Break has changed from years past
Regents oversee scheduling for all state universities
It was the first year the administration scheduled the Friday and Monday surrounding Easter weekend as vacation time.
By Mary Beth Kurzak Special to the Kansan
It wasn't enough time to tan in Florida or go skiing in Colorado, but in April 1890, 504 students began the University of Kansas's Spring Break tradition.
That simple celebration of spring was not a new concept. In fact, the passage of winter to spring has been a standard part of history since classical times. The Romans traditionally celebrated the coming of spring in May, during the festival of Floralia. The event honored Flora, the goddess of spring.
During medieval times, the Celts observed the spring by dancing around the May pole and decorated themselves in flowers and greenery. Through this celebration, called Beltane, the Celts honored the fertility and energy of the spring. These early Europeans found the elements of spring to have healing properties, and they would roll naked in the morning dew to gain some of the season's energy.
In the United States, spring festivities
were originally more subdued and revolved around the religious holiday of Easter. KU's spring break continued to be an extended Easter weekend for more than 50 years after it originated.
It wasn't until after World War II when universities across the nation lengthened the spring vacation to a week. KU followed the trend in 1949.
Jim Hitt, the University registrar in 1949 said the change was made because the students and faculty needed some sort of extended break
"The fall semester had Thanksgiving and Christmas, and there was never really enough of a break in the spring," he said.
Hitt, who retired from KU in 1977, said the week-long break was also more convenient for the University to schedule.
"Prior to 1949, the Easter break wandered all over the calendar and wasn't in the middle of things," he said. "When the full week was established, we could put it in the middle of the semester."
It was 1960 when the college Spring Breaks, complete with the beach, beer and general revelry was documented for the first time.
"Where the Boys Are" followed four college women from a Midwestern school as they traveled in a convertible to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. During their week-long vacation, they discovered the freedom and lawlessness that has come to symbolize Spring Break.
"The students swarm to these peaceful
shores in droves, 20,000 strong. They turn night into day and the small corner of heaven into a sizable chunk of bedlam," said the narrator in the introduction of the movie.
KU has maintained the Spring Break tradition since 1949.
Larry Maxey, professor of music and dance and head of the University Calendar Committee, said Spring Break helped the entire academic process by keeping the semester from getting so monotonous.
"It's a long haul from January to May," he said. "It kind of goes and goes and goes."
Traveling to beaches and hot spots have been perennial favorites for breaking up the long haul. In an Advertising Age magazine poll, 17 percent of the college students said they went to Florida for Spring Break. California and Colorado were also cited as popular vacation destinations.
Starting in the late 1980s, advertisers began swarming to these Spring Break locations in greater numbers. In 1989, MTV began sponsoring "Spring Break in Daytona," and it opened up new market for companies and their products. Now each spring, Daytona is the site for Expo America, a trade show where almost 100 companies and manufacturers show their products to the college-age public.
The Spring Break season extends from the beginning of March to the middle of April. Since each university has its own dates for Spring Break, students are traveling and enjoying the festivities during the entire period.
Originally, each university in Kansas scheduled its own Spring Break. In 1991, the Board of Regents began setting one Spring Break week for all Regents schools. The Regents system includes Emporia State University, Fort Hays State University, Kansas State University, Pittsburg State University, Wichita State University and KU.
John Welsh, associate director of academic affairs for the Regents, said the Regents decided to monitor the amount of instructional days at the institutions, which included regulating vacation times.
"We frequently got calls and questions asking why KUis on break and not K-State," he said. "We wanted to get some institutional consistency."
Maxey said the problem with the Regents controlling the dates of Spring Break was that the week had been too late in the spring schedule for the past two years.
Academic calendars varied from school to school, Welsh said, but the Regents tried to schedule Spring Break so that it was basically halfway through each school's semester.
Spring Break is now a standard in each college year. Since it began in the 1940s, the purpose of the event was clear.
As the University Daily Kansan reported in 1955, "This holiday offers an opportunity to forget the confusion of college life, the books, the assignments, the clubs, the organizations and the activities."
Don't Forget Your Baseball Cards!
If you're going home for spring break remember to grab those old baseball cards before you come back.
Remember they could be worth a lot more than you think!
JD's Baseball Cards
711 w.23rd 842-1002
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. SPRING/BREAK •/THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN • March 16, 1994