On this day in Stanford’s history…
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. 27 in …
1894: Someone complained of odors arising from a lot next to the electrical engineering building, where hog pens were partitioned and wagon-loads of slops were delivered. Subsequently, “stifling” odors arose. The report admonished that this sanitary dilemma could breed disease, and called out Stanford’s managing architect to sort out the situation.
1925: The Daily Palo Alto moved its headquarters to the recently-completed Stanford University Press building. The article documenting this shift noted changing the paper’s name to The Stanford Daily News as the next major improvement to the publication.
1958: At midnight, female frosh could officially identify themselves as “Stanford women” after receiving a kiss and a rose from a senior man. The notice advertising Full Moon on the Quad underscored the seniors’ chance to “snow” the “Farm femmes” on the occasion.
1960: Two members of Stanford’s since-dissolved Beta Theta Pi chapter were jailed and charged with assault and battery. At the Sportsman’s Club in Redwood City, the owner told the students that the establishment was closing down for the night. One of the students proceeded to go into the washroom and tamper with the plumbing, such that the area began to flood. The owner called the police on the students and brought out a .38-caliber revolver to compel the students to stay on the premises until authorities arrived. The owner claimed that the students “advanced on him”; he then fired shots in the air and the students ran away. The sheriff’s department later located the students, who were ultimately released on bail.
1982: A Daily reporter revealed that students had begun to pursue degrees in engineering in lieu of pure math. In the early 1970s, more students studied pure math than any other type of math within the mathematics department, but according to a Graduate Studies dean, this began to change with the rise of the technology industry and decreasing opportunities in math research and teaching positions at universities.
1990: Surgeons at the Stanford Hospital replaced a girl’s infected lung with part of her live mother’s healthy lung in what a Daily article called the first ever transplant of its kind. The transplant took five hours and involved three surgeons.
1994: A high court in Cape Town found three guilty of murdering a Amy Biehl ’89, a Stanford alum and Fulbright Scholar in what the judge called a “vicious attack.” Biehl had been in South Africa aiding voter education in anticipation of the country’s first all-race election.
“We’re relieved that this painful chapter is over,” Biehl’s father said after the ruling. “We’re also relieved for the people of South Africa in that they have seen their judicial system work in a dignified way.”
Contact Courtney Douglas at ccd4 ‘at’ stanford.edu.