1950-1959

The Secret of Survival under Atomic Attack

"Filling a request from companies and organizations, Frayn Printing Company is making available an official U.S. Government booklet presenting the secret of survival under atomic attack. The 30-page booklet is replete with information which a number of Seattle organizations have already made available to employees and their families. One of our largest industrial firms ordered 35,000 of the booklets. The cost is very nominal, and orders may be in any quantity of 500 or over."--Frayn Printing Company ad, Spring 1951.

Progress at the Expense of Natural Beauty?

"I am writing to protest in the strongest possible terms the destruction of the beautiful wooded area in the northwest corner of the campus to make a parking lot for students' cars. ... The parking problem in the district is a serious one I realize; this is a new age and we must have progress--agreed. But surely not at the expense of destroying the last remaining area of natural beauty."--Letter to the Editor by Dagmar Georgeson. * "A major reason for approval of the new lots is to help solve the congested University District parking situation. ... The Board of Regents and the University administration are conscious of their obligation to retain the beauty of the campus. They feel that the new parking areas will not detract from the appearance of the campus, and that further, the University has a responsibility to its students to provide them with adequate parking facilities."--Board of Regents President John King. Fall 1951

Reviving Faith in Free Society during Cold War

"We have not made much headway reviving faith in free society. ... If this is to be a cold war for many years as Allied diplomats believe, then the attitudes of the French, Germans, Italians and all the rest will be decisive. ... It is inescapable to anyone who visits Europe that democracy and the ways of free men are on trial. We may lose if we permit arrogance and self-righteousness to dictate our foreign policies; if we countenance corruption and moral laxness in government; and if we are complacent in the face of social and civic irresponsibility and intolerance in our communities."--Ed Guthman, '41. Spring 1952.


Fisheries Professor Lauren Donaldson holds a salmon returning to the UW salmon pond. File photo.

A Fishy Homecoming

An unusual group of University of Washington alumni had a Homecoming all their own down a the Fisheries Building this fall. ... A group of college-bred silver salmon, released from a concrete pond on the campus a year and a half ago, returned to their artificial spawning grounds. ... Although it has long been known that fish will return to natural spawning grounds, this is the first time on record that any have returned to an artificial environment. ...Lauren Donaldson, professor of fisheries, pioneered the experiment despite the skepticism of other fisheries experts who said it couldn't be done. Winter 1952-53

UW Starts Its Own TV Channel

Educational television is one of the major questions that has been plaguing University administrators and educators in recent months. And they've decided `tis better to meet the challenge than to forfeit all chance to obtain such as station in Seattle, with its many new possibilities for the education of students and adults. So the University applied for Channel 9 in time to meet the June 2 deadline. ... The decision to enter the television picture was not an easy one to make ... An outside consultant... indicated that an educational station could be operated within reasonable financial limitations. Summer 1953.

Men Finally Have a Home on Campus

A fabulously beautiful new building was added to Washington's lovely campus recently when the first of two permanent men's dormitories opened its massive glass doors at the beginning of Fall Quarter. ... The opening of the Men's Residence Hall marked the end of a 36-year period during which the University did not offer housing for men in permanent structures. The new 12-story campus skyscraper replaces temporary war-surplus barracks accommodating bachelor veterans after World War II. Winter 53-54 * The "Hero Halls" for bachelor veterans, which cluttered the area around Frosh Pond, have been torn down. The grounds are being landscaped attractively, and you can actually see all the way from Bagley Hall to Guggenheim Hall. [Name changed to Terry Hall in 1957] Spring 1954

Pleading the Fifth

University of Washington Faculty Senate members take a dim view of educators who invoke the Fifth Amendment. In a recent action, the Faculty Senate agreed overwhelmingly that hiding behind the Fifth Amendment casts heavy doubt on the fitness of an educator to hold a teaching position. The faculty representatives voted their approval of a policy that it is proper to re-examine the tenure of any professor who refuses to answer questions from a legally constituted government body. Summer 1954


The oldest building on campus is Denny Hall.

Razing Denny Not an Option

Denny Hall, the first building constructed on the UW campus, will be remodeled instead of torn down. The action was taken after a new and detailed study of the structural condition of the 60-year-old building was made by a board of engineers and architects. The new study was ordered at the last meeting of the regents when it was suggested that it might be better to raze the structure and replace it with a new building. Fall 1954

Enrollment Boom Projected into 1960s

The autumn quarter registration was 13,675, and increase of 627 over the previous autumn. ... A new 10-year forecast indicated that all state school enrollments will continue to break records every year until at least 1965 and probably beyond. Sample projections are 14,050 in 1955; 15,400 in 1957; 17,000 in 1960, 19,500 in 1963; and 21,800 in 1965. January 1955


Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer was rejected as a possible lecturer by UW President Henry Schmitz, causing a firestorm of criticism. At least one international science conference canceled plans to meet on campus.

Disinviting Oppenheimer

A few months ago President Schmitz decided not to invite to the campus a controversial physicist [J. Robert Openheimer, leader of the Manhattan Project, whose security clearance was revoked in the 1950s] whom the Physics Department had recommended as a Walker-Ames lecturer. A series of misrepresentations ... and the premature and partial reporting of the matter in the press unfortunately thrust the University into the national spotlight. The ensuing refusal by certain scientists to come to Washington as guest lecturers further clouded the issue. ... It soon became clear that it was not so much a question of whether the decision was right or wrong, but whether Dr. Schmitz had the right to make a decision such as this. ... The Alumni Association, having considered the issues, is convinced that academic freedom is not involved and that the basic issue is one of University administration and authority only. ... In the final analysis Dr. Schmitz, as President of the University, is the voice and direct representative of the people of the State of Washington. As such he is vested with their authority to make any decision he deems proper. April 1955

Employment Boom--Which Job Should I Take?

Those of us who remember the job prospects during the Depression look with awe and envy at this year's graduates. ... In many fields, it wasn't a question of "Will I get a job?" Rather, it was "Which job shall I take?" Engineers, chemists and physicists were in the best spot. Their offers ranged from $350 to $500 per month. Stating salaries for non-technical graduates ranged upward form $300. July 1955


Push-button transmission was hailed as a breakthrough in automotive technology in this Dodge ad that ran in the magazine in the 1950s.

Life is Better in a Dodge

"Push-button driving, the `dreamers' vision of years back, has become a reality in the '56 Dodge. Four push-buttons on the dash, as easy to operate as those on a radio, allow the driver to select instantly the desired driving range from his automatic, Power-Flite transmission. Gone is the gear shift as we knew it. ... Many, many steps, some little and some great, will be taken toward the eventual end that the automobile will do more of the work, the driver less. ... The almost entirely automatic car? Gas turbine engines? Atomic power? Probably all in their time. But I cannot give you the timetable, only our direction, which is always forward."--William C. Newberg, '33, president, Dodge Motor Division. October 1955

Football's Sins Punish All Sports

[A league investigation finds that 27 football players are getting payments from boosters averaging $60 a month. As a result, all UW sports programs are penalized.]

Since May, when the Pacific Coast Conference aimed a two-year probation at Washington, University alums and the rest of the public have raised a lot of vital questions. Will the school de-emphasize football? ... Has the penalty affected the recruiting program? Will the football squad suffer morale-wise because it can't go to the Rose Bowl? ... George Briggs, the University's new athletic director ... is confident the Huskies will come out of the probation ... sound of life and limb. ... Briggs and each member of his staff share the belief that the penalty was unjust as it pertained to athletes in other sports than football, but each, too, shares the thought that--as painful as it may seem at the time--the University's athletic program can emerge stronger than ever. July 1956

Enrollment Pressures Mounting

The 1955 enrollment approached 15,000 despite specific curtailment of out-of-state registrations. An increase of more than 50 percent is possible in the next eight years. The University is now expected to have 18,000 students by 1960, 23-24,000 by 1965. ... During the next 20 years the state population is expected to grow by 35 percent while during the same period of time the college-age population is expected to grow by 80 to 85 percent. October 1956

The End of the Pacific Coast Conference?

"Question: Has the UW, as one of the schools most heavily penalized in 1956 for rules infractions, sought to break up the Pacific Coast Conference? Answer: No, quite the contrary. From the beginning the University has accepted, without public complaint or rancor, its responsibility for past dereliction in the operation of its athletic program and has carried forward, vigorously and successfully, a program of rehabilitation and correction. Question: Can the conference survive now that California, UCLA and USC have declared their intention to withdraw? Answer: It can, but the problems of survival seem to be almost insuperable."--Professor Donald Wollett, faculty representative to the PCC. Winter 57-58

A New President Arrives

Dr. Charles E. Odegaard will come to the University as President next August 1. Dr. Odegaard is dean of the College of Literature, Science and Art at the University of Michigan. ... Dr. Odegaard, 47, is considered one of the outstanding younger educational administrators in the nation. He was the youngest dean ever to head the literary college at the University of Michigan when he was appointed to the post in 1952. His major field of teaching interest is medieval history. Spring 1958

Crew Beat Russians in Moscow

"Coxswain John Bisset raised both arms skyward in a gesture of sheer ecstasy as the slim prow of a rowing shell slid across an imaginary finish line. This expressed more adequately than a thousand words the sentiments of Washington oarsmen, their coach, the American Ambassador to Russia, and a handful of Yanks tonight at the shocking defeat of Leningrad's world's championship eight."--Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sports Editor Royal Brougham. Summer 1958

Columns Collapses

Old-timers sighed nostalgically, the University administration sighed with relief and most students didn't even bother to sigh when Columns, the monthly humor magazine, was abolished this spring. The demise was inevitable. After many years of ups and downs, Columns had been on the downgrade steadily for the past 10 years. Producing a magazine of satire and humor just didn't seem to interest post-war student journalists. Summer 1958


Nurses in traditional uniforms use the entrance to the new University Hospital. Photo courtesy of Health Sciences/Medical Affairs News and Community Relations.

University Hospital Opens Its Doors

Today the hospital stands completed--the complement to the excellent basic facilities of the Health Sciences Division. ... Although the hospital appears similar to most community hospitals form the outside, its design and function is considerably different because it has a different job to do. ... Each floor contains special facilities for students, interns and residents participating in the care of patients. ... The hospital will be a training center not only for medical students, but for 14 allied heath-care professions. ... It is estimated that about 60 percent of the cost of operating the hospital will be met by patients' fees. Spring 1959

The Arctic Goes Nuclear?

A team of UW scientist has gone north of the Arctic Circle to conduct a month-long ocean survey of a remote Alaskan coastal area that may become the site of the first use of nuclear explosion for peaceful purposes. The University group will be in charge of the marine phase of a $1 million land-and-sea biological study of the Chukchi Sea region. ... The survey is basic to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission's proposed Project Chariot, a project that would involve the simultaneous explosion of five nuclear devices to blast from the Alaska tundra a new, far-north harbor with channel and turning basin. Summer 1959

1908-19 1920-29

1930-39 1940-49

1960-69 1970-79

1980-89 1990-98

Send a letter to the editor at columns@u.washington.edu.

Table of Contents