Tag Archives: Banter

p. 320 – The Case Administration, 1942-1962

Posted on June 21, 2012 by | Comments Off on p. 320 – The Case Administration, 1942-1962
Veteran's Housing, A1000-69, Folder 6, p320    Veteran's Housing, A1000-69, Folder 5, p320

 

January, 1943, was appointed Assistant Dean for the civilian group, and later succeeded by Dr. Paul S. Jacobsen, ’27, of the Political Science Department. Civilian and military students together published the Maroon and Banter. The latter temporarily lost its character as a humor magazine to take on some of the features of a yearbook in lieu of the Salmagundi which did not appear. Members of both groups under Dr. Daniels’ direction staged some noteworthy dramatic productions.

With the release of men from the service at the war’s end the University faced the problem of accommodating a greatly expanded student body in excess of 1,300, a large proportion of them veterans. Dr. George H. Estabrooks of the Psychology Department became Director of Veterans’ Affairs and Dr. James A. Storing of Political Science, Director of Studies for Veterans. George Werntz, Jr., returned from the Navy to resume his duties as Director of Admissions. Many of the faculty members who had been on leave in the armed services or in government positions were back in the classroom and additional staff had to be recruited. An office to assist veterans in obtaining employment was opened in New York City under the supervision of Dr. Clifford E. (Woody) Gates, ’15, Professor of German.

Administrative innovations of the Case period included making

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Posted in Chapter 15, p. 320, The Case Administration 1942-1962

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p. 305 – The Cutten Period, 1922-1942

Posted on June 21, 2012 by | Comments Off on p. 305 – The Cutten Period, 1922-1942

freshman caps, attendance at cheer and song practice, and in general maintaining campus traditions, was taken over by the Sophomore Vigilance Committee in 1930. Paddling was a common punishment for violating the rules to be found in the Frosh Bible. By 1939 the senior honorary society, Konosioni, had assumed the duties of the sophomore committee.

Undergraduate support of the honor system had so declined by 1922 that on recommendation of the Students’ Association the faculty abolished it. Many undergraduates had come to believe that the crime was not so much cheating as being caught. Later college generations sought unsuccessfully to create sufficient public sentiment to revive the no-proctoring arrangements.

Interclass rivalry was a marked feature of student life in the ’20’s, especially between the Freshmen and sophomores, as had been true in the past. From time to time it was channeled into supervised events such as athletic competitions, the salt rush, and the pushball contest but the most violent encounters were likely to come when the classes held their banquets, usually off-campus, and before Moving Up Day in the spring. In 1923 they pelted each other in the center of the village with decayed eggs and the next year repeated the performance on two successive nights, on the second of which nearly the whole student body seems to have joined them. Irate businessmen with befouled storefronts and innocent bystanders who had been in “line of fire” demanded an end to such misbehavior and town and gown efforts averted it thereafter. The normal relations between students and merchants were very cordial and the latter were among the staunchest supporters of many campus activities, including athletics.

The undergraduate publications of the preceding years continued in the Cutten period. The Maroon editors by the middle ’20’s gave more space to non-athletic news items than formerly and in the spring of 1924 introduced “The Weeping Willow,” a column of comment and gossip which lasted until the fall of 1940 and at times gave considerable spice to the paper. The Salmagundi changed from a Junior to a Senior yearbook in 1934. Banter, the humor magazine, enjoyed the distinction of being suspended by the faculty in 1928 for publishing “objectionable” jokes. The literary magazine, The Willow Path, expired in 1931 for lack of support.

Dramatics made a strong bid for student attention. Russell F. Speirs, a Syracuse graduate in 1923, joined the faculty that year as a member

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Posted in Chapter 14, p. 305, The Cutten Period 1922-1942

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Madisonensis becomes The Colgate Maroon (p. 276)

Posted on June 14, 2012 by | Comments Off on Madisonensis becomes The Colgate Maroon (p. 276)

teams, and careful preparation and skillful coaching, all joined to produce outstanding achievements. Intercollegiate opponents included many of the leading Eastern institutions but Ohio Wesleyan was a perennial rival. Colgate made forensic history in 1917 by being the first men’s college to debate a team from a women’s school, the occasion being a contest with Vassar in which, by previous agreement, no decision was rendered.

Two new publications appeared on campus in the ’20’s. The first was Banter, typical of the contemporary college humor magazine with its jokes, often borrowed, drawings, and slick, bright covers. The first number with Henry N. Burke, ’21, as editor, ‘came out for the 1920 Junior Prom. The second publication, The Willow Path, was a student venture sponsored by the English Department to afford an outlet for undergraduate literary productions. It began in the spring of 1922 with a sizeable issue of 82 pages; Horace A. Woodmansee, ’22, was Managing Editor. The Madisonensis, meanwhile, had undergone various transformations in format and with the April 8, 1916, number became The Colgate Maroon.

As early as 1913 some undergraduates had built a “wireless apparatus” in Lathrop Hall and formed the “Radio Club of Colgate” to study radio communication and operate the station. Within a year, however, the group had reorganized as the Physical Society, a departmental club, and their initial interest was absorbed into a wider program.

Outdoor recreation was promoted by the Outing Club established in 1914 with the assistance of Professor Goodhue and patterned after a similar group at Dartmouth. Its emphasis was primarily on winter sports and in 1915 members represented Colgate at Dartmouth’s ski and snowshoe meet and winter carnival. Apparently their experience led the club, with fraternity cooperation, to sponsor a similar meet and a dance at Colgate a few weeks later, thus beginning the local Winter Carnival tradition. The club also promoted ski hikes and weekend trips to Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks.

By 1910 Patrons’ Day was no longer observed and the students had taken over the occasion for Junior Prom, “the” social event of the year. One of its features, introduced in 1912, was the Freshman Circus in which the first-year men exercised their ingenuity in burlesquing faculty, students, and campus happenings.

Interclass rivalry continued to give zest to student life. The Mercury

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Posted in Chapter 13, p. 276, The Bryan Period 1908-1922, timeline

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