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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 3, 1999)
A chained student surrounded by onlookers scrubs the University seal outside the student union. History Continued from Page 1 1956, when 250 freshmen women rioted against strict homecoming week traditions. The women confronted the “Or der of the O” men with lipstick and poster paint, while the men were eating in a room of the Stu dent Union. “Someone then threw a pitcher of milk on the floor and food throwing started in earnest,” The Emerald reported. “Most of the SU damage was in this room and con sisted of damage to paint and walls, dish and utensil breakage.” After the food fight, the riot moved to the Sigma Chi fraternity house. Wet women invaded the living room after fraternity men soaked them with buckets of wa ter and a garden hose. The women headed home after the Sigma Chi • men chased them down with wooden paddles. The next day the director of the student union commended the “O” men for enforcing campus tra ditions. The day after that, the lip stick riot was reported as “a hoax that just got out of hand. ” Eventually, the women gained one victory. In the fall of 1958, the ASUO Senate banned the “Order of the O” men from enforcing Home coming traditions. Another melee of sorts was fought during 1954 in the veter an’s dorms, which were near the present-day education building. Residents of the “cardboard cas tle”, as the plywood structure was called, competed with mice and silverfish for living space. Pepper Allen, Emerald women’s page editor, spoke out against the remaining rules imposed on women in a Feb. 9.1959 editorial called “Women: a ruled group.” She criticized the University Administration for forcing rules on women like the 10:30 p.m. cur few in its paternal attitude “that it is to look out for the morality of campus women.” The ASUO had its own share of successes, fudge-ups and tree-sits during the 1950s. During that time, each class had its own ASUO officers. In October 1952, the ASUO Exec utive decided to hold a special elec tion to change the elections process. The ASUO put an amendment on the ballot to allow freshmen to elect their own class officers. Two days later, the special election was declared invalid because not enough students voted. Student government won a ma jor victory in 1951, when students complained about the cost of mak ing 10 cent phone calls around cam pus. The ASUO met with company officials and the University admin istration to get the phones taken out. The phone company removed the Courtesy photo Order of the 0’ men throw a ‘traditions’ violator into the fountain by Deady Hall. pnones aurmg me summer. In May 1957, then-ASUO Presi dent Darren Brittson raised $3,011 to restore the Millrace after sitting in a tree outside the student union for six days. The $3,000 was to go toward the $48,000 the Eugene City Council told the University administration it would need to contribute before the Millrace could be restored with a 10-year construction plan. Unlike the ’90s, concerts and speeches at McArthur Court were no problem in the ’50s. Louis Armstrong, Ed Sullivan, Richard Nixon, John F. Kennedy, Groucho Marx and Eleanor Roo sevelt all stopped by. Louis Armstrong played to a McArthur Court crowd of6,000 — at a time when University enroll ment almost made it to 5,000 — when he came to campus on Oct. 1,1956. “Wonderful response,” he told an Emerald reporter. “Every body’s fine. The audiences in Eu rope were ’bout the same, but a bit more spontaneous on the Gold Coast [in Africa!. When I was meetin’ all them African kings, who just come up out of the jun gle, they just said, ‘Satchmo!’” Nixon’s Sept. 19,1956, speech was probably the most prescient of things to come in the future. At the time Nixon was vice president in the Eisenhower ad ministration. Defending Eisen hower’s presidential record, Nixbn said “the test of an adminis tration is whether you clean up or cover up” the dishonest elements of an administration. “This ad ministration has cleaned up,” the Emerald reports Nixon said. The University delayed classes on May 19, 1958, so students could go listen to U.S. Sen. John F. Kennedy when he came to McArthur Court to talk about the need for good people in govern ment. As was characteristic of him at the time, Kennedy dodged ques tions about whether he would run for the presidency. In the presidential election of 1950, the Emerald threw its sup port behind Democrat Adlai Stevenson. “We’d like to like Ike, but...” said the title of a Oct. 8, 1952, Emerald editorial. “The voter is not a battlefield sol dier. He wants facts, not emotion. He wants solutions, not attacks. He wants reasons, not appeals. ” By the end of the month, how ever, an Emerald poll of 400 stu dents showed most supported Gen. Eisenhower. World events popped up in the Emerald in sometimes strange places.' American soldiers fighting in the Korean Conflict wrote to the Emerald looking for pen pals. “For the past few months I’ve found my mail call getting smaller and smaller,” wrote Private First Class Bob Javreguy in December of 1952. “Mail is good for one’s morale and right now mine is quite low. Would you be kind enough to publish my name and address in your school paper?” When Stalin died in 1953, the free world worried about the tempera ment of the next Soviet dictator and the University was no different. C.P. Schleider, a professor of po litical science at the time, said Russian policy would be “tougher and more objectionable without him. Stalin’s keen awareness of the balance between war and peace is perhaps the most serious casualty to the worl d. ” Some things—however velveeta it may sound — don’t change that much. In a Dec. 6,1956, the Emerald explained the evils of finals week. “It’s the time of year when no doze sales skyrocket at local drug stores, when suddenly you see all your friends at the library instead of the SU, the time of year when you wish you were dead.” Honor your favorite teacher by extolling his or her virtues in an Oregon Daily Emerald classified ad. National Teacher Appreciation Week is May 2-8. Ads will run in the personals all week. Our favorite ad will win flower bouquets from Eugene’s Flower Home for both the teacher and student who submitted the ad! If your grades are falling, this could be the best two bucks you ever invested. Think about it... Bring or call in your ad and $2 to the ODE office, 300 EMU, or call 346 4343. Credit cards accepted. Flowers donated by-. Eugene’s Flower Home The University Florist 610 E. 13th at Patterson • 485-3655 ASUO WOMEN’S CENTER WANTSYOU The Women s Center is currently hiring for its 1999/2000 academic year. Coordinating positions available are: Events ~ Public Relations ~ Publicity* Workshop Resource Development ~ LGBTA Issues Diversity ~ Women in Transition Also hiring office assistants for work study Review of applications will begin May 3rd Positions are open until filled Job descriptions and applications are available in the Women's Center, Suite 3, EMU BrnijnrqiBUusikiiit healtty (ug)sensail, serai rebtinsIriM. Sr just cone lesrti a lodeBjiytkc M slnw! M •Mr Mbit liy wjl OOZ. CLA55f IE.P.5... fyouz. CAMPU6 MAEJ^GTPLACEJ
