University of Minnesota - Gopher Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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Student Life — the “that’s what everyone did part of the yearbook, the big events, the celebrations, the queens, the clowns. This is the part of the book that is different each year, the part you remember as your own. Otherwise there is always the administration to swear at, the sports to cheer, the seniors to march by after four vears and the organizations to belong to — but the student life initiates the recollections years from now of “1 remember when —” Classrooms around the turn of the century were filled with students searching for the unknown as students always do. The unknown — “What in the hell is that damn cat doing in the equation?” The inevitable, annual weeks and days existed back in 1912 and 1914 too. A “rube band” put in many hours of practice for the 1912 U Farm Festival, the forerunner of today’s Minnesota Royal — and the girls still laughed. What gratitude! E-Day has survived to the present in its original form. In 1941, the costumes were livelier but knights-clect still knelt and kissed the Blarney stone as they were dubbed. Founded in 1940, the University theatre today is a leading cultural form on campus. King Lear was presented in 1946. Finally, the “Minnesota Gopher” — a symbol of student life. 1946 7

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The Gopher - 75 Years of Student Life 6

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If The Union Grill had always been crowded. . . so had the stairways in Folwell Hall. So why the fuss over the record enrollment? Things weren't so much worse than before, and so the year progressed as usual. The students packed into Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon, sold Homecoming balloons and followed the team to the Rose Bowl. Winter quarter skiers spent weekends at Telemark or at Virginia, and hockey and basketball fans trekked to Williams Arena. Spring quarter they went riverbanking on warm May evenings, heard the Metropolitan Opera, raced canoes in Minnesota Royal. Pervading the whole year was the class work. Quizzes, midquarters, papers and finals brought reactions from ostensible indifference to panic. Commuters griped about the cold winds sweeping at them as they crossed the Washington Ave. bridge on winter mornings. The parking problem was worse this year than ever, they said. This was one area where the increased enrollment made itself felt. The Greeks competed against each other in Rush for “sharp rushecs and then joined forces to sponsor Greek Week. Dorm students too were active on campus. Working for the dorm on all-campus projects or individually in special-interest groups, they were close enough to campus to take an active part in all that went on. Married students usually held at least part time jobs in addition to their school work. They figured the struggle was worth it, though, to insure their children a spot in the graduating class of 1984. Foreign students struggled with a new language and the mystifications of an alien culture to find a place in the University community. They made their voices felt: in the mock UN, in well-written articles in the Daily and Ivory Tower and in discussions with other University students. Students, as always, had a busy year. 8