University of Minnesota - Gopher Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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pared for the supreme test of Minnesota spirit. Plans were developed rapidly until favorable business conditions were the only remaining requisite. In the summer of 1922, howe -er, the post-war financial cramp seemed to lie relaxing, and by autumn the time for launching the first part of the mammoth undertaking, the student and faculty drive was at hand. With the opening of the fall quarter, foundations for a huge campaign organization among the students and the faculty were immediately laid. Thomas W. Phelps, senior academic, a leader of proved ability in many campus activities, was the logical choice for general chairman of the student drive. The faculty forces were mustered under the guidance of O. S. Zelner, assistant professor of engineering, and a dynamo of human energy. On Oct. 8, Lyman Pierce, Liberal Arts, ' 92, long experienced as a director of similar cam- paigns, came back to the old campus as director general, to help his Alma Mater — now occupying a commanding position in the nation ' s educa- tional circles — to achieve the greatest under- taking of its institutional life. Headquarters were established in the Minnesota L nion, and the campus began to hum with drive activities. Student and faculty leaders for each college and school were selected, and plans for the project by colleges and schools were formulated. A publicity bureau, with William Bromowitz, former editor-in-chief of the Minnesota Daily and member of the Minneapolis Journal staff, as chairman, was organized. Campus journalists, artists, and sign-painters were enlisted to aid in advertising the Campus Memorial Drive thru the Daily Ski-U-Mah, the Techno-log and widely distributed posters and signboards. William Bromowitz The FoLK-MiNiTE Men THE STADIUM Page 28

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The Campus Drive THK turbulent days of last September and October, when the rami)us arose to its gigantic task in the Stadium Auditorium campaign, will afford their witnesses a fore ' er constant source of glowing and thrilling memories. An account of how complacent Minnesota accepted her challenge, how the pulsi ' ol campus interest quickened with a vitalizing throb, until the huge bulk ot the institution was swept with excitement, is indeed a wondertul story well worth setting down. For years Minnesota has Ijeen handicapped for want of an adequate athletic field and an auditorium in which the entire student body could be assembled. Their value to the L ni ersity has ne er been questioned, but the method of acquiring them has been the problem. On May 14th, 1921, after the inau- guration of President Coffman, 300 Gopher Alumni gathered to discuss the situation. A moving figure in the deliberations was Thomas F. Wallace, Law ' 95. The Legislature was of course out of the question. It could, as it was, scarcely bear the strain of providing adequate class-room facilities for the rapidly increasing enrollment. Twenty years could see no assist- ance from this source. The examples of other state institutions pointed to the logical solution. The mone ' could be raised by subscription. And here would be a splendid opportunity for the sons and daughters of Minnesota to do something on their own, to give a positive expression to their interest in the welfare of Alma Mater. So it was that the General Alumni Association announced its binding resolution pledging students, faculty, alumni, and former students to subscribe 2,000,000 dollars for the erection of an auditorium and a stadium of which Minnesota could justly be proud, the former to be built as a memorial to the late President Emeritus Northrop, and the latter in honor of the soldier dead of the University. Nothing could have been a more fitting dedication for these two buildings — the auditorium in which to perpetuate that quintessence of Minnesota spirit, to the enkindling of which Prexy Northrop so ardently devoted his life, — and the stadium, a place where physical manhood, the attribute of every soldier who lost his lite, could be de eloped and perfected. The tremendous appeal of this project had instantaneous elTect and the Greater University Corporation was formed at once. Thomas F. Wallace, ' 95, was elected president of this group, and under his leadership, the stage was pre- Thomas F. Wallace THE STAniUM Page 37

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THE STADIUM Page 29