NYU Washington Square College - Album Yearbook (New York, NY)

Page 30 text:

Twelve Dollars Pre-Meds Zeslfully Dissecl' a Cai DespiTe bobby-soclcs, hoT Tudge sundaes and Tra- TerniTies, knowledge is sTill a college's main raison d'eTre. We haTe To admiT we worlced when exams came. We boasT oT The many Times we cuT. BuT we did go To lecTures, laboraTories, and libraries. For, aTTer all, who would pay Twelve dollars a poinT and volunTarily reTuse To geT someThing in reTurn? Thick-lensed microscopes paraded in solemn black rows. Smug grey sTone-Topped chemisTry Tables squaTTed wiThin a Wagnerian haze OT sTruggling sun- lighT. ln such halls OT doubTTul beauTy, The serious- mincled A-sTudenT sTucl4 To his scienTiTic Taslc. There was big 55l and small 602 Tilled wiTh gas generaTors and mouse cages, see-ped wiTh disTincTiye odors-Tor Toul eggs and Tormalin were omnipresenT in The Brown building. Three or Tour years, and crowds oT eager liTTle people were TransTormed inTo sober, eTTicienT pracTiTioners OT Their respecTive sciences. Then There were The classrooms, some brooding in eTernal darlcnessg some baslcing in rousing daylighT. There, haughTy scienTisTs deigned To mingle wiTh Tierce economisTs, and Tormal philosophers meT searching psychologisTs. Walls coyered wiTh inTerm- inable blackboards reTlecTed boTh The droning voices oT proicessors and The unsTiTled yawns oT sTudenTs. New color schemes oT shrielcing greens or melan- Headriclr Heciles His All-Girl Class T T Shades of Madame Curie

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iff ,T ilwl, BeTween classes one could observe groups oT sober-eyed co-eds leaving The elevaTor on The TourTh Tloor scurrying To Their lockers, Then inTo lounges, Pompous 409 equipped wiTh sTiTT-backed chairs and unrelaxable couches, and sTricTly Tor Temales, was where The serious sTudenT sTudied-and dare noT smolce. BuT a Tew doors OTT, in a IiT+Ie room wi+h a circular bench in iTs cenTer, and a Toggish haze abouT iT, The verbo+en sign was oTT. When The rnale sTudenT soughT privacy and seclu- sion Trom The oTher sex, he Turned To The men's smoking room on The sevenTh Tloor Brown-a large, airy, lounging hall Tilled wiTh leaThery TurniTure and a pleasanT TranguilliTy. T-lere he could smoke, sTudy, and Tallc abouT his TavoriTe suloiecT wiTh a sympa- TheTic pal. STill, There was The AxworThy Browsing room, named Tor The laTe and much-respecTed ProTessor l-larold AxworThy, on The second Tloor OT lvlain. T-lere looTh sexes were permiTTed To lounge, scan Through The collecTion oT currenT periodicals and l3csT sellers, To smolce-and mighT occasionally smug- gle in a whisper.

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choly browns repelled aimlessly wandering eyes. On comma-shaped richly carved armresls, perspir- ing baffles wilh unyielding examinalions were loughl, and communicalions +o Jrhe belle in lhe second row were carefully composed .... You lislened, wrole, suffered, slepl, and learned, Almosl from lhe very s+ar+, unfinished assign- menls and impending 'resls led you lo Those quiel sforehouses of learning-lhe libraries. The Jrenlh floor law branch slood aloof wi+h frigid digniry nexl lo lhe Chancellons office, ils Jrwo slories of legal Overdue? ggi The Search is On l 2 7 A Point Piclr n Card 'romes overwhelmingly impressive. The periodicals room enveloped all comers wilh soolhing gloom. And on lhe lirsl floor, The reading room wilh ils besieged counlers and slurdy +ables and raflling eleva+ors which lead down +o 'rhe l-lades of The slacks-lhe reading room slill gloried in ifs newly- acquired imporlance of Main Library. Surrounded by boolcs and whisper-filled silence you could sel- lle down and +hinl4-could build anolher world despire drall boards and war. Anolher world lhal furned around 'rhe lhings you read, and more ollen, around lhe lhings you lazily +hough+ of as your boolc- weary eyes slared info space wilh mosl unacademic dreaminess.