Last week, I finished up my first semester of Graduate School. 6 hours of the 36 required are under my belt. With Straight A's, I might add! I am well on my way to a Masters of Science in Educational Leadership Students: Higher Education. It was a rough semester, and the last few weeks of the term about did me in, but I MADE IT! In addition to my full time job and 4 kids, I had 2 trips, a Homecoming Court participant, and a looming surgery effecting every move I made during the last 3 weeks of the semester where I had a project, 2 presentations, and 2 term papers to do! Stress was my first, middle, and last name! But here I am on the other side! I rocked both presentations. I made a 97 on one paper and a 100 on the other. Final A's grades for both classes have been posted. My surgery was last week, and while I am still recovering, it gets slightly better every day.
I had decided earlier in the semester, that as part of my blog I would post my favorite paper or project form the term. I had 2 very different classes with very different professors this semester. I liked them each for different reasons, and I hated them each (at times) for different reasons. But I definitely have a favorite project. The mid-term paper for my Foundations of Higher Education class turned out to be a labor of love. And I want to share it here.
The project was called "O-State Stories" and the goal was to write a paper based on a topic covered the in the Oral History Project in the Archives of the OSU Library. The Oral Histories would serve as part of the content for our project, and each student chose at least 3 oral histories to read and/or listen to in relation to the topic we had chosen. Additionally, we used the OSU Centennial Series to relate the topic specifically to OSU history. We used our class text book to relate these events we were studying to college campuses around the United States during the time period we focused on. The purpose of the paper was to draw together the personal stories told in oral histories, the official OSU story from the Centennial History Series, and the textbook. Here is my submission (which I received a 99% on):
Legacy of a College Pond:
A Gathering Place
Betsey D. Weaver
Oklahoma State University
Legacy of a College Pond:
A Gathering Place
Oklahoma State University
boasts a unique and storied history.
Formally founded as Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College on
Christmas Day, 1890, it is often touted as one of the most beautiful campuses
in the nation. From the picturesque
Georgian architecture, to the extensive 25-year plan, and including today’s
most modern facilities, OSU experienced significant achievements and impressive
progress over the last century and a quarter.
One of the most iconic campus features started out as a pond to serve as
a reservoir for horses after a severe three-year drought. The pond, planned for and dug by horse plow
in 1893, was originally called “Horse Pond” because of its proximity to The
Horse Barn (Sanderson, McGlamery, & Peters, 1990); unfortunately, this barn
succumbed to fire in 1922. The pond then became known as Theta Pond, as the
Kappa Alpha Theta sorority house was located right across the street from the
iconic body of water (Sanderson et al.,1990).
Historic Theta Pond served as a backdrop for college shenanigans, the
site for unpleasant dunking of fraternity men after proposals, and a place of
many students’ collegiate memories. If a pond could talk,
this one might tell the story of OSU’s transformation from raw, undeveloped
prairie land to a thriving, modern campus.
Student Life in the 1910’s
Ruth Myers Lincoln
participated in the O-State Stories Oral History Project on her 100th birthday
– December 2, 2007. Lincoln arrived on
the campus of Oklahoma A&M College (OAMC) in Stillwater after graduating high
school in 1916 (Lincoln, 2007). During the period of 1900-1920, college
campuses touted elected beauty queens, voted for the most popular men and women
on campus, and glorified the most outstanding athlete (Murphy, 1988). Known as the “Golden Age” of the college,
pride in individual schools rose as campuses adopted formal mascots, official
institutional colors, and wrote spirit and loyalty inducing college hymns and
alma mater songs (Thelin 2011). Student social life focused on fun – dancing,
motion pictures, the automobile, and overconsumption of tobacco and
alcohol. This emphasis on decadence and
the rise in the importance of social life on college campuses resulted in a
student motto proclaiming “Never let College studies interfere with your
college education” (Murphy, 1998). This
theme is reflected as students considered courses being a “necessary evil” to
be paid as admission to the “greatest show on earth, campus life” (Thelin, 2011).
Another phenomenon happening across the nation on college campuses involved the
stabilization of Greek social organization as students flocked to
extra-curricular activities that incorporated fellowship, character building,
and well-roundedness. On the OAMC
campus, the first Greek social fraternity was founded in 1908 out of a boarding
house; many Stillwater boarding houses would morph into Greek housing over the
next several years. (Murphy, 1998). Lincoln involved herself with this new
opportunity by becoming a founding member of the Nu Chapter of the Kappa Delta
social sorority in 1917. While majoring
in Home Economics and earning her Life Teaching Certificate, Lincoln recalled
being involved with many campus activities.
Her fondest memories of her social life inventoried the parties –
including ones after football games, numerous dances, and the phonograph
records students used to play music at these events. OAMC was heavily populated with military
training at the time, and Lincoln reminisced on how she “went to bed by the
military playing ‘Taps’ and got up to ‘Reveille’” (Lincoln, 2007). But one of her brightest memories involved
Theta Pond, then known as “The Horse Pond.”
Lincoln recounted memories of “the boys” participating in a tug-of-war
over the pond. Different fraternity
groups would man the rope on each end as it stretched over the expanse of the
pond, and the “losers” always ended up being drug through the “mucky bottom” of
the campus pond at the end of the battle (Sanderson et al, 1990). The Horse Pond evokes vivid memories and
stories of OAMC during the “Golden Age” of colleges.
Student Life after the Great Depression, late
1930’s – early 1940’s
During this time, students had
endured the toughest days of the Great Depression, and the OAMC campus mood was
one of optimism and liveliness (Murphy, 1988).
Nationally, campuses had started to “split” along socioeconomic status
into the “haves” and “have nots – usually along the lines of Greek-letter
fraternities and sororities vs. the “Independents” (Thelin, 2011). Women’s
enrollment in colleges nationally rose to 40%, and this is when Genevieve
Holton came to Stillwater to attend OAMC in 1938. She enjoyed many of the activities the campus
had to offer in those days. She was a
member of a sorority, but did not limit her activities to the one area of
student life. Holton also participated
in the girls’ glee club, played on her sorority’s girls’ basketball team, and
was in the “Peppers Organization” – a girls’ sports cheerleading squad. Her memories include sandwich shops off
campus where she and her friends gathered in the afternoons and evenings to
have a “Coke,” dance halls filled with large band stands where swing bands
would play while students danced the night away, as well as recollections of
her times with sorority sisters as they prepared for Homecoming events (Horton
2006). During these days of merriment, the campus grew to include new dormitories,
as well as new sorority and fraternity housing.
As of 1941, OAMC was home to the largest college dormitory in the
southwest, as well as 5 national sororities and 12 fraternities. This
additional housing posed the campus to have “adequate” housing for the rapidly
increasing enrollment the college experienced. All of this growth and housing
boom steered campus officials to institute a curfew for students – 8pm on
weeknights and midnight on weekends (Murphy, 1988). Horton’s brightest memories
of campus life during this time focus on her time as a member of Alpha Delta Pi
Sorority. She remembers living in a
small room of the house, which was then in its permanent location at 1309
College (now University) Avenue. She
lived with a roommate, where bunkbeds filled most of the space in the
room. Horton excitedly retold the story
of a dance hall called “The Rock Castle” that prohibited sorority women. She indicated she knew a few who “broke the
rules” and attended anyway. Another amusing memory she recounted encompassed
going to the movie house in town, then riding in a taxi cab back to the
sorority house after a date. The rate
for the trip back was a dime, but the limit was the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority
house. To continue in the cab west of
that landmark, the fare went up to fifteen cents because it was “out in the
country” (Horton, 2006). Homecoming
represented a time for alums to come back to their alma mater, but during this
time the focus shifted to undergraduate students. The festivities included beauty pageants,
festivals, and other opportunities for bonding within the university community
(Thelin, 2011). Horton recalls one
Homecoming at OAMC which stood out for her:
“…our sorority had a float in the Homecoming parade … This float had a huge
clear plastic frame on it, like a corsage box, and one of our beautiful Alpha
Delta Pi girls sitting up there as an orchid corsage. It was very neat and we
won” (Horton, 2006, p.4).
Horton also had her own
special memories of Theta Pond. However,
hers were not as festive as tales recounted before her time on campus. A drought had caused the water in Theta Pond
to dry up, and there were not going to be any more class fights, tug-of-wars,
or inopportune swims in the unpleasant pond (Horton, 2006). Soon after she left campus in 1942, a
renovation effort started on the beloved body of water to not only bring the
water levels back, but to also make it beautiful. The designs called for lining the pond with
rocks and creating a spillway along the College Avenue side of the
landmark. Also included in the plans
were an ornamental bridge and a manmade center island (Sanderson, et al.,
1990). These improvements to the
cherished campus attraction brought life back to the pond and assured its
future as a site for memories yet to be forged.
Student Life Growth 1955-1965
During this decade, there was
a prevalent theme on the Stillwater campus that “every girl” came to college
thinking they would marry (Dunn, 2011).
This trend led to a boom of sorts in curriculum focusing on the family,
and marriage in particular (Dunn, 2011; Waldrop, 2014). On a national scale, a rush for students to
go to college – ANY college – earned the time period the title of the “Era of
Mass.” The nation was experiencing
economic prosperity, young people had educational aspirations, and the demographic
boom all had colleges celebrating the evolution. Growth is never without drawbacks,
however. Student life developed a theme
of abundance. Prestige combined with a
proliferation of activities illustrated campus life during this time (Thelin
2011). Locally, Oklahoma State University invoked conduct rules that were both
“traditional and restrictive.” The
campus infrastructure also battled as the overpopulation of cars on campus made
transportation and parking more difficult.
40% of students had a car on campus, but there was very limited parking
(Murphy, 1988). Jerry Ann Dunn came to the campus of OAMC in 1957, and she
recalls many memories of her life as a student on the growing campus. During her time as and elementary major with
minors in business and English, she recounted walking everywhere and only being
allowed to wear pants on Fridays. She
remembered study hours in the library where she had to check-in and check-out
as dictated by her membership in the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. Another recollection was focused on the
weekend curfew – she recalled it being 11:00 pm – when the lights would flicker in
the house and that indicated you were to come home (Dunn, 2011). In 1962, the women’s hours restrictions were
“improved” as women were allowed to stay out until 10:30pm on weeknights, and
1:00am on Friday and Saturday nights (Murphy, 1988). Dunn also indicated
missing curfew would put a co-ed in a “world of trouble;” the housemother
expressed much dissatisfaction when Dunn missed the curfew once (Dunn,
2011). Dunn’s most prominent memory of
her days in Stillwater encompasses the institutional name change from Oklahoma
A&M to Oklahoma State University.
After 67 years, OAMC officially became Oklahoma State University of
Agriculture and Applied Science on July 1, 1957 (Murphy, 1988). Dunn described
the event as a great time and “very exciting,” cherishing being a part of the
important evolution. She reflected on how the change allowed the university the
opportunity at a broader chance for future expansion (Dunn, 2011). About the
same time Dunn left Stillwater, Ruthann Waldrop started her days at Oklahoma
State University. Waldrop was a member
of Kappa Delta Sorority and was a triple major in home economics, preschool
education, family relations and child development (Waldrop, 2014). Waldrop only
lived in the sorority house for a short period of time. Since she was from Stillwater, she preferred
living at home as her mother’s rules and curfew were not as restrictive as the
housemother’s or the campus as a whole.
She recanted receiving a weekend grounding for being 2 minutes past
curfew after a date with her future husband when she lived in the sorority
house (Waldrop, 2014). As a part of their academic curriculum, both Dunn and
Waldrop mentioned their marriage class as a time of growth and claim its
usefulness in their futures as wives and mothers – a reflection of the era on a
national scale. Student life was very
social and lively during this decade; a party to celebrate any occasion was
always on the calendar. Students
participated in events at the Student Union including Howdy Week Dances,
Junior/Senior proms, and a Luau (Murphy, 1988; Waldrop, 2014) and watched
movies at the Aggie Theater, Campus Corner Theater, and the Leachman Theater
(Dunn, 2011). Another common theme during this decade involved the Homecoming
celebrations at OSU. Dunn and Waldrop
remember staying up late, working on the floats for the parade, and making
small decorations for the yards at the Greek houses. Dunn reminisced about riding a tandem bicycle
during the Homecoming parade as a member of the Mortar Board Greek Honor
Society (Dunn, 2011). Waldrop retold a story of being lured to a fraternity
house to “work on the float,” but the event was truly a party with little to no
work getting done on the float for the Homecoming parade (Waldrop, 2014). And just like the generations before them,
these students also found ways to make memories at Theta Pond. The theme of marriage reappears with the
illustrious pond in the background, as this era saw countless young men thrown
in to the mired pond once his friends found out he was engaged to be married
(Dunn, 2011). In 1963, another movement
started to join in a “muck removal” of a muddied Theta Pond. The Student Senate assembled 500 students for
the job. While they were not able to rid
the pond of its copious amounts of mud, the day was counted successful as they
constructed a retaining wall and a shelf around the main areas of the pond
(Sanderson et al., 1990). Theta Pond now
held an important role as a significant and permanent symbol of campus life at
Oklahoma State, and the efforts to keep it clean, appealing, and meaningful for
years to come became an important task for every generation of students in
Stillwater.
Conclusion
This college pond serves as a
legacy for generations of students on the Stillwater Campus. As the Horse Pond at OAMC, the body of water
originated as a reservoir of potable water for the horses who stabled in the nearby
barn. A gathering place for the work
animals at the end of a hard day of work.
As time marched on, the pond acquired a new name based on its location
near a prominent sorority house and Theta Pond became a gathering place for
young college men to flex their muscles and fight battles for prominence and
bragging rights (Murphy 1988). Through
the years, the pond underwent many changes, including opportunities to make it
larger, and more useful for the campus and students alike, to projects focused
on beautification and university pride.
Theta Pond is a common theme throughout the storied history of Oklahoma
State University and the legacy left by the memories recounted here help make
the narrative of events in Stillwater and on the college campus more vivid and
relatable. Oklahoma State University and the recorded O-State Stories retold by
alumni have a common thread of Stillwater, university traditions, and this
iconic pond of water. Students will
continue to gather near Theta Pond to share a quiet moment, enjoy the beautiful
landscaping and memorizing fountains, or witness a picturesque spring
wedding. Each visit to the pond weaves
another thread into the tapestry of the vivid histories of OSU.
References
Dunn, J.
A. (2011, October 28). An oral history interview with Jerry Ann Dunn/Interviewer:
Mary Larson. O-State Stories Oral History Project, Oklahoma State University,
Stillwater.
Holton,
F.L., & Horton, G. (2006, October 5). An oral history interview with F.L.
and Genevieve Holton/Interviewer: Steve Holton. O-State Stories Oral History
Project, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater.
Lincoln,
R. M. (2007, December 2). An oral history interview with Ruth Myers
Lincoln/Interviewer: Tanya Finchum and Juliana Nykolaiszyn. O-State Stories
Oral History Project, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater.
Murphy,
P. M. (1988). A history of Oklahoma State
University student life and services. Oklahoma State University.
Sanderson,
J. L., McGlamery, R. D., & Peters, D. C. (1990). A history of the Oklahoma State University campus. Oklahoma State
University.
Thelin,
J. R. (2011). A history of American higher education. 2nd ed.
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Waldrop,
R. (2014, November 18). An oral history interview with Ruthann
Waldrop/Interviewer: Juliana Nykolaiszyn. O-State Stories Oral History Project,
Oklahoma State University, Stillwater.
