BELLS TO BIRD BATHS
Senior gift tradition booms
By Bob Curtright
In 1873 the graduating class of the University of Kansas presented its alma mater with an engraving entitled "The Temple of Karnak." Since then, each succeeding set of graduates has mushroomed the practice of class gift-giving into an elaborate tradition.
Everything from Campanile bells to crab apple trees,from bird baths to bushes,from engravings to elevators,has been given to KU in return for a century of teaching and wisdom.
MANY familiar parts of the campus, both inside and outside,
are parts of legacies from past graduates. Landscaping seems to be a favorite gift, for five classes voted to enhance the campus' natural beauty with arrangements of greenery.
Crab apple trees placed in various spots date from 1945. Shrubs in front of Lindley came from the class of 1947. Those around Allen Field House were added in 1951, and plantings overlooking Malott and between Haworth and Hoch were presented in 1954 and 1955 respectively.
ANOTHER popular gift idea was money given to the Endowment Association for use in student loan funds. Thirty-two classes chose to do this in amounts ranging from $4 in 1883 to over $3,000 in 1928, 1930, and 1961.
1949 brought the addition of Memorial Drive gateways to match the already existing Memorial Drive wall gardens (1925).
Campanile items include bells for the classes of 1913 and 1918 through 1925, excluding 1920 which gave the base for the Pioneer statue.
Former graduate invents alphabet
The TODAY show on television Tuesday morning featured a "compatible alphabet" invented by John R. Malone, a 1937 KU journalism graduate who was on the journalism faculty here, 1946 to 1950. He is an executive in a Chicago advertising agency and lives with his family in Park Forest, Ill.
In the show, a teacher at Principia College had several small children demonstrate how quickly they had learned to read by using Malone' alphabet which has a separate symbol for each of the speech sounds. One second grader read pieces in the ordinary alphabet and in the Uniform Sound Alphabet and also read Spanish and French words spelled in U.S.A. The teacher said that other schools are using the new alphabet. She identified Mr. Malone as the inventor.
MR. MALONE'S major objective was to devise an alphabet that could be "read" by electronic scanning and "reading" machines to avoid errors resulting from dissimilarity of sounds in such words as rough, bough, though and through. He is executive director of the Foundation for a Compatible and Consistent Alphabet. He also has been a community leader in organizing and promoting a new kind of public university; the promoters have acquired a wooded campus area south of Park Forest, Ill.
He joined the KU faculty to teach advertising after serving as a promotion and advertising executive with RCA Victor. He was married in Danforth chapel and built with his own hands a cottage near Iowa and 14th streets.
THE limestone bulletin board between Dyche and Green commemorataes 1915 while those in front of Watson Library are for 1931. The information booth, centrally located on Jayhawk Boulevard, was given in 1950.
The thirties were the years of the busta Chancellor Strong was honored first (1933). Then came Chancellor Snow (1934) and Chancellor Murphy (1935).
PERHAPS THE largest single collection of graduate gifts is housed in the Kansas Union. Memorial tablets lining the main doorway were given in 1919 and 1924. The chiming clock immediately inside was the gift of 1922 and the first elevator came in 1930. Other classes set aside funds to refurbish various rooms in the building.
The Trophy room was 1927, Pine room in 1936, English room in 1938, Kansas room in 1939, Browsing room in 1941, Trail room in 1944, and Jayhawk room in 1951.
Daily Kansan Wednesday, May 11, 1966
The eagerly-awaited third edition of the 1966 Centennial Jayhawk will be distributed between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. today, tomorrow and Friday in the rotunda of Strong Hall.
Students can get Jayhawkers
To pick up the spring edition, students must have their Jayhawker receipt, said Steve Meyer.
Leavenworth junior and Jayhawker distribution manager. To get a cover or copies of the first or second editions, the student will also need his KU ID.
Patronize your Kansan Advertisers
PLAYBOY BUNNIES!
May 15 3:00 P.M.
AT
LAWRENCE MUNICIPAL STADIUM 11th and Delaware
The Lawrence Breakfast Optimists Club will play the Kansas City Playboy Bunnies
in a Charity Softball Game.
Proceeds will go to a charity fund in Lawrence
Reserved Seats $3.00
Gen. Admission $2.00
DON'T MISS THE BUNNIES!
-SENIORS-
Here's an Important Reminder
Time is running short for you to pick up your GRADUATION ANNOUNCEMENTS at the Union Bookstore. They're being sold on a "first come, first serve" basis, and the supply is limited. Better stop at the Bookstore today ... tomorrow at the latest.
Watch the U.D.K. for more Information Concerning the "CLASS of the CENTURY"