University of Minnesota - Gopher Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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THE STADIUM Page 29

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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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, iityi Within a week after the arrival of Lyman Pierce, di ision commanders in colleges having large enrollments and team captains in smaller colleges, second only in responsibility to college chairman, had lieen chosen and were at work selecting the personnel of their organizations. Interest in the coming campaign was not restricted to the campus. Gover- nor Preus and other prominent alumni endorsed the project whole-heartedly. Twin City papers gave wide publicity to the first effort on the part of students and alumni to finance construction on the campus without recourse to the legisla- ture. Statewide knowledge of th e undertaking was the result, and everyone watched the campus response, for it was recognized as a challenge to the alumni of the Uni ersity. The first Stadium-Auditorium Drive issue of the Minnesota Daily, published under the direction of the publicity bureau on October 13, announced that 650,000 dollars was the campus goal and presented for the first time a preliminary sketch