1910-1914

Creating A Foundation For Growth 

According to author James Overman’s History of Bowling Green State University, the city was chosen for it’s tight knit community. Overman wrote “the commissioners were favorably impressed by the attitude shown by the citizens of Bowling Green and felt that the community would give loyal support to the new school.” The selection ended a highly competitive process that saw neighboring towns such as Fremont, Van Wert and Napoleon lose in their bid to be the site of the new normal school. Bowing Green City Council later authorized the purchase of 82.5 acres on April 24, 1911, as the site for the new school.

 The school was officially named on Feb. 16, 1912, as school trustees chose the name Bowling Green State Normal School and appointed Homer B. Williams the school’s first President (1912-1937) . Williams accepted the title formally a few months later, on May 23. That same year a general building plan was approved with the “whopping” amount of $150,000 established to have the new school take on a physical presence.

Since it’s creation, a core focus of the University has been its intended goal to serve as an institution for the training of teachers, and that tradition has carried forward today with the large and robust College of Education and Human Development. Not only was teaching curriculum in the original plans for the school, but students also were required to attend a weekly chapel service.

Aside from a highly planned curriculum, Bowling Green’s founders wanted to ensure the school was taken seriously. Unlike many other schools at the time, they created entrance requirements for their students, including graduation from an approved four-year high school. In September 1914, all the preparatory plans for administration and curriculum were put into effect. Classes began under the instruction of 10 faculty members guided by President Williams. That first year, 304 students were part of the inaugural group learning at the new teachers school. Orange and brown were also selected as the school’s official colors that year.

Although the school metaphorically opened its doors in September, the new institution actually lacked any real buildings yet to house students. Construction on University Hall had started in 1913, but wouldn’t be completed until 1915. That year it would join North Hall Dormitory (Williams Hall), the first building opened that year, along with the original power tuition and required students to pay only for lab materials. Fees in the early years were in the neighborhood of $10.

Before the ever-catchy fight song “Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba”, which sports fans enjoy today, music instructor Ernest G. Hesser’s “We Hail You, Dear Normal College” served as the college’s first song. Another tradition, the University Seal, appeared a little differently in its original form but the symbolism has remained the same. Most changes were made to ensure legibility of the seal even on a smaller scale, when used for things such as stationary and jewelry.

Today, if any University student were asked to name all organizations on campus, they would probably be stumped after the first 10 or 20. The number of organizations and activities today seem infinite. The school’s very first organization was the Book and Motor, which actually remained active until 1965, when it was replaced by the national honorary society Phi Kappa Phi. Music and choral groups were also popular during the first years of the school.

1915-1919

Growing pains and fighting for legitimacy

The period from 1915-1919 was a time when the University, then known as Bowling Green State Normal School, was working to establish its identity and find its place in higher education. The two-year, teacher-training school was fairly new, but students and administrators were already pushing for and creating change on the campus.

During those years the normal school started its first athletic team, men’s basketball, in 1916. And the administration worked to overcome political opposition to grow beyond a normal school, awarding its first four-year bachelor’s degree in 1917, and gaining college status and a new name, Bowling Green Normal College, in 1920. During this period the University dealt with growing pains and obstacles ranging from the weather, to what was then known as the Great War (World War I) as it worked to get’s its footing and grow beyond being a teacher training school. During those years the normal school started its first athletic team, men’s basketball, in 1916. And the administration worked to overcome political opposition to grow beyond a normal school, awarding its first four-year bachelor’s degree in 1917, and gaining college status and a new name, Bowling Green Normal College, in 1920.

Tuition and expenses

Compared to today’s landscape of higher education, where students are often burdened with tuition increases and thousands of dollars in student loans, the early years were indeed an idyllic time. Tuition was free when the school first opened its doors, but within a few years, the administration was forced to begin reconsidering its free-education policy. According to “The History of Bowling Green State University,“ by James Overman, on April 29, 1916, University President Homer Williams received a letter from the government suggesting he and leaders of the other four state-supported institutions in Ohio discuss ways of securing more funding. The state of Ohio, the letter stated, had reached its limit for supporting educational institutions.

But despite several meetings with the other state schools and a lot of discussion, Bowling Green was able to remain tuitionfree for several years, Overman writes. But in 1921, tuition was charged for the first time at the college. The cost was $10 per semester. Hess said normal schools (or teacher-training schools) in most states began tuition-free because state officials looked at them as a way to get quality teachers and further the base of educated citizens in their states. And in the early years, Bowling Green did not have to charge tuition because its costs did not exceed what the state provided.

Weather

One thing all Bowling Green students then and now have in common is the weather, dealing with the wind, ice and snow during the winter months. But students in the winter of 1917 experienced extreme weather. On December 8, 1917, Bowling Green was hit by what Overman called “the worst blizzard on record,” at least at the time of his writing. Because there was not enough coal for heating, classes were cancelled until after Christmas break. The school received enough coal to resume classes after the break, but, partially because of World War I rationing, the supply was limited and classrooms and residence halls were only partially heated that winter.

WWI 

Most students in those early years were women, partially because education was the main emphasis and females dominated the profession. In 1916-1917, only 24 men attended the University (out of 274 total students), and in the following year there were 28 men out of 257. Because of these low male numbers, World War I had little affect on attendance at the University. It wasn’t until later, when the college began offering courses other than teaching that men started to enroll in higher numbers. Hess said other than an increased show of patriotism on campus, World War I did not have much of an impact on University life.

Athletics

In 1916, two years after the school opened its doors, the first athletic team, men’s basketball, was organized. The Bowling Green ‘Normals’ lost their first-ever game to Toledo, 33-18. The team went on to a 2-2 record in their first year. The next season, however, they pulled off a winning record of 6-4. Bowling Green formed its first football team in 1919. The team lost every game, going 0-3 on the season. After four consecutive losses in 1920 (seven overall), they managed to win their first game against Kent State, 7-0. The next year they went on to win their first Northwest Ohio Athletic Conference championship, finishing 3-1-1, highlighted with a whopping win over Findlay, 151-0.

Four-Year Degrees

Though Bowling Green began as a two-year training school for teachers, the administration wanted to expand its offerings to four-year bachelor degrees, but ran into opposition. Other state schools, including Ohio State University, fought to prevent Bowling Green from gaining the right to grant four-year degrees because they saw it as competition, Weiss said..  

Hess said other Ohio schools administrators simply did not believe Bowling Green, or Kent State, the other normal school in northeast Ohio, was up to the challenge.

University President Williams led the effort to overcome their objections, and in 1917 the University awarded its first bachelor’s degree, a Bachelor of Science in Education, to Margaret L. Grant. According to Overman, Grant was followed by eight more students earning four-year degrees in June 1918. 

1920-1924

Increasing enrollment and robust student life

The early 1920’s was a period of rapid growth at Bowling Green. Entering its second decade and still called Bowling Green State Normal College, not only was the school growing physically, but also in terms of the holistic development activities and student groups, defining a much broader student experience. The outgrowth of these student activities probably reflected the healthy growth in the size and breadth of the student body. Enrollment was rapidly increasing, growing from 208 in 1918-19 to 681 by 1924-25. With the plans for added buildings and faculty came the natural increase in student activity.

But while the enthusiasm was rampant within the community of Bowling Green and there was local excitement for the future of the school and city, not everybody was in favor of the small college, in the small town of Bowling Green, getting much bigger. When the college began granting four-year degrees, there was opposition–mostly coming from Ohio State University examiner, Bland L. Stradley.

In his account of the Bowling Green’s first 50 years, author James Overman writes of the struggle the college went through to gain respect. He tells of OSU sending three investigators to prove the Normal College’s inferiority. According to Overman, the investigators found superb instruction, but still maintained Bowling Green should not be allowed to grant four-year degrees.

However, College President Homer B. Williams responded with the creation of his own committee, which included Overman and Clayton Kohl, and sent them to investigate OSU! Their report found the truly inferior school was, in fact, OSU, and OSU had no choice but to concede the point. From that point on, says Overman, Stradley was a friend of the University. 

But while the politics of this situation was playing out, Bowling Green stayed focused on its own internal growth and vitality. It was during this period that the annual Key publication, effectively the University yearbook, was revived, having been discontinued in 1918 after only one edition. For a few years, the Bee Gee News published an annual addition at the end of each year. But with much student protest and assemblies, and a contribution from Overman, the dream of getting an annual was finally re-realized in 1924. The name for the book comes from a statement made by then Athletic Director R.B. McCandles at one of the assemblies. He called his own college yearbook “a key which unlocked memories of college days.”

The first-ever Bowling Green Homecoming game was played in 1922 against Toledo University. The game ended in a tie, but turnout was high, the paper writes, and there were feelings of great camaraderie and celebration. A parade held on Court Street featured float entries from nearly every University organization.

The following year’s Homecoming game was played against Ashland and was an even bigger success than the first. The Normals won the game 10-0, and the Bee Gee News declared it the “Biggest Day in History of [the] College.” As the athletics program grew, by 1925 resistance was also growing to the sports teams nickname, the “Normals.” Consequently, as a first step, the athletic awards letter was changed from a block letter “N” to a block “BG.”

And Bowling Green was developing into more than just a training school for teachers. After the official opening of the Training School in what is now known as Hanna Hall, in 1921, males, and non-teachers, were enrolling in ever-increasing numbers. By 1925, they were about a fifth of the University population. During this time departments of physics and biology were added to the curriculum

Some of the men, led by a prominent and very active student, “Doc” Lake, formed the Ye Olde Five Brothers society. According to Overman’s account, the society was formed on a train ride. The group had purchased some strong tobacco – “Five Brothers” tobacco – and initiation consisted of keeping the tobacco in your mouth on the train ride. The group was among the most social at the University, organizing and attending dances and sporting events all through the years. But it wasn’t only the men who were organizing social groups. “Five Sisters” was also formed during this time, and later joined by the “Seven Sisters.” These groups constituted the earliest local social fraternities and sororities at the college

Prominent national figures were visiting the University during this time. Perhaps the most notable of these came in 1921, when Glenn Frank, a draftee of the League of Nations charter and editor of Century magazine, gave a lecture in December Of course as the student groups and prominent figures of
the day have now faded to only historical existence, was does remain as evidence of the early 1920’s is much of the physical plant of those early days. Shatzel Hall, originally a girl’s dormitory, was built, as wasthe Training School Building (Hanna). Plans for other buildings were underway, and a 1924 map shows seven already existing buildings and another nine planned projects, including the first library (McFall). As the second half of the “roaring” 1920s unfolded, the college was well on its way to join the national boom of prosperity. 

1925-1929

‘Roaring’ through the late 1920’s

The tone of the country during the “Roaring Twenties,” was one of progression, affluence and enjoyment. And BGNC was no exception. As the college crossed the midpoint of the decade, the Normal School continued its rapid growth and evolution. The faculty at the time guided the school’s progression in sport, academics and more. By 1927, the Bowling Green Normals decided it was time to adopt a new mascot to represent the sports teams, following increased resistance to the inaugural nickname. The students and faculty of the day nearly unanimously agreed that “Normals” didn’t properly capture the spirit of Bowling Green athletics.

The deliberation was short-lived and a solution quickly proposed. A local newspaper article in the Bowling Green Sentinel-Tribune suggested the “Falcons.” School officials welcomed the nickname, agreeing that a falcon is “famous for its fierceness, speed and courage.” Just like that, a new identity was born, one thousands of students in the years ahead would embrace and cherish.

But intramural sport acknowledgment was still a very small step in gender equality fostered with the right to vote granted to women at the beginning of the decade. Nationally, and in Bowling Green, women were still fighting for equal social rights beyond their ability to cast a ballot. In 1926, a handbook was printed dictating women’s conduct on campus, the first of many handbooks that were published until 1970. Women, though making up a majority of the current student population, were also unable to ride in cars without proper supervision and were publicly criticized for smoking.

Strides were made in 1928 when Myrtle B. Edwards became the first woman to serve on the Board of Trustees. For seven years, she was the sole voice of female representation to the Trustees, creating a legacy and guiding the future of the school in a direction that considered women’s roles. The school’s advancement did not stop there.

On April 2, 1929 a piece of state legislation, the Emmons-Hanna Bill, was passed which legally changed Bowling Green Normal School’s name to Bowling Green Normal College. Only three months later, the College of Liberal Arts was established, making the College a duel-purpose institution. James Overman became the first Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Clyde Hissong the Dean of the College of Education.

This addition created problems as well as opportunities. Faculty were unsure as to whether or not they would serve one college or both and what would be expected of their service. To address these issues and more, President Williams proceeded to appoint a committee to study the evolution of faculty duties required with the addition of a new college.

After receiving input from the faculty, the committee decided there would be no division made and all departments and faculty members should serve the College as a whole, rather than the separate colleges of education and liberal arts. This arrangement survived until 1951 when the University’s expansion no longer supported this framework. The physical campus also grew steadily in the late ‘20’s as Shatzel Hall, begun earlier in the decade, came online in 1926. By 1929, the campus was comprised of just eight buildings. All classes and events for the 800-900 students were held in the limited facilities the late 1920’s provided.

Today, students can choose between a seemingly endless list of majors and classes, and they are even given the opportunity to form their own focus of study if they cannot find a fit among the established programs. In the late ‘20’s, though, this was not the case. The Normal College was actually considered ahead of its time by offering six majors and four minors to enrolled students, while most normal schools at the time focused solely on education and training teachers. By the 1929-1930 school year, students could major in English, chemistry, French, history, mathematics or social science. They could minor in biology, Latin, physics and Spanish.

As growth of the school remained steady ending the decade, such was not the case nationally. The country’s financial system was economically rocked with the collapse of the stock market on “Black Tuesday” in October 1929. The ripple effect heading into the 1930’s was what we today call the Great Depression. BGNC seemed to remain unaffected at first. Overall enrollment actually increased in 1930. Slightly more than 1,000 students were attending by the end of the 1930-1931 school year. This increase was attributed by many to the low cost of attending Bowling Green’s college, a price lower than almost any other higher education institution in Ohio at the time.

Also, as the national job market began to shed jobs, young people headed to secondary education in order to postpone employment and wait out the country’s economic downturn. While BG managed to escape the dire effects in the early years of the Great Depression, darker days were ahead. But in this case, longevity would have its advantages. President Homer Williams, who served longer than any of Bowling Green’s presidents, would provide the consistency and leadership in the fight to keep BGNC’s doors open and advance the cause of higher education in Northwest Ohio during the coming economic storm.

1930-1934

Weathering–and growing through–the Great Depression

The spirit and sense of community established early in the history of Bowling Green has been carried forward through its entire existence. But is was no more evident than when the country faced the enormity of the effects of the Great Depression, as the impact began to hit home less than two years after the market collapse of 1929. 

By the early 1930’s, as companies either shuttered their operations or laid off significant numbers of their workers, the loss of earnings was being felt by state governments. The general revenue fund that supported higher education in Ohio began to dry up and all state schools and the state educational system began to suffer.

Enrollment stabilized in the 1,000-plus student range early in the depression years, but by 1933 had declined to 930. The Key yearbook became a casualty, suspending publication in 1933, but returning a year later. But Bowling Green’s own struggles with funding and enrollment were about to take on a much more serious tone. Coinciding with a loss of operating dollars for education, the state also faced the issue of providing some sort of safety net for the victims of the Great Depression. As one solution, the Senate Finance Committee proposed in 1933 that they close one state school and convert it into a mental hospital. Because Bowling Green was the smallest of the state schools as enrollment had declined to 930, it became the state’s number one target.

The Bowling Green community was not going to stand idly by and let their school be shut down without a fight. The school was joined by much of Northwest Ohio to form and back a committee that would act on behalf of the well being of the school, its faculty and most importantly, its students. The committee gathered evidence to show the state, that if Bowling Green closed, current and future students would be unable to go elsewhere due to location and financial issues. 

Their fight was not in vain, the state recognized the evidence Bowling Green gave and voted later that year against closing down the school and converting it into a mental hospital. But though campus escaped the threat being shut down, the impact of the depression was being felt in other ways.

During those years, the concept of an actual athletic department didn’t exist, as all sports were seen as an extension of the Department of Physical Education, headed by Warren E. Stellar in those years. Various aspects of student life also built on the reprieve granted by the state. In 1934, the BEE GEE NEWS started a movement on campus to create a student government. With the increase in the number of men
enrolled at the school, there appeared to be greater need for a co-ed student council. Previously, there was only a Women’s League, which acted as a governing body for the women students, but students began calling for a larger and more representative student council.

The BEE GEE NEWS persisted with its proposal and soon other student organizations lent their support. The campus chapter of the Y.M.C.A. was the first group to approve the student council proposal and was quickly followed by the 3-K sorority. The BEE GEE NEWS began printing a “Roll of Honor” that listed the groups supporting the student council proposal and that list rapidly grew to include the Emerson Literary Society, one of the most prominent student groups, and the Intermediate Teachers’ Council.

In order to have the student council proposal brought to a vote among the entire student body, a large number of campus organizations would first have to vote their approval on the proposal. Then a committee of administrators and student organization representatives would have to draw up a constitution that would then have to win the approval from the administration and the student body. It took awhile to happen, but finally in spring 1936 Bowling Green received its student government and the BEE GEE NEWS’ associate editor was named the first student council president.

1935-1939

‘Roaring’ through the late 1920’s

The designation in the spring of 1935 that Bowling Green State College was now a “university,” (along with sister school Kent State) launched a host of changes in the late 1930’s due to opportunities for institutional growth around the new designation. The University broadened its academic offerings with new degree programs and hiring additional faculty. By 1938, students who attended the University could receive degrees in biological science, business administration, chemistry, economics, English, French, history, political science, Latin, mathematics, physical science, sociology and speech. During this time period, the University also stopped offering two-year teaching degrees and, by 1940, became a four-year, degree-granting university.

Record enrollment was set every year throughout the mid-to-late 1930’s as more students found Bowling Green to be a good fit for their educational needs. By the 1939 school year, 1,800 students were enrolled at the University, including undergraduate and graduate students, according to Overman. It dipped the following year to 1,600, including undergraduate and graduate students. The late 1930’s also saw the University physically double in size. In the fall of 1929, the campus consisted of eight buildings. By 1939, the number increased to 12, including a new stadium and auditorium. And the area of student activities also grew along with the physical accommodations.

The nearly two-year effort in the mid-1930’s led to a landslide vote of 523 to 25 in 1936 to create a student council. The new council was composed of 12 students and three faculty members, whose “purpose is to coordinate campus activities and to act as official student voice in affairs affecting students’ ‘interests,’” Overman wrote.

The Bee Gee News wrote this in an Aug. 4, 1937 editorial. Williams, who helped the University expand from a normal college to a University, saw the development of campus buildings, equipment, curriculum, extra curricular activities and student council. 

Everyone predicted a bright future for the University under his leadership But this “bright future” was cut tragically short. Offenhauer died in an automobile accident during Christmas vacation in 1938, serving only a little more than one year as president. Answering the call of the school that he had build and nurtured, Homer Williams returned as interim president to bring a steady hand of leadership until a permanent president could be found.

Prout, who believed in the importance of a broad liberal education for teachers, as well as for those preparing for other professions, would work to lay the foundation for the University to enter the next decade.  But he would face the challenges of shepherding Bowling Green through some uncharted waters and influences well beyond the classroom: the storm that was erupting in Europe and Asia would draw the United States—and the University—into World War II.

1940-1944

Pulling together in the war years

War was on nearly everybody’s mind as the 1940’s unfolded. When America finally entered the conflict, President Frank Prout wrote a letter to the community Dec. 11, 1941, published in The Bee Gee News imploring students to stay in school despite the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese only four days earlier. But though Prout’s plea was eloquently made on the virtues of a college education
and staying in school, life at the University was changing and normal activities were interrupted as many went to serve their country and fight across the oceans.

He held them off until suitable living arrangements were made and then in June 1943, 500 men slated to go through Naval officer training moved into Shatzel and Kohl residence halls. This move, more than anything, may have brought the war closer to home for many students. Those in the V12 program interacted with the other students every day, in classes, in the rest of the town and on dates.

Hess also said it was interesting that during this time, the men in the Navy had a weekend curfew of midnight while the girls’ weekend curfew was 12:30 a.m. You’d have the girls dropping off the guys at Kohl Hall instead of vice versa (Hess said.) With the war, and Bowling Green serving as a training location, there was a definite impact on campus life. Hess said while campus life wasn’t “dormant,” it lacked the school spirit that defined earlier years. But despite the dominance of the war over the University and other schools like it, the University managed to make some key advancement, particularly in the area of student life.

But with the Prout presidency, many aspects of campus were changed. Prout, Hess said, was very campus and student-oriented. He would take walks around campus and know students by name. He would converse with them about their school and know what they were concerned about. He would visit sick students in the campus infirmary. Prout also had a personal approach to staff too, He would bring flowers to secretaries.

Bowling Green’s third president also introduced to campus during this time the national Greek community. Williams hadn’t been a fan of the national fraternity-sorority system, Hess said. There had been local fraternities and sororities, but Williams had always resisted taking them to the national level, claiming that the school didn’t have the right facilities or enough facilities to adequately foster a reasonable Greek system.

Prout, on the other hand, was himself a fraternity man. Houses that were constructed on campus would eventually become Greek living units. Alpha Xi Delta was the first sorority to be chartered nationally in 1943.

In 1942, Prout brought in a new basketball coach, Harold Anderson, who eventually would have a new basketball arena named in his honor some years in the future, in recognition of his career accomplishments. Anderson was good at proving its not where you play but how you play to gain success. In those early years the men played and practiced in a facility that today would be smaller than most high school gymnasiums. Anderson was good at proving its not where you play but how you play to gain success.

In those early years the men played and practiced in a facility that today would be smaller than most high school gymnasiums. In those days, they played their games in the south gym in (what is now) Eppler Complex. Despite the small gym, under Anderson’s guidance, Bowling Green quickly gained national attention. In 1945, Bowling Green made it to the finals of the National Invitational Tournament, (today’s equivalent of making the NCAA Final Four), only to lose in its first and only finals appearance.

But as the war came to a conclusion, and its accompanying uncertainty ending in late summer 1945, Bowling Green State University had matured through a difficult time and was poised to meet new challenges and enjoy new chapters of growth.

1945-1949

Vets storm the shores of educational opportunities

It was a battle to sustain democracy; a fight to end fascist-style dictatorships; and a triumph to keep our freedoms. As soldiers had invaded hostile shores from Normandy to Okinawa during the early 1940’s, within a few years some of those same men were landing in Northwest Ohio to complete another mission: earn a college education. World War II might be the United States’ greatest military victory in the country’s 234-year history, but it was also a great victory for higher education as thousands of G.Is took advantage of government support to attend college following the war, and that included Bowling Green State University.

Enrollment reached unprecedented levels during the late 1940s. Enrollment reached unprecedented levels during the late 1940s.  Veterans made up anywhere 27 to 47 percent of the head count. With the armed services providing financial aid and assistance to veterans, such as the Navy’s V-12 program, the University continuously set record figures in enrollment during each year from 1946-50.Enrollment skyrocketed from 1,349 in 1944-45 to 4,682 in 1950 – a 347 percent increase. The largest enrollment prior to WWII was set in the 1941 spring semester with 1,600 students. This was the largest enrollment among all state universities in Ohio.

Sponsored by the U.S. Army, ROTC prepared students, both former and future soldiers, with infantry drills and gunnery practice in makeshift fields to simulate war. Students were also taught non-military subjects, such as military courtesy and personal management, to become a well-rounded soldier beyond just physical attributes.

Under the leadership of Colonel William C. Lewis, 245 students inaugurated the Artillery Reserve Officers Training Corps.Under the leadership of Colonel William C. Lewis, 245 students inaugurated the Artillery Reserve Officers Training Corps. ROTC remains a large fixture on campus.  Hundreds of students are involved in one of three areas the University offers today including the Army and the Air Force ROTC and the Army National Guard.

But ROTC was hardly the only addition to the campus during this time as academically, the University radically transitioned. But ROTC was hardly the only addition to the campus during this time as academically, the University radically transitioned.  Students could now take more classes with the establishment and improvements to colleges. The liberal arts, business administration and graduate colleges all saw significant increases in enrollment and academic offerings.

Programs, workshops and conferences on specialized subjects were introduced to the University. Topics included art, geology, education and plays. This helped the college broaden not only the extent of its studies, but further explore in-depth debate on previously untouched issues. Departments were also established with each college being assigned specific majors. Liberal Arts had biology, chemistry, engineering, geology and geography. Education offered graphic arts, health and industrial arts. Business administration presented economics, journalism and business education for students to study.

More importantly, the influx of these programs finally put to rest the notion that the University was simply a teacher’s college and nothing else.More importantly, the influx of these programs finally put to rest the notion that the University was simply a teacher’s college and nothing else. Blending the pieces of all this growth was the student-centered leadership of President Frank Prout, the University’s third president from 1939-1951. 

The late 1940’s was one of the most significant periods of faculty expansion in University history. Prout implemented many student-centered programs for students, but he knew the greatest impact on student lives and on learning was in the classroom. There were 85 faculty members employed by the University concluding the 1940-41 school year. Ten years later, the number nearly tripled with 233 faculty members, half of them holding doctorate degrees.

Prout debated with the Board of Trustees and lobbied for higher faculty salaries. Compared to similar schools such as Kent State, Miami University and Ohio, University, faculty members were not being compensated fairly. Prout eventually got that increase for his teachers. To further strengthen the faculty presence, the Curriculum Committee was created. It was the first official representation of faculty as a whole, something similar to the modern day University Faculty Senate.

The University also grew structurally during those years. The campus increased to 274 acres and construction started on the Fine Arts and the Chemistry buildings. Improvements and additions were made to the library (today’s McFall Center as Jerome Library was not built until 1967), the Gate Theater and Johnston Hall. Plans to commission a worship study started after alumnus Sidney Frohman donated $5,000, and it was eventually built a few years later and named in honor of the third BGSU president. Prout Chapel still stands today on the west side of campus between Williams and Shatzel halls and is used for meetings, worship, and a site for scores of weddings over the years.

While the campus grew physically and academically during the late 1940’s, Falcon sports, led by the men’s basketball team, kept the University in the national spotlight.  The 1948-49 men’s basketball team was considered one of the greatest teams in school history. Led by six-foot-11-inch All-American center Charlie Share and legendary coach Harold Anderson, BG’s run-and-shoot offense averaged a staggering 68.9 points per game (a high number for those years) leading to a 21-6 record. 

The Falcons ended up again playing in the National Invitational Tournament, stunning defending national champion St. Louis 69-53 in the first round, but getting knocked out in the second round. The Falcons ended up ranked third by the Dunkel Rating System and 10th, according to the Associated Press rankings.

One enduring and very noticeable tradition started by Prout in those years survives to this day and is the epitome of blending the student experience with campus life. President Prout created and funded the secret campus spirit organization “Sic Sic” in 1946. The six-member group still promotes school spirit at all major University events more than 60 years later. As the University rode a wave of significant enrollment growth, an expanded academy, and name recognition in athletics in the late 1940’s, the underlying attitudes and philosophies were also changing from that of a regional University to those of a much greater institution, ready to serve the needs of a growing nation. Philosophies that still carry the University forward this day.

1950-1954

Atomic bombs and social growing pains

As the country left the 1940’s behind and moved into a new decade, it continued to reap the results of winning a war, the magnitude of which never seen by the world, while facing the dawn of a new age of political realities. Bowling Green State University was benefiting, too, with the joys and pains of major growth from the huge influx of students, particularly males who had served in World War II.

While the reshuffling of world politics and power was on the minds of many, these were also simpler times, too, where the library was less a place to do school work and more a place for social happenings and meeting times. Urschel Pond was a favorite swimming spot and hangout and the University’s most popular radio broadcast “Sunny Side Up,” entertained the student body in the mid-1950’s.

Frank Prout retired as president in 1951 after serving the University for 12 and one half years. Prout Chapel would open the following January in his honor, and in 1952 Ralph McDonald took over the reigns of leading the University. Within a couple of years, the name “Prout” would also be attached to another building on campus, but this time due to sadness and remembrance. In 1953, the wife of the former President, Alice Prout, died from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. A BG News editorial noted that Prout would be missed not just by those who knew her, but by the entire BGSU community, “Those who knew her realized her monumental integrity which was evident through her gracious charm…”  it read.

In the fall of 1950 the University set a record of 4,626 students enrolled. That same year the University introduced a “Freshman Camp” dedicated to transitioning freshman into college life, with hopes of retaining the large number of students. Along with a sizable freshman class, the number of married couples also soared, accounting for more than 15 percent of the student population. As the student population continued to expand so did the University’s campus. Both Prout Hall and Rodgers Quadrangle were erected in the early ‘50’s making room for the current and anticipated students. Unfortunately enrollment actually declined with the nation’s sudden involvement in the Korean War, and stayed down until after the conflict ceased in 1953. As mentioned, the campus in those days featured a very conservative social environment and a hot topic among students was women’s rights. In 1951, unmarried female students were banned by the University from riding in automobiles. But through student persuasion it would later be overturned.

Tindall became a voice for a Falcon generation that had matured in the darkness and turmoil of the worldwide conflict of World War II. They now found themselves faced with the same issue as young adults, this time toward communism in the Korean War. In one of The BG News’ later columns draft deferment tests were encouraged, high scores allowing young men to continue their education instead of heading off to the front-lines. Around this time the University would introduce the Air Force ROTC allowing education and national defense to go hand in hand.

This was also a great time for University athletics. Football players Jack Woodland and Bob Schnelker would follow their college careers by playing for the Cleveland Browns. University mascot Freddie Falcon would appear for the first time at the BGSU-OU basketball game in 1950. It would almost 30 years before Frieda would make an appearance. The University would also join the Mid-American Conference in 1952 and Falcon athletics also gained national recognition with the 1953-54 Basketball team traveling to New York City to play in the NIT Championship game at Madison Square Gardens. Six hundred people traveled to the Big Apple to cheer on BGSU. Unfortunately, Bowling Green lost it’s first and only appearance in the finals. 

1955-1959

A golden era of growth and champions

To call the mid-to-late 1950’s a time of growth at the University would be an understatement, as not only did the student population mushroom but the campus also began to take on a physical appearance that is still recognizable today. It was also a time of excellence for academics and athletics as the University won championships on the field and in the classroom. 

One year after Rodgers and Prout halls opened their doors to residents, Founders Quadrangle was completed along Wooster Street. With an original capacity to house 840 women, about a quarter of the building was filled during the fall of 1956, and then in January of 1957, what was known as “The Big Move,” was completed. During the move 300 students moved over from Kohl Hall and a combined 400 students from Shatzel, Williams and Ivy halls (located at the northwest corner of Thurstin and Wooster streets, this building once was occupied by several fraternities, was converted to a women’s hall and had as its final occupant the Delta Upsilon fraternity before being demolished in 1962).

The building opened its doors to students and faculty with a ribbon cutting, followed later that day with a school-wide dance in the brand new ballroom. The original Union, then the second largest in the state of Ohio, housed a bookstore, a barbershop, snack bars and even a bowling alley featuring eight automatic lanes.

Several other present day buildings were constructed in the second half of the 1950’s as the Hall of Music (West Hall) opened during the summer of 1957 and ground was broken for South Hall that same year. During that same period, several other aging buildings on campus received face-lifts, as some of the older campus buildings were renovated. The Home Economics Building (Family and Consumer Science) was also completed during this time period. It and South Hall were both finished in June 1959.

Three years later Perry’s team once again beat Ohio, but this time it concluded an undefeated season and resulted in winning the small college national championship, earning Perry Ohio Coach of the Year honors. On their way to the national championship, the Falcons dominated on both offense and defense and a decisive victory over then No. 1 Delaware propelled the Falcons to their final ranking as the top team in the nation. When the football team won its first conference championship in 1956, they were joined by the men’s golf and swimming teams who also won their first-ever conference titles.

The swim team proved to be a juggernaut during the second half of the 1950’s winning five straight MAC Championships under legendary coach Sam Cooper, for which the current pool facility is named. Men’s basketball also won a MAC title during the same period, earning its first ever NCAA Tournament appearance, but losing to Marquette 89-71 in the first round hosted at the University of Kentucky. While Bernie Casey was also a member of the great football team’s from the 1950’s he also made name for himself on the track, as he finished fourth in the high hurdles at the 1960 Olympic Trials.

Other News During this same time period Greek life also celebrated a national championship, as on December 8, 1959 the Bowling Green Interfraternity Council was named No. 1 in the nation. A competition involving 320 other Universities and colleges awarded the University with a 680-pound “Iron Man” Trophy that was shipped from Ohio State. The BG News was going through changes as well, just like the campus it was covering during the mid-to-late 1950’s. In 1957 the paper added a third issue a week, a six-page paper every Tuesday. The change didn’t hurt the paper’s commitment to excellence, as in 1958 the BG News was named Outstanding College Daily Newspaper by the Ohio College Newspaper Association.

1960-1964

Leadership changes; campus gets a greater say in GOVERNANCE

As the country left the 1950’s behind, change was occurring in the national culture. Following more than a decade of adjusting to the Cold War and its realities, under the leadership of a generation of older presidents who had either led the country (Truman) or the military during World War II (Eisenhower), a changing of the guard occurred in 1960. The election of a young President John F. Kennedy sparked the clarion call of a new generation of Americans. And just as the country was changing the tone of its leadership, so, too, was Bowling Green State University.

Within the span of five years, three presidents served at the University. 1961 marked the end of Ralph W. McDonald’s tenure at the helm. He had shepherded the University through many years of growth and achievements, seeing the campus acreage and enrollment nearly double in his 10 years. He was viewed as the right person to move Bowling Green beyond the primary focus of being a teacher training school to that of a liberal arts university. In that aspect he was successful. But the culture on college campuses was changing, in those years.

By the time that William Jerome became BGSU’s sixth president in 1963, the campus was again primed for growth. During the early 1960’s, one of U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s national initiatives took hold on campus. The Peace Corp. became a reality for service-minded students in 1961 and has since allowed more than 200 students to serve around the world as part of the corps. But while some University students traveled abroad to serve in Kennedy’s Corps, the University found itself involved in a tragedy of national scope that brought the best out in the University community. The first bowl game that the Falcon football team ever played was not for national ranking or as a reward for an outstanding season. It was for fundraising and in memory of others.

The 1961 Mercy Bowl was played Nov. 23 against Fresno State University in Southern California. It was in remembrance of 16 CalPoly football players killed in a plane crash a year earlier shortly after the California team had visited Northwest Ohio to play the Falcons. Fresno won the game 36-6, but the real victory came from the $200,000 raised for the surviving families of the crash victims. The efforts made by the entire BGSU community in honor of the Cal-Poly players set an example of humanitarianism and selflessness that reverberated through the University for years to come. 

Student life flourished in the early 1960’s. The Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity started the annual “Mud Tug” event that year and a historic University honor society from the earliest days of Bowling Green, Book and Motor, merged to become Phi Kappa Phi fraternity in 1965. A couple of years earlier, the former Miss BGSU Bonnie Gawronskil returned as Miss Ohio to make an appearance at the 1963 contest. She was not the only “royalty” to visit BG in those years, the Prince of Thailand visited campus in 1962 to tour the art department and visit with students. The long career of highly successful men’s basketball coach Harold Anderson came to an end in 1963 as he retired with 362 wins at Bowling Green in 21 years as head coach. He was able to lead his team in a new facility his last few years at Bowling Green.

Memorial Hall was officially opened and dedicated in 1961, featuring 5,500 seats. The floor was named Anderson Arena in his honor in 1963. One of Anderson’s star players, hall of famer Howard Komives, lit up Anderson Arena the following year, setting a single game scoring record of 50 points against Niagra in 1964. Beyond Memorial Hall and Anderson Arena, one other lasting building that towers above campus was built in the early 1960s. The 10-story Administration Building opened for business in 1963. The President’s office and several other administrative offices relocated there that year and the Board of Trustees held its first meeting there in 1963.

Academically, BGSU marked some milestones in the early 1960’s. The first Doctor of Philosophy degrees were granted to Walter Daniel and Linda Wagner in 1963 and that same year the College of Business Administration celebrated 25 years and more than 2,600 degrees granted since its existence. Campus enrollment began to skyrocket in the early 1960’s, going from 6,939 in 1961 to nearly 10,000 in 1965. But much more growth was to come in the next few years, as Bowling Green State University rode the explosive expansion of public universities and the turbulent social waves that were to come in the next few years. 

1965-1969

Major physical growth, major student demandS

Across the nation higher education was booming in the mid-1960s. It was a time of a knowledge and cultural explosion and college students were at the very center of it. Singer/songwriter Bob Dylan summed the period up best, “the times they are a changin’.” Bowling Green State University was no exception. Students were flocking to campus in record numbers, some encouraged by the newfound access to affordable state-sponsored college education, others chose education and an educational deferment over the good chance of being drafted into the Vietnam conflict. 

In 1968, the Saddlemire Student Services Building opened. (It was demolished in 2007 to make way for the new Wolfe Center for the Arts, which will open in 2011). During this campus expansion of the late 1960’s more then $35 million would be channeled into new and renovated constructions on campus.
With a growing university came academic endeavors and changes.

The University decided to switch to the quarter system in 1966 as outlined by the Ohio Board of Regents for all Ohio universities, with the changeover accomplished in 1969. Academically, the university would re-organize both the College of Business Administration and the College of Education in the late 1960’s. Education would be divided into six areas of specialization and the College of Business would be reorganized and new departments added including business law, finance and insurance, management and business education. 

But some of the biggest changes on campus didn’t occur physically in buildings or in student enrollment, but in student activism and unrest that was consuming the entire nation. That included Bowling Green State University as the Vietnam Conflict, and the fight for civil rights, peaked at the end of the decade and extended into the early 1970’s. 

Through this social unrest on campus, Danziger said that students were demanding more of a presence in controlling their own education. Student action gained some results as changes were made to policies throughout campus including the elimination of the $5 fine for missing class the day before or after a holiday; introducing pass/fail classes to upperclassmen and an unlimited class cut policy for juniors and seniors. Not only were students fighting for their stake in their own education, but African American students and women on campus were demanding changes to University policies.

In February 1969, African American students on campus formed the Black Student Union. A year later, the group would make eight demands of the University in April 1970, including increasing black student representation to 10 percent of the student body along with support services for them; the employment of more black faculty and administrators; initiation of a black studies curriculum; recognition of BSU and financial support for it; creation of a committee to evaluate and reform the treatment of black athletes and off-campus renters; the disarming of campus police; and a promise of no reprisals for those supportive of the demands, according to Stuart Givens, former history professor and author of “The Falcon Soars: Bowling Green State University: the years of growing distinction, 1963-1985.” 

Women, in general, were fighting for relaxation of rules governing social behavior on campus, including changes to dormitory and visiting hours, getting birth control pills on campus, and the right to move off campus, which at that time was available only to male upperclassmen. They would continue this struggle into the 70’s.  

But that steadiness was also exercised in a time when there was a push back on nearly every front in the nation. And it created a natural point of conflict and friction.

Accused of having one foot “in the old ways,” Jerome was chastised for his handling of many University policies. After announcing his plans to retire in September 1969, The BG News ran an editorial

But as the University, and the nation, moved into a new decade, a new and violent phase of student protest would soon erupt, changing the nation’s involvement in Vietnam and redefining the role and legacy of William Jerome.

1970-1974

Campus marches and world class achievements

On May 4, 1970 the headline in The BG News read “Four Students Killed at Kent; Jerome cancels classes here.” Student reaction across the nation skyrocketed in an already tense environment as news that four students were killed protesting the United States invasion of Cambodia, swept the nation.  Administrators at Bowling Green and other institutions were fearful of student protests that could lead to tragedy. Jerome cancelled classes, but the administration refused to close the university for fear of a more explosive reaction.

Jerome was also able to take the situation and make it into an education experience. He recognized the need for students to work out their frustrations in a healthy, non-violent manner through peaceful protests, vigils and unconventional classes. The University organized New University, offering 133 courses with emphasis on studying action for social, political and academic change. These courses were organized into six colleges and classes were chosen because of their relevance and awareness they brought to the students.

Approximately 3,500 students attended courses offered by the New University, including “Drugs and Happiness: is there a revolution?” and “Communism and Nazi Occupation.” As The BG News declared in an editorial that ran May 13, 1970, “a potentially explosive situation was defused by a concerned student body, a progressive-minded faculty, and a responsible administration. For the first time in memory, all three facets of the University community worked in unison spurred on not by threat or duress, but by a common feeling of urgency.”

One year later on the first anniversary of the Kent State shootings, a national call went out to college campuses to remember the event. An April 4, 1971 BG News staff editorial called out “Strike!” in the headline and encouraged students to skip classes May 4 and 5 to commemorate students who died in the shootings. Many students followed The BG News’ lead. According to BG historian Stuart R. Givens, 2,000 students gathered May 4 and marched downtown for a sit-in that drew the attention of the mayor and riot police.

A short confrontation ensued with city officials threatening their arrest if they did not disband from blocking Main Street. They moved, but only a short distance to the lawn in front of the Wood County Courthouse where a stand off lasting three hours ensued with both police and students exchanged threats and anti-war slogans.  “At one point the police fixed their gas masks,” The BG News reported the next day, “but the crisis of the moment soon passed and the masks were removed.”

The rules regarding alcohol on campus also changed in the early ‘70s, becoming, for the most part, more lenient, and students could actually buy beer on campus when The Board of Trustees allowed low (3.2 alcohol) beer to be sold in the Cardinal Room of the Union

As the days of heated protest and social upheaval began to fade from the early 1970’s, Bowling Green State University had not only survived intact, but had grown in physical size and enrollment to be poised to mature as a major University.

1975-1979

New buildings, new programs, a blizzard and a music festival

The mid to late 1970s was a time of healing for both the University and the nation. The Vietnam Conflict was over and the politically torn country was bandaging itself together. The country would be lifted with the celebration of its Bicentennial in 1976 while Gerald Ford would finish his short and historic time in the White House. But with Watergate and the downfall of Richard Nixon, a shadow of doubt toward anyone in authority was cast throughout the country.

Trusted leadership may have been in short supply nationally during this time, but under the respectful and fair authority exerted by Hollis Moore, the University’s seventh president, Bowling Green was building upon its growth spurt of the past 10 years, adding several key academic and physical components, and strengthening its role as a major public university.

The University also turned an eye toward remembering its roots in 1976 by moving the “The Little Red School House” to campus. Originally a one-room schoolhouse in the Norwalk area, the relatively well-preserved structure was moved brick by brick to Bowling Green and reassembled in its current Building. The schoolhouse, or the Education Memorabilia Center as it is officially known, is filled with artifacts and photos of the University’s educational history and is subject to frequent tours.

With the completion of the Jerome Library in 1967, the University took advantage of the campus’s historic first library, remodeling it in 1976 and renaming it the Kenneth McFall Center. The building became the new home for the President and the majority of the central administration. McFall was a fitting name for the new administrative hub.

Kenneth McFall had served five presidents during his career at Bowling Green starting in 1943, and held several key University posts including the University’s first provost, first Executive Vice President and also Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Dean of Students. As a faculty member he held the rank of full professor of Psychology.

Two other signature buildings also were built in the late 1970s. The Student Recreational Center opened in 1979 as did the Moore Musical Arts Building. Both were popular buildings, one for being a favorite place for students to relax and recreate; the other became the home to one of the top ranked music programs in the Midwest. Another popular change for students during that time was the conversion of Offenhauer Towers to co-ed dorms in 1978.

But one thing that would not return to the campus would be any more large outdoor concerts. The ill-fated Poe Ditch Music Festival, featuring eight popular bands of that time, drew anywhere between 33,000 to 40,000 attendees in June 1975, but also had a lot of problems. The grass playing field of Doyt Perry Field was literally destroyed, the stadium was trashed and several damaging fires were set in Bowling Green that weekend. The consensus among University and city leaders was “Never Again!”

The country was beginning to be aware of the harmful effects of smoking and as a result, in 1977 the University became a smoke-free campus, meaning no indoor smoking was allowed; even professors were banned from lighting up. The campus escort service was also introduced to the community, providing students with a safer way to get around at night.

In the fall of 1976 more than 6,000 students filled Anderson Arena to hear President Ford speak. This was the first time a President had ever visited the University during his term. And for the 1976 general election, students could vote on campus for the first time. The winner would be Jimmy Carter, ousting Gerald Ford after only two years in office.

As the University left the 1970’s behind, the cultural wounds of Vietnam and Watergate were gradually healing, but as the next decade opened, the University would find itself represented in the middle of Cold War politics and what is today considered one of the greatest athletic achievements for this nation.

1980-1984

A Golden Age for hockeY

As the country entered a new decade, it was a time of optimism sparked by a new U.S. President, Ronald Reagan; it was a time of weathering a bad economy with double digit inflation and interest rates topping 20 percent; and culturally, it was a time where the sounds of disco were fading and pop music was influenced by rock “Hair Bands” and the likes of Michael Jackson and Madonna. MTV was just around the corner.

For the University and the Bowling Green community, it might be said that this
was the time for the golden era of hockey. The first five years of the 1980s saw hockey championships at different levels of competition, but interesting enough, occurring on the same ice rink in Lake Placid, N.Y., and both times involving Bowling Green. And a third individual performance, with a Bowling Green connection, was equally noteworthy.

The work of Morrow and Wells and other talented teammates would be built upon in the next few years. George McPhee won the 1982 Hobey Baker award given annually to college hockey’s best player and the Falcons were the best team in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association during the time period. In 1983, despite being highly ranked all season the hockey team was snubbed from the NCAA tournament. The Falcons had been upset in the CCHA finals and a team from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, which had a worse record then the Falcons, was chosen. But one year later they proved how much of a mistake the committee had made, as the team went on to win the 1984 National Championship.

The national championship game was the longest in college hockey history, four overtimes against the University of Minnesota-Duluth. In the 4-3 victory, BG had trailed late in the third period before tying the game. And while this skater didn’t play hockey, Bowling Green native Scott Hamilton was also a star on ice, winning the 1984 Olympic gold medal in men’s figure skating after winning four straight world Championships from 1981 to 1984. No World Champion has won Olympic gold since Hamilton. 

Following the early decade enrollment spike, the student population took a drop following the 1983 school year, when what was then the largest senior class in school history graduated that spring. The high graduation rate, combined with an enrollment drop due to the economy saw the number of full time students decrease from 16,300 to just over 13,000, according to the 1983 Key yearbook.

His name would eventually grace the name of Bowling Green’s most technically advanced building today— Olscamp Hall—but that would be years in the future, at the end of his 13 year career as President.
Meanwhile, other facilities were being added in the early 1980s. The new Planetarium and Physical Sciences Building would open in 1983. Some familiar names were given to other facilities. The theater in Hanna Hall was named the Gish Film Theater in honor of silent movie stars Dorothy and Lillian Gish and the University’s golf course was named for Forrest Creason.

The University and the nation was weathering the effects of a tough recession that gripped the country in the early 1980s. The University dealt with budget cuts, while students struggled with the effects of a very tight job market and cuts to student financial aide. One student, Scott Broadwell, even slept in the walk-in closet of an efficiency that he shared with a roommate, according to the 1981 Key, while other students simply scanned the almost empty job boards at the student employment office.

1985-1989

Divestment pressure, celebrating 75 years, and sports championships

As the University entered the second half of the decade of the 1980’s, a sense of activism and a need for greater involvement in issues of local and national importance took hold among students on campus, although nothing to the level of what had been seen nearly 20 years earlier in the 1960’s 

In 1986, it became public knowledge that the University’s foundation, an independent incorporated entity serving the development needs of the University, had funds invested in corporations doing business in South Africa. At that time, South Africa was under a system of apartheid (race separation), which was becoming increasingly challenged by native Africans who were looking to end the rule of the minority white government. International pressure was increasing in support of their efforts, and college students across the nation were adding their voices in support. When BGSU students discovered their university’s foundation was indirectly supporting the South African minority government, they demanded it stop.

Initially, University President Paul J. Olscamp and Dwight Burlingame, vice president for University Relations and secretary of the foundation’s executive board, resisted pressure to divest the investments and took the position that because 1985 the foundation was separate from the University, that the University was not actually involved with supporting the South African government. BGSU students did not buy it.

An embarrassed BG News staff retracted its endorsement and Taliaferro went on to lose the USG election. Hard luck continued to plague Taliaffero, as two years later, after another failed attempt to run for USG president, Taliaferro was convicted of grand theft and was sentenced to another prison term. But while stories about South African divestment and an illfated USG candidate consumed a lot of the news coverage in those years, Bowling Green State University was reaching other milestones. 

University student Carla Strawman won a campus wide contest to design the University’s 75th anniversary logo as the school celebrated its three-quarters century mark during the 1985-1986 school year. Firelands would celebrate its 25th anniversary in 1988. And the University received its most generous gift to date in 1986 from area philanthropists Helen and Harold McMaster who gave Bowling green a 1$ million gift. 

On Oct. 15, 1987, the University Foundation board voted to keep its existing investment policy regarding the $780,000 worth of holdings they had in South Africa. But students did not let this deter them from fighting for what they believed was right and the protest continued. Their perseverance finally paid off as in May 1988 the University Foundation voted to sell their investments in South Africa and reinvest the funds elsewhere. Campus life was further stirred up over a controversy sparked by the 1988 elections for student government president.

1990-1994

Budget cuts, push for unionization and student voting representation

As the University entered 1990, a simmering dispute between the leadership of Faculty Senate and University President Paul Olscamp erupted in a very public manner when Faculty Senate Chair Anne Marie-Lancaster introduced in January a resolution of no confidence regarding the President’s performance. The resolution was tabled, and Olscamp, who was away from campus at a conference and not present to defend himself, claimed it was an intentional ambush with the introduction of the resolution during his absence.

The tabled resolution listed 10 grievances ranging from poor budget management to several covering lack of faculty involvement in the decision making process. Whatever the reasons, the resolution appeared to have been triggered when Olscamp had announced several days earlier that he was appointing his executive assistant Phillip Mason to the vacant Vice President of University Relations position without an external search.

That announcement drew an immediate sharp public rebuke from Lancaster, who claimed that the appointment of Mason undermined Affirmative Action and the equal opportunity employment process. She introduced the no confidence resolution at the next meeting. Coming to the aid of the President was just about every other governance group at the University, including Graduate Student Senate, Undergraduate Student Senate and the Board of Trustees. USG President Kevin Coughlin the next day called the resolution a “thinly veiled attacked by people who have had it in for him for a while,” and added that he recognized USG defending the President was highly unusual. “The University president and the student body president may be strange bedfellows, but I don’t have any respect for any unwarranted actions like this,” he stated in an interview with The BG News. 

The crisis passed, at least this public phase of it, when Lancaster and the Faculty Senate vice chair and the secretary of Faculty Senate, resigned the following week. Replacements were later elected to fill their positions. Olscamp later publicly refuted each of the 10 grievances and the University returned to some semblance of normalcy, but things were never quite the same regarding the president and his relationship with many faculty.  

Later that same year, trouble again erupted, but this time involving several hundred students who were participating in very large off-campus parties. Known as Frazee Frenzy and East Merry Madness, the parties covered large areas of several apartment complexes located on the north side of campus. The huge crowd of revelers drew the attention of Bowling Green City Police who broke up the parties and arrested more than 200 students in the process. Many of the students were never prosecuted as most charges were eventually dropped on the grounds that the police had either not exercised due process in entering several apartments or had failed to properly read students their rights during the arrests. Needless to say, this put an increased strain on town/ gown relations and a joint City/ University Relations committee was created to help mend the fences.

Another momentum changer for the University during the early 1990’s was a developing state financial crisis that affected every aspect of Ohio’s budget, including higher education. In January 1992, state budget cuts forced the University to make tough and unpopular choices, curbing some of the growth previously made to during the past several years. The University was cut $2.4 million and the campus lost valuable classes and staff. Hours at facilities such as Jerome Library, laboratories and the Student Recreation Center were slashed. And positions were decreased as hiring freezes and cuts to work study programs began. But more cuts were on the way. 

Ohio Gov. George Voinovich proposed an additional $194 million, or a 15 percent cut to higher education to offset a $576 million state deficit. The University stood to lose $9.4 million in its operating budget. Students across Ohio were compelled to take action and let their feelings be known about the potential cuts. University students, along with students from the 12 other state-funded and public universities, traveled to Columbus on April 22 to show their opposition to the proposal. Thousands were in attendance, but it was the University that had the greatest representation with an estimated 500-700 BGSU students at the state capital, chanting “Down With Voinovich,” “Save State Schools” and “No More Cuts” on the Ohio Statehouse.

University students began attending Bowling Green City Council meetings to show their displeasures over the districting, or drawing, of the city wards in 1991. In 1992, 12,126, or 47 percent of the city’s residents, occupied Ward One, which included all of the main campus and several heavily concentrated apartment complexes. Almost all were students. This ward far exceeded the population size of any other city ward and many believed the populous Ward One was drawn in such a way to prevent a student from serving on city council in more than one seat.

Eventually, with the help of University Student Legal Services attorney Rodney Fleming, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled the wards were unconstitutional and ordered Bowling Green to redraw them. Student life, and that of the University, grew well beyond the active political environment of the early 1990’s. The BGSU shuttle Service was launched and in an effort to build student awareness, a cultural diversity course was required of all incoming freshmen as of 1991. The beginnings of today’s computer connectivity began as the first University Web server was built in 1990.

Several buildings received face-lifts and improvements including remodeling Shatzel Hall; a new $9.8 million addition was completed in 1992 for the BGSU Fine Arts Center; Founders Quadrangle received a total overhaul featuring suite-style living arrangements and was reopened for students again 1993, and Olscamp Hall was finished and named for the still-sitting president in 1994. 

But faculty rejected the union by a comfortable margin. Shortly after, President Paul Olscamp announced his plans to retire a year early on June 30, 1995. The University was set to turn the page administratively and culturally with its next presidential search and appointment.

1995-1999

Core values, learning communities, the internet and a new Union

He helped create learning communities, such as the Chapman Learning Community, the President’s Leadership Academy and later in his 13-year tenure, spearheaded the Building Dreams Campaign, which eventually more than doubled the original goal of $60 million for scholarships and improvements to campus, and became the most successful development campaign in University history. 

As part of his Community Building Initiative, Ribeau wanted to strengthen the bond between the city and campus and heal any rifts that existed. Through initiatives of involving and critically valuing student, staff and community opinions, there was a stronger bond forged with the city, Ribeau also wanted the University to go beyond succeeding academically: he wanted the school to become a wellrounded entity.

Of course there were still the realities of a tough financial landscape to navigate. While the University was still recovering from the direct deep budget cuts in state subsidies of the early 1990s, it was also facing the aftermath effects where the state’s Board of Regents, which was the controlling board of Ohio higher education , was seeking to streamline programs and reduce redundancies to improve efficiencies across the state system. Casualties of this streamlining process at the University were select doctoral programs in English, education and history. But the history department kept offering a doctoral program, despite the lack of state support. Also phased out was the College of Technology aerotechnology program. Students who began the program would be able to finish it, but other potential students who have to look elsewhere.

Also related to residential living at that time, McDonald Hall received a face-lift although the outcomes were to spruce up the internal halls and refurbish the rooms. McDonald West and North became co-ed for the first time. Prior to this change, all three halls in McDonald had traditionally been female, but the administration thought this change would help increase co-ed living options for students looking for that kind of arrangement. 

The largest building project the University was planning in the late 1990’s was the construction of the new student union, whose idea was championed in 1995. The Board of trustees approved plans for the new facility in 1997 and with the generous $3 million gift of alumni Robert and Ellyn Bowen Thompson, the planning would move forward. The campus eagerly anticipated the new 125,000 square foot facility.

One of the biggest and most generous student philanthropies got its start in the mid-1990s. Dance Marathon, which was a collaborative effort of hundreds of students to raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network, started in March 1996. The first 32-hour fundraiser netted more than $100,000. Today, after 15 years on campus, Dance Marathon has raised more than $2.1 million to assist area children that are struggling with life threatening or terminal illnesses. 

Many of the non-revenue sports at the University were enjoying success in the second half of the 1990’s. In 1996, both men’s and women’s cross country teams were MAC champions. By 1998, the women would celebrate their third MAC championship in four years. That same year, one of the better men’s basketball players to ever lace up his shoes for the Falcons would go as a first round pick in the NBA draft. Antonio Daniels was the first choice of the Vancouver Grizzlies. The next year, the women’s gymnastics team capped a stellar season with a third place finish in the National Invitational Tournament and the women’s tennis team also completed its most successful season. 

As the clock ticked toward 2000 and a new millennium, the University, and the world for that matter, was filled with excitement regarding the approach of a new century and millennium and the changes it could bring. There was also widespread fear worldwide, and at the University, that no computers would work on Jan. 1, 2000. Known as Y2K, some experts believed all internal computer clocks would freeze as time switched from 1999 to 2000. It proved to be a groundless. 

2000-2004

9/11, a new Union, more technology and ESPN Game DaY

As the country ushered in the new millennium, the University was focused on how to maintain a robust campus environment without a central Union for what would be almost two years. The old structure closed its doors at the end of fall semester 1999 to make way for reconstruction. An early January front-page story in The BG News detailed dining options on campus without the union and also stated that no union staff lost their jobs, but were simply transferred elsewhere when the union shuttered its doors. The 218 residents of Prout Hall, which also closed to make for the new Union, were moved to other quarters. Most chose to continue to stay on campus. That same month the University celebrated the birthday of mascot Freddie Falcon, who turned 50. 

In February of that year, the University added a fall break into its calendar for the next school year and standout basketball player Anthony Stacey broke the career scoring record with 24 points against Kent State for a new record of 1,846. He would add to that total as the men’s team would go on to win their first outright MAC basketball title since 1983, and then play in the NIT. UAO scored a major entertainment coup that spring by booking popular performers Bush and Mobey for an April concert. Unconventional and controversial documentarian Michael Moore would also appear before a packed crowd to end the semester. 

Moore would become energized with the election of George Bush as U.S. President over Al Gore the following fall, an election that wasn’t decided until the Supreme Court ruled against Gore in the contested Florida vote count more than a month after election day. About that same time the University also introduced its own winner, Urban Meyer was named as Bowling Green football coach in December 2000 and would create excitement and two winning seasons before moving on to Utah. 

And night football games would become a regular occurrence as the Board of Trustees voted unanimously in April to install permanent lights at Doyt Perry Stadium for the fall 2001 season. The University had hardly been in session a few weeks the following fall semester when a quiet September day with azure blue skies was shattered by the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, Sept. 11, 2001.

Ribeau said a few words in a BG News article, on Sept. 13, 2001.

Kim McBroom, assistant vice president of Marketing and Communications at that time, was quoted as saying if there had been any threat to students, the University would have closed its doors, but that was not the case. Following the attack on that Tuesday, the University came together that Friday with a memorial service on the lawn outside University Hall that attracted thousands of students and staff. Political science professors volunteered their time for “teach-ins” arranged for students with questions about the Middle East and terrorism in general.  

Scores of letters and columns flooded The BG News for days, weeks and even months following the Sept. 11 attacks, as students and staff alike wanted to express their own emotions, show support and try to place a sense of personal perspective and context on what had happened. Of course, the country pulled itself together and life went on, including some things that were all to familiar and problematic. State subsidies to support higher education continued to decrease from a half to about a third by 2005, forcing higher tuition and costs upon the students

But a welcome and very major positive occurred January 2002 with the long awaited opening of the Bowen Thompson Student Union, which immediately became the centerpiece of campus life. Fireworks and a large party marked its midnight opening Jan. 13, 2002. It would bring together under one roof new dining options, Starbucks, Wendy’s, the bookstore, post office, computer lab, study areas and meeting areas. More than 20 student organizations also would call the fourth floor home.

Campus Internet technology continued to improve in the early part of the decade. The campus was rewired and students could access wireless Internet from their dorm rooms, faculty and staff could effectively communicate via e-mail and more services began being offered online. Starting in 2003, the campus was given the option of registering for parking permits online. Online housing and math and writing placement tests were next in line and because of the influx in technological advances and fewer tech-savvy students, the Student Technology Center was opened in 2003 at the Saddlemire Student Services building. In 2004, the University’s main Web site was given an extreme makeover as well as Blackboard was overhauled.

That fall the University community would celebrate some very exciting sporting events. The football team, led by Josh Harris, would eventually beat Northwestern in the Motor City Bowl. During the season ESPN Game Day visited campus for the Northern Illinois game, the first time the show ever chose a mid-major college to host their programming. To add to the excitement, the men’s soccer team made it to the MAC championship game for the second consecutive year. 

Scores of letters and columns flooded The BG News for days, weeks and even months following the Sept. 11 attacks, as students and staff alike wanted to express their own emotions, show support and try to place a sense of personal perspective and context on what had happened. Of course, the country pulled itself together and life went on, including some things that were all to familiar and problematic. State subsidies to support higher education continued to decrease from a half to about a third by 2005, forcing higher tuition and costs upon the students

But a welcome and very major positive occurred January 2002 with the long awaited opening of the Bowen Thompson Student Union, which immediately became the centerpiece of campus life. Fireworks and a large party marked its midnight opening Jan. 13, 2002. It would bring together under one roof new dining options, Starbucks, Wendy’s, the bookstore, post office, computer lab, study areas and meeting areas. More than 20 student organizations also would call the fourth floor home.

Campus Internet technology continued to improve in the early part of the decade. The campus was rewired and students could access wireless Internet from their dorm rooms, faculty and staff could effectively communicate via e-mail and more services began being offered online. Starting in 2003, the campus was given the option of registering for parking permits online. Online housing and math and writing placement tests were next in line and because of the influx in technological advances and fewer tech-savvy students, the Student Technology Center was opened in 2003 at the Saddlemire Student Services building. In 2004, the University’s main Web site was given an extreme makeover as well as Blackboard was overhauled.

That fall the University community would celebrate some very exciting sporting events. The football team, led by Josh Harris, would eventually beat Northwestern in the Motor City Bowl. During the season ESPN Game Day visited campus for the Northern Illinois game, the first time the show ever chose a mid-major college to host their programming. To add to the excitement, the men’s soccer team made it to the MAC championship game for the second consecutive year. 

2005-2009

New buildings, new leadership and an eye to tomorrow

As the University entered its ninety-sixth year, a sense of accomplishment was in the air. Technology was being felt in all aspects of University communications and teaching, several learning communities were gaining national recognition and the University was riding its popularity as a large University with a “personal touch” approach with students, as evidenced by some record enrollments. Students remained the focal point for University life.

As part of that student focus, in fall 2005, the innovative BGX program expanded to include all incoming freshmen. Tested as a pilot for the past several years, the program was designed to help break down the University to a more personal level for new students, get them more involved and integrated into the University while fostering a discussion of self-discovery of . their own values and beliefs.

One rebuilding effort closer to home paying big dividends was the women’s basketball team led by the coaching of Curt Miller. The team launched its 2005-2006 season defending its MAC championship. It defended it, and would lose in the first round of the NCAA tournament to UCLA. That fall, the women’s soccer team won its second consecutive MAC championship. In 2006-2007, the women’s basketball team would make history and gain national recognition by winning the MAC title and tournament again and advance to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament. They were the first MAC women’s basketball team to advance that far, carried by starters Ali Mann, Carin Horne, Kate Achter, Liz Honnegger and Megan Thorburn; and Amber Flynn and Lindsey Goldsberry coming off the bench.

The University’s Building Dreams Campaign, started in 2002, was well on its way to being a huge success, having raised $81 million toward what was then a 2008 goal of $120 million. The goal would be quietly revised upward as the success continued. That would be welcome news in a continually dismal state budget environment. The University was forced to trim $3.2 million in fall 2005 to balance its budget, again the result of decreasing state support. A statewide law went into effect in 2006, banning smoking in all public places. Bars and restaurants downtown worked to integrate the new smoke-free requirements, while students’ adapted their weekend routines. Cuts were also made to federal student loans and students scrambled to pay for school and became slowly aware that economic troubles for the nation were on horizon. 

In 2008, the generous $8 million gift by Kermit and Mary Lou Stroh started the ball rolling for the construction of a new athletic arena that will bear their name. Ground was also broken September 2009 for the Stroh Center which will replace the aging Anderson Arena and also provide for a new center to serve University and community programming needs. It is planned to open in time for 2011-2012 indoor sports.

 Just recently, even more construction has blossomed on campus. Going the way of the wrecking ball in 2010 was Rodgers Quadrangle and two fraternity houses to make way for a new modern residence hall. Another similar structure is being built north of Offenhauer Towers. Both are set to open fall 2011. In late spring 2010, portions of the west wing of McDonald Quadrangle were removed so that a new cutting edge dining facility can take its place.

The major campus event in 2008 was the departure of President Sidney Ribeau after 13 years. In June 2008 he announced he was leaving to assume the presidency at Howard University in Washington D.C. Named as an interim replacement was veteran higher education administrator Carol Cartwright who had served many years as president of Bowling Green’s sister institution, Kent State University.

The University was facing a great deal of uncertainty because of the Ohio budget climate and changes to the University system and the Board of Trustees moved to make Dr. Cartwright his permanent replacement six months later. She agreed to serve through the 2010-2011 year.

As Sidney Ribeau departed that summer of 2008, a new sense of excitement also visited the campus that fall, but this time in connection with what was going on nationally. It was a U.S. Presidential election year and Ohio was considered one of the most crucial states, if not the crucial state, that any successful candidate needed to carry. Needless to say, the campus attracted visits from both Vice Presidential candidates, Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Sarah Palin, during the campaign. But what really put Bowling Green State University on the map was its selection as a broadcast site by Charles Gibson and ABC News as part of its “Great American Battleground Bus Tour.”