The feature “On this day in Stanford history … ” details unusual or humorous events that occurred on the same date or week in past years from The Daily archives.
According to The Stanford Daily archives, on Oct. 19 in …
1893: Members of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity challenged “any other fraternity in the University, Sigma Nu preferred,” to a football game.
1897: A Daily column discussed cheating and academic standards at Stanford. According to the columnist, some students in the current freshman class had been “dropped from the institution” only a month into the year for neglecting their work and skipping class.
“Stanford University is not the place for idlers,” the columnist wrote. “There is no denying the fact that those who do not show an interest in their work are doomed.”
1904: “A large force of men” began working on paving the newly constructed “outer quadrangle.” The project was expected to span three months.
1920: The Daily published “up-to-date ‘dope’” on the results of a survey conducted in a political science class. Of the 235 students surveyed, two students failed to correctly spell the name of the president of the United States, which at the time was Woodrow Wilson. 135 students identified as Republicans, 77 as Democrats, one as “Farmer-Labor,” six as socialists and the rest as something else. When asked to list the reasoning behind their decisions, nearly one third wrote, “Because Father is.”
1922: The Daily announced plans for a “smoker” for chemistry majors hosted by Alpha Chi Sigma, noting that the group would also travel next Thursday to San Francisco and Sausalito in order to learn the practical applications of chemistry in the meat industry. The trip would include visits to the Western Meat Company and the Mason By-Products Company.
1931: An “All-University Victory Dance” was to be held Saturday at 8:30 p.m. for “all those members of the campus who manage to garner one of the fast-disappearing bids.” The event was expected to be such a hit that the University moved its venue from the Women’s Clubhouse to the Women’s Dance Studio.
1945: The Cellar, a campus eatery, was in danger of having to close during the evenings unless “one male hasher” was hired. The student in charge of the recruitment effort explained that men were preferred for the job “due to the difficulties of arranging late leaves for women hashers.”
1948: Stanford held an event called “Sex Behavior and Sex Attitudes in Relation to Emotional Health” as part of an evening lecture series. Johns Hopkins psychiatrist Dr. John C. Whitehorn, who was on campus to deliver the 1948 Jacob Gimbel Lectures on Sex Psychology, was the main speaker.
1954: A fire in a Roble janitor’s closet caused $500 (about $4,600 today) worth of damage. The Stanford Fire Department was called to put out the fire.
1962: The LASSU – the body now known as the ASSU Undergraduate Senate – voted against repealing a bill encouraging the desegregation of men and women in the “rooting section” at sporting events. The Legislature also defeated 13-9 a motion “to recommend the continued segregation of the rooting section.”
1973: Students organized Whitman House, an academic residency program, to fight against “intellectual loneliness” caused by the separation between classes and dorm life. Residents organized events such as dinner discussions, “cultural activities” and in-house seminars, and students could earn five units through the Political Science department for one of the three quarter-long classes offered.
1994: A graduate student collapsed after he was “head-butted” by a suspected gang member from East Palo Alto outside the joint Theta Delta Chi-Kappa Kappa Gamma Oktoberfest Party at the TDX house. After he was found by the police and rushed to the hospital, the student was diagnosed with a broken cheekbone.
“A group of high school students, some of them wearing East Palo Alto T-shirts, came to the party,” the TDX president told the police. “When they got inside, they acted belligerently and started picking fights with Theta Delts and other students.”
2005: Stern’s Cyber Cafe became the only eatery on campus at the time to serve late-night food on weekends.
“It’s Saturday, 1:30 a.m., Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s ‘Hos Gone Wild’ party is winding down, and you’re a little tipsy, car-less and very hungry,” a Daily writer wrote. “Up until last weekend, the possibilities were limited to hijacking a golf cart for a joyride to Jack-in-the-Box or raiding Chi Theta Chi’s organic food bins. Now, thanks to the efforts of the ASSU Senate and Stanford Dining, the hungry and car-less can take advantage of [Cyber Cafe].”
Contact Sarah Ortlip-Sommers at sortlip ‘at’ stanford.edu.