Thursday, October 31, 1968
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
11
Alumni recalls KU life in the Roaring Twenties
While thousands of returning KU graduates discover a modern computer-run university, many remember the days when raccoon coats were in style, short hair for girls was "quite bold" and girls never smoked in public.
One is Mrs. Fay Thomas, a 1925 graduate of Kansas and now a resident of Lawrence.
She recalled: "Girls never smoked in public, some sororities allowed it but certainly not the majority of them." She even remembered when skirts were first raised to mid-knee. "We thought they were terribly high."
Mrs. Thomas had no complaints about current coed dress. In fact, she claims her era originated the sloppy trend. "We wore overshoes that were never supposed to be buckled." she said. It was the style for overshoes in the 1920's.
Not everyone was carefree however, she said, remembering Fred Ellsworth, a close friend.
"He was the most hard working dedicated, loyal worker for KU I've ever known. He gave his entire life for KU. In fact, they used to call him Mr.KU."
"He was easy to talk with and you never realized the scrutiny he was giving to you and your work."
Ellsworth tried to stay out of public notice.
"When the governor was going to fire Chancellor Lindley, we all met at the Chancellor's home for a rally, then we all marched around the hill. I found out years later that it was Ellsworth who instigated and planned the whole thing."
Mrs. Thomas, who worked her
Oliver coeds give views on hall living
The most frequent comment heard around Oliver Hall this year is: "It's so strange to see boys here."
Oliver's freshmen women don't have more than the normal number of dates-Oliver is now a coed residence hall with both freshmen men and women.
Melissa Godfrey, Omaa freshman, described Oliver as a "real experience in living."
Offers variety
"I think it's good that the university offers students such a variety of living experiences. This coed living can be very valuable," said John Hill, resident director of Oliver and Waverly first-year law student.
"Coed living is also helping the college-within-a-college program because these students share both classes and living conditions now. When both living and the academic side of the university are integrated like this, it makes the student feel more total involvement," he said.
Behavior improves
"I even think dress, manners, speech and behavior in public areas are improved because of Lying in the same hall with someone of the opposite sex," Hill said.
Carol Sue Stevenson, Kansas City senior and counselor, shares Hill's opinion of the improved behavior.
"I can tell the girls on my floor are paying more attention to how they look," she said.
Hours conflict
Miss Stevenson feels that the Oliver living experiment has pointed up the differences between men and women's regulations as freshmen students.
"I think the girls are beginning to question their restrictions. They wonder why they have to have closing hours, when the boys are free to come and go as they please," she said.
Some oppose
Patty Blackburn, Kansas City senior and counselor, said that a survey of her floor showed about one-third of the women oppose the coed living.
way through school on $33.33 a month, earned from a secretarial job, recalled borrowing money from the registrar's office. "He (George Foster) asked me if $5 would be enough. I said, 'I don't need that much.' At the end of the month I took the money back to the registrar's office and
gave them my 50 cents interest, Mr. Foster took his pencil and pushed the fifty cents back at me saying, 'You need that more than the registrar's office does.'"
Mrs. Thomas believes some helpfulness and friendship at KU has died.
"When you had a particularly good instructor you liked to go to his class because you were touching the life of a person you thought was great.
"When I first came to KU I thought I did it so I could say, I've been to college.' But after I'd been here a while I knew
there was so much to learn and I wanted to learn it. You could never learn it all, not if you spent your whole life learning. Those teachers opened the world to me—a world so much bigger than what I'd been shown before. I certainly hope KU hasn't lost that."