemed never-ending. There were reports that they would leave before the end of the quarter, at the end of the quar- ter, or before January 1. All this made it difficult for the boys to put their minds Studying in the library Standish room to their studies. Finally, at chapel the clay before fall quarter exams, they were told they would be called during the Christmas vacation. When Washington changed its mind on this subject again, the college notified the men to return for the winter quarter, after all. Most of them did, and the enrollment for this term was about 500. With the advent of the winter quarter there was a number of new courses, such as stenography, map reading, navigation, and Russian. The Honnold Lecturer for the year was Dr. Zing Yang Kuo, who was on the campus throughout the entire win- It seem: hardly credible that .ro many .ttudents could actually be studying in the reference room here-and at night, too. Photographer Landon muff bave had an inspiring effect on them.

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AIR FGRCE The 302nd College Training Detachment fAircrewD is the Army Air Corps' official name for the pre-pre-Hight training pro- gram on the Knox campus. In mid- February Major Julian Blue and his staff of five commissioned and ten non-commis- sioned officers arrived. The weeks follow- ing were filled with feverish preparations for the enlisted men who were to arrive the first of March. Alumni Hall became army propertyg so did Seymour. The Betas and Phi Gams were told they must evacuate their houses. Knox men found new houses to live in around the campus. Faculty mem- bers spent long hours learning to teach new subjects-over ninety-five per cent of them were to have jobs teaching the army. Under the leadership of Harold Way, newly-appointed Assistant to the President, a training program was devised which later Singing ax they go, a flight of Air Corps .fturlenls head: north on Cedar Street. Nearly every hour of the day, from seven till ten, the Army wa: either studying in or marching in front of the library. The Air Corps men all eat in Seymour Hall-in shifts, of course. Each flight oc- cupied one of the long table: which replaced the ala' family-size tahles which had previozuly been urea' in the dining room. The men pronounced the food excellent. '