They kept us warm and dry
To mention campus food services is to remember that we were offered “room and board” for a price. Food was important, but so was your sleeping quarters. I may have mentioned “dormitory” in there. The campus, when I arrived, had four.
Built at differnent moments in time, the archtecture had common eleements. Brick exteriors. The level of comfort was dependent on one factor. G Fender. Yes, the women had much posher digs thanerent rules, as weell.
The women had live in role models. Women who were able to adapt to living with more than a hundrend “young ladies” in the building, and mete out mild justice. The doors were open to “male visitors” for several hours each evening, and there was a guard at the door. Literally. You might enter, but you certaninly did not stay, once visiting hours ended.
The men, in shart contrast, had no such discipline. Life in the mens’ residences was referred to as life in the zoo. No controls, other than the law of the jungle, and campus poibce on call 24/7 when it got crazy. It did.
We learned to protect our desk lamps. Incadescent bulbs, once hot, did not handle physical shock. A quick backhand blow would leave your desk in darkness until you could find someone from building maintenace, the next moring. Made writing your almost overdue term paper into a challenge. Renenver to lock your doors.
I’ll save my “war stories” for later. Perhaps a book, or a movie script. When the movie “Animal House” came out, none of my friends from dormitory were shocked by anything. OK, perhals the horse story, because we had very little contact with livestock.
