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Traditions!
Cheryll (Hensley) Barr (AAS'76). When I was at MU in the late '60s, we always had a big parade for homecoming. All the fraternities made floats with the help of the sororities. They also had great decorations in front of their houses. The parade has been brought back but not on as grand a scale.
Bill Simpson. We sang every old song we could think of. Phi Tau Alpha member.
These are just a few scattered thoughts on traditions during my college days. Things were much different around the Campus during the years of 1966-70. The students were clearly divided by their views on the Vietnam War. Students against the war were extremely unwelcome to share activities or even thoughts with those supporting the government's view that the war was necessary. That degree of division among students is a tradition that I am glad is gone. Many of the traditional off-campus gathering places for students no longer exist, like Boney's Hole-in-the-Wall, the Circle Grill and the Varsity/El Gato taverns. For many students, Boney's and the El Gato were a tradition, and a regular place to see when visiting the campus after graduation. Everybody including "hippies" was welcome at Boney's or the Circle, but Greeks and athletes "owned" the territory at the Varsity/El Gato. "Hippies" were unwelcome in the conservative fraternities of 1966, but slightly more tolerance was shown by 1970. However, Greeks and non-Greeks still seem to be socially separated. The laws students face today are more restrictive. The drinking age for low alcohol (3.2%) beer was 18-yrs old then, and drinking was very popular with about half of the students - especially on the Friday and Saturday evenings and nights. If shown reasonable courtesy, a university police officer would most likely help an intoxicated student return to the dorm when the student could walk, even with help, and was not showing severe symptoms of poisoning. Helping students without arresting or citing them was traditional, until relatively recently. Learning your limit was a part of growing up, for those who chose to drink. I chose not to drink by reason of genetics. :) Smoking tobacco was legal at age 18 then. Part of the daily routine for about a third or more of the students was hanging around the Shawkey Student Union between classes, drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes, indoors! Smoking was forbidden in classrooms, discouraged in hallways, but allowed in restrooms and in lounges found in many, if not all, buildings on the campus. On most afternoons of the week, we would hang around the Shawkey Union, play songs on the jukebox, and watch a few of the students dance on the large wooden floor. I believe we paid a quarter to hear six songs from the 45-rpm records in the jukebox. I remember that one black fellow would capture the eye of nearly all students in the Shawkey whenever he danced variations of the "Chicken" and "mashed potatoes," covering most all of the floor with his rhythmic moves. He was often a one-man show and drew applause! One seldom sees students dancing in the Memorial Student Center (MSC) now, and the jukebox is out of the mainstream of traffic. Now, many students carry their own music selections on solid state devices, and listen with headphones.
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Some
traditions never die... many do. Tell us about a tradition you
followed when a student at Marshall. Send your story
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