50 Years of Early Semester History

Last Sunday, the large group of well-dressed men and women in Seegers reminded me that Alumni Weekend was quickly approaching. I began to realize that these alumni and I were once equals: we both sat in the Seegers Union, doing homework and spending time with friends. That made me think about what the first month of classes was like for these past students. Were they as mundane as ours have been, or did these students’ first month of the school year see major news?

One of the more major early semester events happened almost exactly 55 years ago. In October, 1961, The Weekly proudly covered the inauguration of Muhlenberg’s seventh president, Dr. Erling N. Jensen. Jensen, according to an article published a year prior to his inauguration, was a professor of physics at the University of Iowa and a senior physicist at the Iowa University he a man of resolute Christian conviction?” Seegers believed Jensen met these requirements and the board had “done well” with their choice.

The Sept. 23, 1971 issue of The Weekly offered an eerily familiar headline: “Over acceptances create frosh housing shortage.” Whereas today’s housing shortage was solved by the addition of The Courts, this shortage of 32 led mere excuses for rampant sex…Occasional problems could develop, but the residents of Prosser and Benfer generally maintain a mature attitude of the situation.” Similarly, the article says “Life for some has become familiar brother-sister style.” Nowadays, the idea of a non-coed dorm – with the exception of Brown – seems quite strange.

The October 7, 1976 issue included a student poll about campus food. As we all know, today’s campus dining options are anything but a concern– Muhlenberg Dining was recently ranked 16th best in the country by the Princeton Review. However, this wasn’t always the case: as the article starts, “According to a recent student poll, the majority of the surveyed consider the food served in the Union to be of questionable quality.” One student went as far as to say that “a lot of the stuff I just plain can’t eat.” This seemingly inedible food also had some rather unfortunate side effects. The Weekly reported that students had to take “copious amounts of medication in order to relieve the effects the food has on their digestive tracts,” citing the foods “enema like characteristics.” Luckily, Sodexo eventually swooped in and transformed our dining hall in to the (16th place) wonder it is.

As you can imagine, the campus of the past also looked quite different from the campus of today. In 1986, The Weekly told us about not only the delay in Seegers renovations, but also plans for the “new (and improved) Haas Library.” The article on the seemingly halted Seegers renovations reassured students that “the renovation of Seeger’s Union basement is not a forgotten issue. It is merely slow in the making.” As covered in a previous article, this renovation would see the end of the famed bowling alleys. On a more positive note, the construction of the new library was slated to begin in the following months. One of the new amenities the library staff was excited for was a “new catalogue system where computers will search for the topic.” Though some may argue these Seegers renovations and the removal of the bowling alley were bad ideas, I imagine all Muhlenberg students would agree that the addition of computers in the library has been successful.

Ten years later, Muhlenberg got another new addition; the incomparable Mike Bruckner. The fresh-faced Michael S. Bruckner was appointed as Vice President of Public Relations by President Arthur Taylor on September 13th, 1996.When appointed, Bruckner was already to make changes to his office, saying “we want to be very proactive” and that “Muhlenberg has good stories to tell and they must be told.” Bruckner gave himself a deadline of October 1st, just under three weeks, to learn “how Muhlenberg works” and even planned to “meet with as many faculty members as possible.” For those of you who don’t know who Mike Bruckner is but recognize the name, he’s the man that sends you the ‘Berg Bulletin at 9:00A.M. every day. He has also been known to get into quite the mess in The Weekly’s April Fool’s issues, with one article covering his death at the hands of the General Pete statue.

So it turns out that Muhlenberg students of the past experienced similar events to our first month of recent years. From new presidents and staff members, to Seegers renovations, and even to housing shortages, Muhlenberg students across the ages seem to be connected in more ways than just their shared alma mater. Whether 50 years or 5 minutes ago, we all once walked around campus making our own history at Muhlenberg College. Most of the things we remember about our time at school won’t be published in The Weekly, but these small memories we have will stay with us longer than any major headline.