Muhlenberg College - Ciarla Yearbook (Allentown, PA)

Page 12 text:

1958 WOMEN ARRIVE A NEW he 1957 CIARLA marks the end of an era, and the beginning of a new Muhlenberg. During a remarkably short period of time, the transition at the College has taken place to meet the demands of modern society. Education has been expanded to facilitate co-education at Berg”. To the Class of 1957 the innovation of co-education has loomed as an improve- ment toward the future generations at the College. The 1957 CIARLA does not belong to the new generation of male and female classes. Perhaps this book can be called the last of the old school. To the masculine group who went through West Hall under the guidance of Haps”, and then on through three additional years of pleasurable experiences, this book is presented. We hope the following pages bring back a few memories of the good old times”. Above: Taken from the Foreword of the 1957 CIARLA 8

Page 11 text:

uhlenberg College traces its origins to the Allentown Seminary , which was a teachers’ school founded in 1848. This non-denominational Christian school was located in Trout Hall, and opened with only four students. It grew quickly, however, and by 1853, enrollment was 202. The institution did not officially become a college under Pennsylvania state law until 1864, when its name was changed to the Allentown Collegiate and Military Institute. Apparently the new school’s emphasis on military training was unpopular, because, only three years later, the institute closed, to reopon as Muhlenberg College. Muhlenberg was officially christened on May 21, 1867, under its first president, the Reverend Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, D.D. (the great-grandson of Henry Melchier Muhlenberg, founder of the Lutheran Church in America, and the man for whom Muhlenberg College was named). Muhlenberg remained at Fourth and Walnut Streets until 1905, when the College purchased the land on which the campus is currently situated, and built Ettinger and Berks Hall. At this time there were only ten faculty and 95 students. Ettinger contained not only offices and classrooms, but also the library. But the college was growing by 1929, the faculty had increased to 32, and the student body to 438. In addition, about 900 students attended the Extention School, a program similar to today’s Evening College. To accomodate this growth, the Library, Science Building, and Chapel were all built during the second half of the I920’s. Muhlenberg continued to grow gradually over the next ten years. West Hall was added as a freshman dormitory when Muhlenberg acquired the building from Allentown Preparatory School in 1939. The administrative staff was increased by the addition of a Vice-President, Dean of Students, and Dean of Freshmen. But during the I940’s the College experienced several shocks, first when enrollment plunged as a result of the Second World Wan and after the war, when veterans returned to finish their education. To add to the strain of coping with these conditions, a fire in Ettinger on Memorial Day, 1947, destroyed the roof and third floor of the building. But the College survived. Ettinger was repaired, and by 1953, the campus was once again in the process of expansion, this time by the construction of Memorial Hall.

Page 13 text:

ERA BEGINS jjn the Fall of 1957 the first coeds arrived at Muhlenberg. Their arrival was I accompanied by that of Heimtraut Dietrich, the new Dean of Women. Heimtraut Dietrich brough with her a strict set of ideas as to the conduct of coeds on a college campus. Freedom ” would not be the order of the day. The women students would face such restrictions as curfews, bedchecks, and dress codes. Skirt lengths were to fall below the knee. Blue jeans were not to be worn in public. All students were required to dress for dinner. But there was one thing Dietrich could not obstruct — the hazing of freshmen women (as can be seen above and to the left). 9