It began when Fr. Leo Meyer bought 125 acres for $12,000 in 1849. It held through the Great Depression, expanded when women were admitted and improved when segregation took a back seat to equal education. It remained through the '60s riots and the '80s perms, the '90s couch burnings and the 2009 Pub closing.
We've all sensed it and experienced it - that feeling of camaraderie and togetherness. It's not easy to translate into words, but we all know it's there.
It's there because we made the same choice in college education. It's there because we can all relate on some level. It's there because we've had countless shared experiences, yet enough different ones that we can still learn something new from one another.
It's that UD feeling that's been around for decades and has flowed through thousands of students. It's amazing to have that same feeling described in 100-year-old Daytonian yearbooks and seen in 100-year-old photos. So much has changed, but it's funny how that feeling has stayed so much the same.
It began when Fr. Leo Meyer bought 125 acres for $12,000 in 1849. It held through the Great Depression, expanded when women were admitted and improved when segregation took a back seat to equal education. It remained through the '60s riots and the '80s perms, the '90s couch burnings and the 2009 Pub closing.
We've all sensed it and experienced it - that feeling of camaraderie and togetherness. It's not easy to translate into words, but we all know it's there.
It's there because we made the same choice in college education. It's there because we can all relate on some level. It's there because we've had countless shared experiences, yet enough different ones that we can still learn something new from one another.
It's that UD feeling that's been around for decades and has flowed through thousands of students. It's amazing to have that same feeling described in 100-year-old Daytonian yearbooks and seen in 100-year-old photos. So much has changed, but it's funny how that feeling has stayed so much the same.
Fr. William Joseph Chaminade decided it was time to bring his Society of Mary to the United States. Fr. Leo Meyer volunteered to be the first Marianist priest to work in the U.S. when a cholera outbreak in 1849 took the lives of priests at St. Xavier College in Cincinnati.
While in Cincinnati, Meyer learned about some land for sale in Dayton and pursued purchasing it. Dewberry Farm, 125 acres with barns, storage, a vineyard house and a mansion, was for sale by John Stuart for $12,000. Meyer offered the selling price and Stuart accepted, but there was one problem; Meyer didn't have $12,000.
He told Stuart that he would pay in $1000 installations for 12 years, which Stuart agreed to. In return, Stuart was given a medal of St. Joseph for good faith.
Meyer decided to name the land Nazareth. Bro. Maximin Zehler and two other priests joined him in opening the first American Marianist school on Nazareth, soon to be named St. Mary's School for Boys. Fourteen students continued Stuart's good faith by enrolling at the priests' new school.
The moment that land was purchased and a school was established, the UD spirit flourished.
Although the 1850s brought national economic struggle, the new school found itself with heightened enrollment - from 60 to 147 students in three years - and fiscal stability. The family of students grew stronger through the destruction of their mansion by a December 1855 fire, according to the "History of U.D."
Shortly after, Bro. Zehler raised funds to build St. Mary and St. Joseph Halls and other buildings for his students so they could become an even tighter family in an expanding school.
In 1878, St. Mary's School for Boys became a growing St. Mary's College. Degrees, class level designations and educational departments were created, respectively, over the next 25 years.
The family came together in 1913 to "open doors, pantries and hearts to the victims of the worst natural disaster to strike Dayton," the Great Dayton Flood, according to the "History of U.D."
Since St. Mary's had "its own spring water, infirmary, electric light and heating plant, and laundry," they knew they could help those less fortunate. Eight hundred Dayton residents and refugees at the Miami Valley Hospital went under the care of the students and faculty.
According to the "History of U.D.," "While the accounts of the service rendered during Dayton's time of greatest need provide a glimpse at the early history of the university, they give us a more important look at the level of service expected of those who became members of the University of Dayton 'Family.'"
In 1920, the school officially became known as the University of Dayton and offered only college-level courses. Unfortunately, the Great Depression forced hundreds of students to leave the university, putting enrollment at pre-World War I levels.
Students were no longer the age of children, but weren't yet adults, and the post-Depression era made this difficult for them.
They wanted to be heard, which never happened before, so students started newspapers, WVUD radio station and other organizations. Some formed the Student Activities Committee "to regulate social programs of the year for the students," according to the "History of U.D."
The university's populace expanded in 1935 when UD President Tredtin "introduced the concept of coeducation in Catholic schools," explained the "History of U.D." Women were first segregated into the College for Women, but that closed in 1937 when all courses became open to both genders.
The feeling of UD during the time of World War II reflected that of the U.S. - scared and in need of preparation. Students wanted to live the full college life, but they knew that they were going to be involved in the war.
The attack on Pearl Harbor changed UD life. A large amount of students were sent to war and an Army Specialized Training Program brought unfamiliar students to campus.
UD president Elbert told alumni "that the spirit of UD was still alive, despite the decidedly military flavor of the activities on the campus," according to the "History of U.D."
Racial issues on education surfaced nationally, but UD was known for its lack of segregation with the enrollment of black students in the later 1930s and early 1940s. With a new variety of students - women, soldiers and blacks - UD incorporated a new meaning for family.
The UD spirit of new acceptance and collective sadness while awaiting the return of fighting men ended. Enrollment swelled, but war veterans were troubled by their confined dorm life.
UD, like the U.S., was relatively calm throughout the 1950s. The Spirit Committee was created for campus enthusiasm. First-year students were welcomed with handbooks about dorm life and interesting Dayton locations, as opposed to hazing before the war. Academics and religion were in the forefront for student life and the feeling around the university was quiet, content and comfortable.
Then came the '60s.
UD enrollment reached an unprecedented high of 6,800 students in the decade's first year. In 1961, a new dormitory, named Marycrest for the location's altitude, started developing. Three years later when Stuart Hall was built, the campus spirit had transformed.
Students wanted autonomy at UD. They wanted to be in control of their own lives and didn't want to continue following authority figures like they had in the decade before.
Their takeover began in the residence halls when two students became head residents in Founders, leading to near anarchy. Women housed in Marycrest asked to have more say in their living situations. After a meeting was held, the female residents received just what they wanted and created their own Code for Group Living.
"The fact that UD students saw dorm autonomy as a major victory itself indicated their outlook, especially in comparison to their counterparts on other campuses," explained the "History of U.D." While more radical campuses fought on national issues, UD students mostly fought for their on-campus rights.
ROTC was a male student requirement for the first two years at UD. In 1966, students petitioned for its abolition and began a protest in Kennedy Union plaza. By the end of the decade, administration deemed ROTC voluntary.
Skirmishes with non-student neighbors escalated and military/anti-military tempers among students flared. President Roesch advised UD's faculty "that the viewpoints of the students must be heard. [But] they have no right to trample on the rights of others or defy civil laws and explicitly stated University regulations," shared the "History of U.D."
More often than not, UD found some way to work with students and compromise on their discontentment. However, that type of reaction didn't help the students' egos get any smaller.
In September 1969, Flyer News reported parents speaking ill of UD's student government, calling SGA president Kevin Keefe "an idiotic revolutionist." During a welcome speech to freshmen parents, Keefe was shirtless on the stage of Boll Theater "picking at the toes of his bare feet, which he had propped up on the table in front of him." And when it was his turn to speak, he began with a slew of angered vulgarity.
Years later, "Keefe changed his name to Adhiratha, swam the English Channel to raise money for UNICEF - for whom he worked - and told the New York Times that his life had always been guided by the mission statement of the University of Dayton," according to the "History of U.D." No one would have ever believed that during his '69 speech.
The spirit of the campus in the 1960s was conflicted. Students wanted complete freedom compared to the previous decade. But with the Vietnam War looming over them, they didn't know what to expect and needed guidance. The faculty tried to stay out of the internal struggles of the student body, and the administration tried to listen to the students and oversee their actions.
However, as seen with Keefe, the UD spirit reached all students in the '60s, even if they didn't show it.
In the 1920s, football games brought hundreds of students and fans together. In a time near the Great Depression, the Commerce Club was a way for students to gather and learn about the outside financial world. Social life also consisted of monthly events including dances, student plays and the Band Club concerts.
A large piece of creating that UD-loving feeling came with the 1924 origination of the Order of Moot. The Order opened its doors to alumni and friends of the university dedicated to UD. Past students from across the country joined the Order of Moot to share in its secret meetings and activities. They discussed all things UD and communicated their interconnections through shared UD love.
The 1940 Daytonian yearbook describes living in the dorms as being "an integral part of college life" with practical jokes, the constant sound of typewriters and the clubroom piano, and getting ready for dances. Grasping for sleep, gathering to the phonograph to listen to symphonies and just living among one another for the full four years created a tight bond among students.
The Spirit Committee energized UD events. They held journeys to Cleveland and Athens, Ohio, on the "Dayton Flyer Special" train for football games and continued the traditions of UD years prior.
The '60s brought partying and mayhem. Homecoming weekend was called the Sixty-Hour Party and played as an excuse for plummeting grades and throwing parties.
The Senior Comment from the 1974 Daytonian shares the great memories students had from "block parties with bonfires, rallies, concerts, the NCAA and streaking." Sounding similar to today's economy, students share how rising food prices ensue pinching pennies and eating too much macaroni casserole. They found traveling home more difficult than ever with a gas shortage, and the presidential debacle of Watergate left them confused.
The 1988 Daytonian discusses experience. Students had to balance work and play, academic and social. The Pub was a student hot spot, with 8 p.m. starting a completely new part of the day. "This is no Brown Street bar; there are no sticky floors, huge beer-spilling crowds, fights, or hill rats without pants … The Pub is the best place to socialize on campus."
Over the past 160 years, not too much has changed. Students have made men's basketball their number one sport instead of football. Dorm living may consume fewer years, but the same idea continues in student neighborhood housing. Phonographs have changed to iPods, typewriters to Tangents, and the Spirit Committee to the Red Scare.
The 1960s wild, couch-burning era was mimicked in the 1990s, but has cooled off once again as it did in the '70s. The Pub has closed and opened more times in the past two years than anyone can count.
But with all those little differences, UD's spirit still feels the same.
Twelve students took a unique look at UD last semester in a way most students don't even consider through the Archaeology of a Neighborhood course.
"It was a trial course to think about sustainability in community partly though arts and photography and partly through community," said physics professor Dr. Robert Brecha, a co-professor for the course. "We like our community here, but we're really connected as a community through water and air and everything else we do."
The history of the city of Dayton, the founders and leaders of the city, the history of UD and the sustainability of the environment were some specific topics covered in the course, according to senior communications management major Katie Reed.
As ArtStreet artist-in-residence, co-professor Dennie Eagleson taught more of the arts component of the course. There were four major projects that involved new artistic technology for the students.
"The first big assignment was to select an image from the archives from before 1930, print that and re-photograph it from the same location," said Eagleson. "They also had to choose somebody in the UD community that they felt was a UD contributor or leader and interview them."
The students also interviewed alumni, gathered photos from the alumni's duration at UD and put together a five-minute slide show.
"We also did a map of our lives, where the journey began and ends," said Reed. "I got the most out of our personal map. I don't think about my own life, so actually deciding the pictures to use and what to portray for others to see was challenging, but I loved it."
The course will be offered again in the fall 2011 semester as SEE303 Constructions of Place.
