University of Michigan - Michiganensian Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

Page 12 text:

ANN ARBOR: HETEROGENEOUS AND PROUD OF HERSELF The Michigan student reflects a certain existence midwestern dignity with a dash of sophistication. A closer look reveals his heterogeneous surroundings, his serious academic pursuits, his cultural leanings (he likes to think he ' s intellectual), and his weekends only social life. When he graduates he doesn ' t wear a Princetonian polish or a college-in-the-sun tan; he ' s ready to face reality, at least materially and practically. ON THE SURFACE Michigan dresses differently from gothic-clad Princeton or colonial Virginia. While she sports a few unusual accessories, Victorian Romance Langauge and Greek-faced Angell Hall, her basic dress is confined to conservative mediocrity. And the student ' s dress reflects the influence of his environment. In a moment of eastern recklessness he may don Bermuda shorts or an oxford grey suit, but he usually restricts himself (fittingly he feels) to the conventional somber khakis and slovenly white bucks.

Page 11 text:

The professional (he ' s bending over an architectural drawing-board) takes his studies seriously and his draughtsmanship meticulously. It is part of the em- phasis his education lays on him. He learns efficiency and the painful cliche of business before pleasure. His reward is a college career concrete enough to impress the outside world, and this is his aim in life. The married student with child watches a campus dis- play of spirit with the interest of an outsider. Although his apartment may be used for parties, although he may dress baby in a small-sized M shirt, he is em- phatically not rah-rah. He makes the most intensive of students, for his family is there to remind him that it is counting on his education. The B.M.O.C. here takes his least political and perhaps- most sincere form. He has specialized his interest and worked to the top, and the Student Publications build- ing has become the center of his campus life. He studies, parties and pores over editorial copy here and invar- iably returns home (an apartment) in the early A.M. The honoraries have taken notice. The lower classman, the female in minority, is faced with the bewildering problem of adding her individuality to the eighteen thousand or so populace of Michigan. Sororities want to rush her, activities to capitalize her and the Time Schedule offers a glittering array of courses. She lives in a dorm, dines cafeteria style everything is over- sized and too big to handle.

Page 13 text:

, . Vv ' 4 :iag, core of academic activity - a chaos of walks, students and buildings