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University Daily Kansan Wednesday, May 19, 1965
Skeleton Drops in on KU's First Commencement
By Robert Stevens
A skeleton dropped in at the first KU commencement ceremony and took a position just above the speaker's head.
The first commencement, June 11, 1873, was in the then uncompleted Fraser Chapel. A skeleton, borrowed from the zoology department, was lowered by pranksters from the wooden rafters.
The jokers suspended it above U.S. Sen. Joe Ingall's head during the commencement, according to Kansan files.
THE CHAPEL WALLS had not yet been plastered and the studding lay exposed. It was just the right setting for the skeleton and the caper took very little work.
Although classes first met here in 1866, the first four seniors were not given their diplomas at an official ceremony until 1873.
Although graduation ceremonies have since been modified and streamlined and many changes have come to the campus, the basic commencement pattern has adopted very few changes.
The first fete could be divided into four parts which still exist today. They include the baccalaureate service, the class day exercises, the commencement exercise and the class celebration supper.
A book by Robert Taft, former KU history professor, "The Years on Mt. Oread," said that the 1873 ceremony was patterned closely from those held in the Eastern schools.
IT SYMBOLIZED the newness of the university as it was held in the unfinished building, but it also portrayed the dignity of the occasion with the orator, Sen. Ingalls. The balcony had not yet been installed, and the walls were just bare boards.
A special temporary stage was constructed on the right wall of the chapel and the audience was forced to sit on wooden, backless benches, the book said.
Class Day was held June 10 with orations given by three of the four graduates. The other senior, the first engineering student, was allowed to display his architectural drawings of a bridge on the stage.
THE AFTERNOON was spent planting vines on the campus. This was noted by the class as the first step in the ornamentation of the campus. The project was undertaken because then the campus presented a bare and uninviting appearance.
On the final day, the commencement procession originated on the south hill of the University, where the Museum of Art stands today, and ended at the chapel.
The parade was led by the band, followed by the students with the graduates last. Fourth in the procession came the faculty, then the regents, and last the officials from Lawrence, Douglas County, and the state of Kansas.
The first to enter Fraser Chapel were Chancellor Fraser and Sen. Ingalls.
THE ONLY FACULTY members from the first session of school who also were present at the first graduation exercises were Professors Snow and Robinson.
The baccalaureate sermon was given by the Rev. Richard Corden of the Plymouth Congregational Church, the book said.
in the commencement address,
Sen, Ingalls in the grand oratorical
style of that day, opened by saying,
"The first time I stood upon this
consecured eminence, I looked
southward and eastward down the
enchanted valleys of the Wakarusa
and the Kaw Rivers; though the
vacant embrasures of a rude fortification that frowned with incongruous menace above the pastoral landscape for whose tranquil and diversified beauty, nature has no rival, art has no synonym."
In 1908 the commencement committee developed continuity in the ceremonies. This was also the first year that the chancellor and vice chancellor donned robes for the fete.
THE GRADUATES FIRST wore gowns in 1897. At that time there was much debate whether the faculty should wear them.
Although the administration wore them in the first decade of the century, the faculty did not follow suit until almost 10 years later.
The first class reunion was in 1913, with all four of the original graduates attending to commemorate 40 years, according to Kansan files.
In 1897 the march of graduates was changed and the place of the commencement exercises was moved. The chapel in Fraser had become too small to hold the audience so the ceremony was moved to Robinson Gymnasium. The professional march was then from Fraser to Robinson.
THE ORIGINAL GRADUATE dinner was in the chapel at Fraser. When the move came in 1897, the
dinner was also moved to Robinson.
"They served box lunches in Hoch Auditorium for a while." Henry Shenk, head of the physical education department and chairman of the commencement committees, related.
"It has grown and we are planning for 1,400 this year including graduating seniors, alumni, and others." Shenk said.
The dinner has been held over the years in Snow Hall, Spooner Library (now the art museum), Dyche Museum of Natural History, Fowler Shops, and in a tent on the lawn in front of Fraser.
In 1929, after the Kansas Union was completed, the dinner was moved there. Again this year the Union will host the celebrants.
THE STADIUM WAS to be used in the graduation ceremonies of the class of 1928, but, because of a down pour of rain, both the bace a laureate and commencement fetes were held in Hoch Auditorium, Shenk, a graduate of 1928, said.
Before the days of Allen Field House, only a few people could get into Hoch and only parents were allowed to attend if bad weather forced the ceremonies inside. Now with the field house, there has never been any limitation of the audience because of bad weather.
Memorial Stadium has been used for the exercises since 1929.
Shenk became chairman of the commencement program in 1952 and each year, has had good commencement weather. He hopes that
this, his 13th year, will not turn unlucky for him. One baccalaureate in this period has been held inside.
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A SPECIAL ATTEMPT is made each year to keep all the spectators and students off the hillside by the Campanile, Shenk said. The procession of graduates provides a "very lovely and very unusual spectacle. The University with the Campanile, provides a very unusual setting," Shenk continued.
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Commencement night, the faculty form a cordon on the tract and all the graduates march down through this line. "This is very striking and a very unusual thing which adds to the ceremony," Shenk continued.
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"Since we have had the Campanile, the audience and seniors have sung a stanza of 'The Crimson and the Blue' just before the benediction.
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"There are many wet eyes as they realize this is the last time they will see the Campanile and the buildings as students," Shenk concluded.
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