Western Kentucky University - Talisman Yearbook (Bowling Green, KY)

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lc took all sunnier A scrap of paper tumbled across the parched Diddle Arena parking lot. A lone bicyclist rode around the light poles in wide figure eights. Only a few cars clut- tered the thousands of square feet of steamy asphalt. It was May 18, 1977, just five days after the close of the spring se- mester, and the campus was virtually de- serted. Further up the Hill, however, in rooms buzzing with fluorescent lights and IBM i 1 3 4 JUST TWO DAYS BEFORE REGISTRATION, phys- ical plant workers haul registration packets from the registrar's office on the second floor of the Wetherby Administration Building to Diddle Arena. 13,521 stu- dents registered in the fall. 16 Prepping the Hill ete we eee e Selectrics, Western was readying for the beginning of the next school year. Up in Potter Hall, the housing office staff tried to ease the problems of an ex- pected dorm overflow by sending confir- mation cards to applicants in July. The cards asked for verification that the stu- dent still wanted a room in the fall. In 1976 the housing crunch hit and sent students reeling to university-provided motel rooms and placed more than 100 ona Debbie Gibson Ron Hoskins STACKS OF BOOKS surround Karen Minor, a fresh- man data processing major from Auburn, as she files volumes on the second floor of Margie Helm Library. The law library, periodical collection and tape library are housed on that floor. dorm waiting list. “It took us more by sur- prise,” housing director Horace Shrader said. “This year we saw it happening.” Still, by July 10, the 12 women’s dorms (maximum 2,920) were filled, with applica- tions for some dorms running 150 beyond capacity. Then, Shrader said, a “mad rush” to find auxiliary housing began. Later in July, the contractor renovating Florence Schneider Hall agreed to have the third and fourth floors ready for women’s housing. By Aug. 1, the four men’s dorms (capac- ity 2,058) were filled. Workers from ship- ping and receiving moved furniture into study rooms, recreation rooms, dining areas and other spare space, according to Larry Howard, purchasing director. But applications still came. Women were told they would be placed in temporary housing, and men were simply placed on a waiting list. Down the hall from the housing office, the student affairs staff spent the summer trying to make the housing squeeze easier for both students and housing. The battle plan consisted of a series of workshops in August to train resident as- sistants. They were conducted largely by the 26 dorm directors. The workshops trained the 76 new and 85 returning RAs in areas ranging from general dorm proce- Debbie Gibson =

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Photos by Beth Rogers “Because it’s summer, most of my classes have only 12 to 20 students. I felt strange, but not for long. It takes a while, but after the ice is broken they realize we’re real people, too. They know I’m human, SWIM COACH Bill Powell demonstrates a drown- proof method for Sister Anne in the Diddle Arena pool. She said she wasn’t used to swimming with | males but was determined to take the course. just like anybody else. We just have differ- ent lifestyles.” She said each day’s schedule included classes, mailbox checks (I got a letter ev- ery day but two”), studying in the library, LEATHER WORK and woodworking were the sub- jects in Sister Anne’s industrial education for elemen- tary teachers course taught by Dr. Delbert Towell. Sister Anne’s project was a toy truck. mass and meditation. Sister Anne said she wore her veil most of the time. “We don’t have to wear a veil,” she said. “It’s not what makes a person a nun, but it means something. “When I’m bicycling downtown I don’t wear my veil. People tend to stare, and I don’t want to cause any accidents.” Sister Anne said church rules have been relaxed and nuns now get more freedom and personal responsibility. ‘Our life is. one of obedience, simplicity of life and “When I’m bicycling downtown I don’t wear my veil. People tend to stare, and I don’t want to cause any accidents.” poverty,” she said. “We're not lacking, but we don’t get everything we want. And we're never out of a job. We're always needed.” Attending Western has given Sister Anne new friendships, she said. “People at Western care about you. They’re full of warmth and concern. “Most students are serious about their field. They're respectful of things as well as people. We have a lot of common goals. We just want to give, share and love.” Connie Holman CLOTHED in a black gown and her veil, Sister Anne Frisch chats with friends Thomas and Linda Freeman before the August commencement program. Sister Anne received her master’s degree in library science after three summer terms at Western. 15 Summer term

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to prep tine Mill... dures to handling sensitive problems on their floors. “The returning RAs, having been through last year’s rather hectic and de- manding opening of school, seemed to come into the workshop thinking, ‘We're in this together; we're prepared for the worst,’ ” Anne Murray, assistant dean of student affairs, said. “It’s the feeling you have when you enter a ball game or a war.” In the university center, College Heights Bookstore manager Buddy Childress and his crew concentrated on filling the text- book requests and ordering supplies. “There are always changes in require- ments, late decisions on selections and new faculty coming in who have not submitted A BLAST OF WHITE FOAM from a multipurpose fire extinguisher heads toward a straw fire during a safety demonstration for RAs in August by Dave Murray of the safety department. The RAs returned a week early for their workshop. Ron Hoskins requests,” Childress said. So the staff of 30 spent July and August completing “total book needs as well as receiving, checking, pricing and shelving those books ordered.” “We're caught in the middle between the students who need the books and the pro- fessor who orders them, plus the publish- er,” Childress said. ‘The troubles stay the same — it’s just the titles that change.” Downstairs in the university center, food services kept busy. ‘When I came here 12 years ago, summer was fun time,” said Louis Cook, assistant director of food services. But now it means repairing equip- ment, buying equipment and supplies, and feeding the 4,149 summer term students. Cook said the first food delivery before school included about 1,300 cases of canned goods. Other food needed to start the semester included more than 1,000 pounds of chicken, 5,000 servings of creamed potatoes, 500 pounds of hambur- ger and 240 gallons of Coca-Cola. But in terms of sheer numbers, nothing approached the consumption of the IBM 360 Model 40 computer on the third floor of the administration building. Operations manager John Foe said, “from Aug. 8 to Aug. 22, we ran 24 hours a day.” The staff consisted of 15 full-time workers who were on call constantly, and four advanced computer students who worked up to 60 hours a week. Foe said 438,121 eighty-column data pro- cessing cards — equal to several million lines of information — went through the computer in 15 days. While the center aver- ages 300,000 lines a day, according to Foe, it exceeded 900,000 lines Aug. 11, when most of the information cards were produced. In terms of human effort, however, the physical plant took honors. Director Owen Lawson’s workers spread about 4,000 gallons of paint across 1,310 rooms in four dorms, laid 3,000 yards of carpet in the university center game room and Helm Library, installed about 2,500 re- frigerators, remarked 5,000 parking spaces, built a new parking lot on Regents Ave- nue, painted all handrails, outside doors and signs, reupholstered most of the dorm lobby furniture, placed new dressers in East Hall, installed office petitions and re- furbished the heating plant. Yet while he kept his 375 summer em- ployees (100 more than usual) working overtime throughout August with no vaca- tions, Lawson said it wasn’t until 6 a.m., Saturday, Aug. 20, that the dorms were ac- tually ready ... (continued on page 18) TENS OF THOUSANDS OF LINES were painted by the physical plant staff in about three weeks during the summer. Melvin Pippin paints one of them, a crosswalk near Wetherby Administration Building. 17 Prepping the Hill