Mississippi State University - Reveille Yearbook (Starkville, MS)

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fe y m. kf IUJ ffhJtK ' ,-» ' t ' jm. :sf u. I ' lese two girls were about the only women on campus in their day. 13

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Students gather in Activities Building (now the ' Y ' ) for studies and play. 1915 A M Cager. heritage . . . nineteenth century, the administration had its prob- lems — threatened strikes, that is. In General Lee ' s time there had been occasional exhibitions of an insubordi- nate spirit, but things always calmed down rapidly. At the turn of the year in 1907, military commandant Ira C. Welborn, who was famed for having more empty liquor bottles in his garbage pail than other faculty members, had a row with Vice President Magruder, who was backed by President Hardy. Before the ruckus was over many a latent grievance was aired; and even though the senior class withdrew in a body with a bit of coaxing by some discontented faculty, peace broke out in the end and no student was shipped. Another strike in 1912 had a more serious out- come. Dr. Magruder discovered a male student in the English library talking to one of the young ladies who were students. The outcome was an order that the cadets not visit the young ladies ... in their study rooms at the noon hour or when they were not in reci- tation, or anywhere else for that matter. The cadets promptly decided the women students had been grossly insulted. The senior class, joined by others, demanded an apology and when that was not forth- coming, the seniors and many underclassmen, includ- ing some of the girls, rebelled. In the end, nearly every- one was readmitted, but there were two unfortunate results. First, the senior class cadets were all demoted to be buck privates; second, the Board forthwith ruled that the striking girls not be allowed to reenter and that female students would henceforth not be admitted! The outbreak of World War I decimated the student body. By May, 1917, most of the students had with- drawn, if not to enter the service, to do their duty in farm or factory. Meanwhile, the War Department had arranged to send to the campus groups of 600 young men for two-month periods to be trained for the tech- nical branches of the service. Also army volunteers 12

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heritage . . . were sent to the campus for training. In the midst of these hectic endeavors came the 1918 influenza epi- demic with around 1200 cases and, fortunately, only 38 deaths. The war over, came the veterans, many of them under a veterans training program which lasted until 1926. Also came one more political crisis. Governor Lee Russell, who went into office in 1920, succeeded in forc- ing Smith to resign in the midst of a financial crisis gen- erated by the war, bad management and, of course, pol- itics. The twenties brought a series of outstanding educa- tors to the presidency. First, as Smith ' s successor came A. M. graduate and prominent educator, David C. Hull, former president of Millsaps College and later superintendent of schools in Meridian. When he resigned in 1925 to become president of Kentucky Wesleyan College, his successor, chosen under the benign governorship of an educator, Henry L. Whit- field, was an A. M. graduate, Dr. Buz M. Walker, a world-famed mathematician. The twenties were the days of flaming youth, and the postwar generation of students saw to it that they lived up to the billing. First of all, student sentiment for the restoration of fraternities forced legislative action in 1926 to allow Greek letter groups and other social organizations to organize. Forthwith a number of fra- ternal groups that had existed for years as clubs, took Being a Land Grant College, WW I and WW II had a great effect on campus. 14