Lehigh University - Epitome Yearbook (Bethlehem, PA)

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26 likely to find that their prospects were quarantined in Harrisburg or East Orange. The same week that the polio epidemic was causing so much trouble, the Uni- versity opened Lamberton Hall, its new dining hall, under the direction of Miss Elsie Troeger. The dining hall was the old Armory, transformed into a modern eating establishment by $55,000 worth of Alumni gifts. Freshman Week came and went; 255 freshmen were pledged to fraternities. After registration had been completed it was found that 1748 students had en- rolled, a decrease of one from the previous year; there were 384 freshman engi- neers, 1 1 1 in the M.E. curriculum. Then came what was probably the most notable week end the University has seen in many years — the 75th anniversary celebration. On the morning of Friday, October 3, a Founder ' s Day Convocation was held in the newly-completed Eugene Gifford Grace Hall, sports center and recreation building. Feature of the program, attended by 1400 undergraduate and graduate students who had marched in procession with the faculty up to the building, was an address by Dr. William Mather Lewis, president of Lafayette College. Dr. Lewis denounced the gloom with which some regard the future of private colleges and universities, and said, They are neither reactionary nor static, but forward-looking and mobile; that they answer the call as Lehigh did 75 years ago is the source of their strength. He called upon privately endowed institutions to put the interests of higher education above institutional prosperity. Following Dr. Lewis ' speech, eight honorary degrees and 35 course degrees were awarded. The next morning the three newest building projects of Lehigh University — Eugene Gifford Grace Hall, Robert A. Lamberton Hall, and the Samuel E. Berger Room (an addition to Taylor Gym) — were formally dedicated. The rest of the day was taken up with Alumni fora, the first football game of the season (Case), and an evening reception in Grace Hall. Later that night the Engineers ' Ball was held in Grace Hall, the first student social function to be held there. On Sunday morning the week-end celebration ended with a Convocation of Grati- tude and Thanksgiving in Packer Memorial Church. While the University was in the midst of the pomp and ceremony of the 75th anniversary doings, the Lehigh DeMolay Club was creating a minor advance in Lehigh ' s social life — a date bureau. Lehigh students and girls from Moravian, Cedar Crest, and St. Luke ' s Hospital filled out questionnaires about personality, interests, and date preferences and handed them in to the date bureau. On October 10, Paul Robeson, world-famous Negro baritone, opened the Student ABOVE: Drinker House cornerstone; Dedicating Grace Hall. CENTER : Talking it up to the frosh ; This is Grace Hall, also. BELOW: A renovation, not a new one — Lamberton Hall; Going into Grace Hall for the Founder ' s Day Convocation.