University of Miami - Ibis Yearbook (Coral Gables, FL)

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Dr. Melanie Rosborough: We taught classes six days a week, with most meeting three times. Students attended Mondays - Wed- nesdays - Fridays and Tuesdays - Thursdays - Satur- days. Saturday classes were not dropped until Dr. Pearson ' s presidency, when we lenghthened the Tuesday - Thursday classes. People agreed that the change was pre- ferable, although there was some griping initially due to the longer class period. But then the University could offer special courses on Saturdays as they had been doing in the evenings. In those days-, a teacher was only required to have two years of college to be a certified instructor, but when the requirement was changed to demand a bachelor ' s degree, many instructors availed 1941 brought the Army and Navy to UM, expanding the ROTC program to accomodate students for war. the?( Ear what tan andi Uti onev dth Fresh ; : :- :: k .: 14

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Luis Montero from Lima, Peru was the first South American student to enroll at UM, c. 1930. Throughout the 1930s, wood was gathered for a weekly bonfire before each football game. 1 :39. of the Board of Trustees exonerated Ashe of the charges, but the internal strife at UM did not help its image nor ease the financial pressures at hand. Finally, in 1935, the picture began to change. Dr. Tebeau feels that UM never did actually reach the point where it did not depend to some degree on the community, but it began to approach solvency in 1935. It was really getting ahead and gaining some ground by 1939, when, for example, it was able to buy the San Sebastian Building. The importance of that acquisition cannot be overestimated because when the war came about the University had to depend on the training of service personnel. Without that structure, there would not have been room to house all those who came here for that purpose. It is now an apartment hotel on the corner of Lejeune Road and Univer- sity Drive. The University really moved ahead and first approached stability after its first successful fund raising drive in 1944. Right in the midst of that drive, the decision was made not to enlarge the north campus by purchasing residential property in the Gables, but to move here, which it did in 1946. This is not to sug- gest that the University had all the money it needed, but it was beginning to generate the support that it needed in the Miami community. Amidst the confusion and tentativeness of the first few years, a student body of loyal UM supporters grew. In the first year, a total of 711 students were enrolled, but steadily, over the next 15 years, the figure climbed to 1504 in 1941, the last year before the war effort had its overwhelming effect on UM. The facilities, while remaining in the same building the Anastasia building still managed to grow. More and more resources were cram- med into the overused building. Many times, the thin walls of Cardboard College failed to filter noise from room to room, and it was easy to concentrate on two different classes at the same time es- pecially if one of them was music. 13

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UM students respond to organized cheering, c. 1952. themselves of these special courses so they could continue teaching here while getting their necessary degrees. This kept many teachers at UM. Early in the Anastasia ' s history, what had been plann ed as the dining room became the assembly hall, the theatre, and the symphony hall in one. Everybody had to go to Assembly each Wednesday. In one way, that was very nice because it got all the students and faculty together. Freshmen had to stand in the rear until everyone else had a seat. They had to hold their ' dink a small, green beanie cap, in their hands the whole time. The Assemblies were usually presenta- tions performed by the various departments. We also had some very important speakers, like William Lyon Phelps of Yale University, Knute Rockne, football coach at Notre Dame, and Florida Governor Martin. All these Assemblies were open to the public and this turned UM into something of a cultural cen- ter of the area. Miami had never had any- thing like this before. The first football stadium was located where the athletic practice fields are now. Naturally, it was constructed of simply wooden bleachers. Every single week was a Homecoming in the early years. All week long, the students would gather everything they could get their hands on that would burn for the bonfire each week- end, which was held in the triangle where the Coral Gables public library is now. While student spirit was high, riding on the irrepressible energy of youth, there was a certain amount of faculty spirit as well. The obstacles they overcame are things that one would be totally surprised about today. Dr. Rosborough: When people are very hard up for money, there are always hard feelings. But more than half of the faculty stuck through the en- tire mess of the bankruptcy proceedings. After all, many of these men had families to support. When the bankruptcy was over, all the clerical staff was paid in full. It was the law that all wage workers be paid first. What was left over went to sal- aries which covered the faculty and admin- istration. We only got four per cent of what we were due. That was all that was left, but we were happy to get that much. We believed in the University and the stu- dents kept coming back. The students ' involvement in the com- munity was always high, since UM depended on community support in just about all phases of its operation. But sometimes the students went too far, although they were always forgiven. Dr. Tebeau writes, The University News on November 20, 1929, re- ported that students had assembled at the Flagler Street Bridge in a motorcade that moved toward Bayfront Park and disrupted a program there. Led by a cheerleader, they crashed the gate at the Olympia Theater (present day downtown Gusman Hall) and marched onto the stage and sang some songs. They then came back to Coral Gables and re- 15