University of Northern Iowa - Old Gold Yearbook (Cedar Falls, IA)

Page 28 text:

 The most beautiful and the most practical recreational or social center on any campus in the northwest, is the way the Commons building has been described. Completed five years ago, the Com- mons has become the nucleus for all social activities on the campus. When the tomfoolery and boisterous activity of the frat house subside, or when there is little to do in Bartlett Hall, the boys and girls flock to the Commons in search of a suitable place to expend that surplus energy. Every Monday night finds the proverbial stag, the steady couple, and most of the rest of the students tripping the light fantastic to the tune of the Campus Playboys as they swing into the latest numbers for the weekly recreational dance hour. Fellows get the date for the coming weekend that they have been yearning for, and the girls retaliate by getting their men. Quite naturally, the all-college dances are held in the long ballroom of the Commons, under the sponsorship of one or more of the numerous organizations on the campus. Southeast comer Page 28

Page 27 text:

HIGH As a perennially active campus organization Women's League kept its place in the foreground of college affairs again this year. With orientation of new women on campus as an initial problem, it provided get-together meetings designed to give the girls a chance to become acquainted with the campus and its surroundings. Tours of the various buildings of the campus, picnics to iorm new acquaintanceships, and shopping tours were arranged and car- ried out under the guidance of upperclassmen under the reassuring title of campus sisters. Senior advisers met weekly with president Ruth Cameron to consider the reports of the campus sisters as to the success of the meetings, difficulties, and suggested remedies; scholarship advisers also helped the newcomers to adapt themselves to the new routines of study which they encountered. After the rush of the orientation program was completed, the Women's League launched on a program of events for the betterment of social and leisure time activities. The social swing was started on its way by a Pep Rally Dinner held at the Commons on October 13, under the chairmanship of Jean Norris. This was followed by the popular Femmes Fancy on the nineteenth of November. Under the direction of Zelma Abben as general chairman, the League then inaugurated a series of hobby group meetings with the idea of presenting activities to fill leisure time with worth while hobbies. Meetings were held in the Commons on Thursday afternoons on a variety of subjects, among which were knitting, contract bridge, clay modelling, and weaving. Top Row: Cameron, Brand, Gregory, Trunnell, Stein- kamp. Second Row: Abben, Mor- gan, Kenderdino, Lund, Miller.

Page 29 text:

 Let's go to the Commons is rapidly becoming a constant by-word among students, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights when nothing has been previously arranged. Wider and more varied use has been made of the Commons this year than at any other time since its construction. With interest in its use on the increase, a movement has been started for a more open Commons among the more socially-minded campusites. As yet, however, no definite policies have been developed as a result of this movement. Dancing is not the only use to which the Commons is put. Social sororities, faculty men's clubs, and faculty women's clubs hold their regular meetings in rooms especially provided for that purpose. Sunday afternoons find the ball- room devoted to leisure hour concerts provided by prominent members of the music faculty, and hobby groups and student forums meet during the week in the ballroom or the spacious Georgian lounge to discuss topics of student interest. At noon, long lines fill the corridors of the Commons as hundreds of girls file in to look for that long-expected letter at the mail box. Other lines follow the stairway to the cool cafeteria below where excellent food is regularly served. Special dining rooms are provided for dinner parties, and the master minds of the institution — the faculty — have a dining room reserved especially for them. Upstairs, just across from the ballroom, is that indispensable thirst- quenching station, the fountain, where students may grab a coke or a malted between dances, or have a snack at noon. Minus a social director since the early part of the winter term, the Commons has not seemed like the same place. Students, faculty, and administrators alike miss the cheerful and capable presence of Miss Janet Works, who re- signed her position late in December to accept an offer from Princeton Uni- versity at Trenton, New Jersey, of a place in that institution. The line — crowded Coke drinkers between dances Commons pearl divers The ball room on Friday night