University of Arizona - Desert Yearbook (Tucson, AZ)

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15 of the Southwest . Students from the other states and countries began attending the U of A at that time in increas- ing numbers, and this led to the talk that the social life and other recreational activities at the University were over-em- phasized. Perhaps one of the reasons for the popularity of the school was the climate of the area. One factor which helped to glamorize the University was the national prominence of the polo team. The team made the sports pages of the eastern newspapers when our school played, and sometimes de- feated, the Ivy League schools. Polo was discontinued at the U of A in 1942 due to an increase in ROTC riding activities be- cause of additional military in- struction during the war. Dur- ing the ten years prior to its demise, the U of A polo team had ruled continuously as Western Collegiate Champions. Great strides in growth at the University took place after World War II during the ad- ministration of Dr. James Byron McCormick. In Septem- ber, 1947 there was an enroll- ment of 5,147 students of whom 2,444 were veterans under the G.I. Bill. The num- ber would have been higher, but the lack of campus facili- ties had made it necessary for the University to limit new en- rollments. In the next few years several new dormitories were built, as well as additions to the College of Law and the Chemistry - Physics Building. In 1948, the legislature granted $5,000,000 to the U of A for new buildings. The aeronauti- Upper Left Students view remains of cannon which was loaded and fired by pranksters in 1906. Part of the cannon weighing 200 pounds hurled over a nearby girls ' dorm and landed 100 yards beyond the scene of the explosion. President Babcock ' s home can be seen in the background. Above Right Helping coeds is part of the 1906 Delta Phi initiation. That local fraternity later became Kappa Sigma. Lower Left Members of an early football team parade in barrels. Note thatthe heads have been substituted to preserve the identity of those wearing the barrels.

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tgjttifftihMUIHU HWifiM. - Above: Students gather on corner of Stone and Congress in direct violation of President Babcock ' s refusal to grant the day off for the annual picnic on St. Patrick ' s Day. Several students were consequently expelled, leading to the student strike in 1904. not confined to the 1960 ' s and 70 ' s. It was customary for U of A students in the 1900 ' s to take a day off from classes on St. Patrick ' s Day for a school holi- day and picnic. When the stu- dents, took the matter to the new President of the Univer- sity, Dr. Babcock, he refused permission to cancel classes. The students took it upon themselves to have the picnic anyway, and several students were expelled. The campus went on strike, but to no avail, for the students were not per- mitted to re-enter the Univer- sity. An interesting aside is that one of these expelled students later became a member of the Board of Regents. In 1945, another campus problem grew into a boycott of the cafeteria. Students held a rally by the flagpole and aired grievances about the quality of the food as well as the com- pulsory purchase of meal tic- kets. University President At- kinson ruled that the purchase of tickets should be a matter of individual choice. However, the cuisine rebellion , as the students called their boycott, was said to have resulted in only a slight improvement in the quality of the food. ntil the last two years the University of Arizona had been given some notoriety as a party school . Playboy magazine rated the U of .A as one of the top schools in the country as far as girls and entertainment went. It seems that this is not an altogether new idea either, for in the late Thirties, the school was characterized as the collegiate country club

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Right: The UA Polo Team got its start in 1922 and went to play Princeton in 1924 for the National Collegiate Title. In the best of three games, Princeton won 6-2 and 8-0 Far Right: Bear Down Gym got its name from John Button Salmon. He expressed the words Bear Down as a message to his UA mates after being in a fatal car accident. 16 DEDICATION OP THE GYMNASIUM Tampe Teachers vs. Arixona Oanoary , 1927 Above: Basketball game against Tempe Teachers College in 1927 opens Bear Down Gymnasium. cal engineering building was finished, as were three men ' s dorms, the College of Liberal Arts, additions to the Library and Law Buildings, and the Col- lege of Business and Public Ad- ministration. At this time, scholarship standards were al- so raised at the University, and the Baird Scholarships were established. One of the special projects Dr. McCormick took added interst in was air-con- ditioned University buildings, although he was unable to ac- complish all that he had hoped. .President McCormick ' s ad- ministration was known as the red brick and mortar era. The period also saw growth in enrollment. In 1949 there were 6,044 students registered, and in 1950 1,000 students gradu- ated from the University. Dr. McCormick resigned in 1951 and closed an important per- iod in the history of the Univer- sity. Douglas Martin says in The Lamp in the Desert, that this period would immedi- ately be followed by one of even greater growth and ser- vice to the state. r. Richard Harvill was named as the success- or to Dr. McCormick. His in- auguration was even more prestigious than most cere- monies because it marked three notable advances at the University. The first was the public showing of the newly acquired Gila Pueblo archeo- logical Collection, the second was the unveiling of the price- less Kress Collection of Euro- pean masterpieces, which the Samuel H. Kress Foundation had placed on indefinite loan with the University, and the