Miami University - Recensio Yearbook (Oxford, OH)

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RESIDENCES Three alarm clocks shattered the serene silence at Hamil- ton Hall. A groggy coed rolled out of her cozy bed and made her habitual silencing rounds. As the din ceased, her roommate turned over and again fell asleep tthis lucky one had no eight oiclocksl. 11A new day? the coed thought, ilshould always start with a yawn and two cups of black coffee? The yawn came naturally, but then she had to force herself to dress in order to suffer the mornings coffee. As disgruntled as any young lady should be at 7:30 in the morning, she managed to answer, iicoffeef, t0 the waitress,s query. Suddenly she realized how fortunate she was to be eating in her own dining hall with no bitter cold walk to make. Miamians were certainly fortunate in this respect. The issue is more extensive than convenience of meals; Miami was indeed lucky to have adequate food and food- service areas. Each day the Miami F ood Service had the frightening chore of feeding some five thousand students. The Food Service was founded in 1913 for just this purpose, however. Their building, constructed in 1933, today employs about forty people to arrange, order and ship food to thirteen dining halls. Each department worked at the same hurried pace. The bakery turned out some 400 loaves of bread, 518 coffee cakes, 335 pans of dinner rolls and sixty-five pies each day. The complaints of college students about meals were not uncommon, but perhaps they were just a venting of tension. The welI-meaning food service had a name for everything it served, but so did the students. Just before dinner one might have heard comments like these . . . 3C,mon dog food a la ticker-tape with marshmallow glopfi This mis- nomer was known to the Food Service as beef stroganoff with apricot ambrosia. They realized, however, that not every student would leave the table satisfied, even though they received quality and quantity in the food placed before them. Fresh fruit was purchased three times a week, meat and dairy products twice. All products were purchased locally to insure outstanding quality and freshness. A survey through the storage rooms showed representation from Campbells, Kraft, Sexton, Jello and numbers of other brand names and disproved student suspicions. 24 After two cups of coffee it was feasible to think of getting ready to go to that 8:00 Geology lab. Walking out onto the South Quad one saw hushed rows of colonial dorms with masses of green raincoats or madras shirts streaming past them toward the Hub. The dormitories on campus varied greatly with age, from the former mental institution known as Pines to new, ilHilton-like3 Hepburn Hall opened in the fall of 1964. Luxurious Hepburn was constructed on the suite system, two adjoining rooms con- nected by a bath. Each room had a private telephone ta new idea on Miamiis campusll. Two other dormitories using similar floor plans are proposed for 1966. Mrs. Blanche Thomas, the Universityis interior deco- rator, was totally responsible for the color schemes and furniture selections on campus. During 1964 Ogden Hall was remodeled. To its unusual color decor were added bolster beds in each room. These plush facilities did not extend to the 1,100 upper- Classmen living off-campus, whether because the University could not provide adequate housing, or because they wanted to escape from the regimented life of the dorm. However, even oH-campus housing could not escape the Universityis pervasive control; all off-campus housing had to be inspected before students might occupy it tto belay Fire hazards and stolen cornerstonesl.

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S pring Street passes Hanna House on its way to meeting Route 27. As students walked east they came to Culler Hall, home of Miamils computer. There, systems analysis students learned the 0-1 code for computer punch cards and were on their way to becoming the fingers that pushed the buttons that ran the world. In Laws Hall, business students found that what happened yesterday was as important as what happened today. To keep students abreast of the latest developments in the national and international business world, seminars for advanced majors were added to the regular curriculum. The basic program of business students followed the standards set up by the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business. Dr. D. R. Cawthorne, Dean of the School of Business Administration, said many executives feel llMiami has one of the top three business schools in the Midwest? Besides the faculty seminars, business students had opportunities to attend lectures by visiting professors on the many phases of business and business administration. The growing school of business attracted more majors than it lost, and also received a $500 scholarship started by the National City Bank of Cleveland as well as a new grant instituted by Standard Oil of Ohio and a $500 grant from the Mellon National Bank 8: Trust Co. of Pittsburgh. Whether in business or zoology, everyone was sure to put in some time at the Alumni Library. The importance of llface-timel, at the Libe was quickly learned by new stu- dents, but some actually went to llthe building with steps and columnsll to study. If all the books necessary for a term paper were not available, they were probably among the 670 volumes loaned to other libraries during the past year. The compensation was that the library received from other schools 465 books needed for research by the faculty and graduate students. Undergraduates had a fairly adequate 400,000 books available to them; special permission opened the pages of some 150,000 more which were microlilmed. Periodicals, some no longer in print, totaling 900 could also be found in the library. The 25 daily newspapers brought almost everybody who cared to read them up to date with the latest news from back home. he more interested students, or those who changed T majors during the last half of their junior year, could be found in Oxford during the summer. A total of 5,170 education-minded young adults attended the two sessions of Miamils summer school last year. Summer school fell under the direction of Dean Earl Thesken, who was also Dean of the Academic Centers. Thus, the increased facilities and new courses joined the incoming trimester system and the construction of resi- dence halls to meet the problem of increasing enrollment. Miami still had a llsmall school atmosphere in a small town settingll in 1964-65, but in a few short years Miami may have to numerically join the ranks of the big schools. 7'3

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For those students who were married the University pro- vided apartments at Miami Manor. The facilities were capable of accommodating 108 couples and had been avail- able since 1955. The eighty one-room eHiciencies were occupied by newlyweds, while couples with Children sought the larger apartments with an additional bedroom. Statis- tics showed that during the ,64 fall semester, 125 of the Manoris residents were students and in seventeen instances both husband and wife were attending the University. Campus lives of the above variety were common know- ledge to upperclassmen, but for the disillusioned freshman the most diHicult problem was adjustment to group living. Freshman counselors did an admirable job, and soon the freshman worked his way out of the neophyte stage. Evidently some people could live in rooms with no curtains or bedspreads. These people also tolerated running the obstacle course of dirty laundry, soiled sheets, cigarette ashes and butts to reach their desk hvhich was buried in piles of books and notesi. Others managed to liVe in a more civilized fashion. They gathered together the neces- sary, but scarce, dimes in order to launder on Saturday. Their rooms ran the gamut from the luxurious tstereos and multiplex tunersi to the staid in decor and furnishings, but always they were neat. Perhaps a personis surroundings indicated his iiFreudianii character, perhaps not. The only sure conclusion seems to be that dormitory life brought the best and worst from the Miami student body. Problems did arise, and each dormitory had a resident advisor to offer assistance. He or she had to be at least a graduate student. Resident Advisors had to be oblivious to nocturnal noise, patient and quite often protective. In return, they received a $1,400 salary, room, board and fees including staff privileges. The primary task of an advisor was to preserve the iiindividuaP, and to help in academic problems and dormi- tory decisions. His most important function, from a stu- dentis point of view, was the assistance he rendered in scheduling, guidance, hints on study technique and disci- plinary measures. In menis residence halls especially, the advisor might serve much of his time as a referee. All things considered, though, the freshmen quickly found their place on campus and established their own routine and schedule. They soon outgrew the iibig happy family, idea of the freshman dorm and looked forward to the more sensibly lenient atmosphere of the upperclass residence halls. tF or Greek living, see pp. 42-431 ' 7-5