No one saw it coming. It’s only a game after all, right? Lots of students, who were more interested in academics and had never bothered with attending the games, hardly noticed the decisive blow that officially ended Varsity football at the University of Detroit. But when it was officially ended on November 30, 1964, the serene setting of this peaceful campus exploded into screaming chaos resulting in two nights of student rioting that some will not soon forget....
These days the library has become more of a center for learning, sharing, and community than a warehouse of books. In its early days, however, students and faculty who used the library were regarded as “customers” who checked out books in a very formal fashion. They looked up the call numbers printed on cards maintained using the Dewey Decimal System, and a technician or librarian would retrieve the books for them through a system of call boxes and “dumb waiters.” It was very formal, very procedure oriented, and very tedious for all concerned....
The 1965 Tower Yearbook begins with an aerial view of the campus. Spending a few minutes on the two images offered here, allows visitors an amazing perspective on how much of the campus has changed over the past 50 years. It’s equally amazing, however, to notice in these images the things that haven’t seemed to change during this time....
There are two great aerial photos of the campus in the beginning pages of the 1965 Tower Yearbook. All the changes that have taken place on campus and the surrounding neighborhood since this time are easy to see from this vantage point....
The 1943 Tower Senior Yearbook reflects this atmosphere of tension and concern. This would be the last yearbook published until 1947, as the entire country tightened its economic belt and focused on the battle at hand. Paper rationing, as well as limitations of other publication materials meant the war years would be closed to the Tower staff. It’s as if the war plunged the entire world into darkness for three years. Being without the yearbook during this time allows readers to see the value of the historic record these books offer. And perusing the pages of the 1943 Tower, offers a way into the state of campus life just before the lights went out....
When someone mentions the 1960s the first thing that often comes to mind for a lot of people these days is a vision of colorfully dressed hippies dancing in a park playing tambourines and singing songs of peace. Some people think of the Vietnam War and the protests that went along with it; some think of the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the dark hours of that dramatic event. The troubled and troubling decade of the 1960s, and the string of events that ended once and for all the innocent years following World War II, seems to have been started by one major occurrence that a lot of people tend to overlook when they consider this time....
I’m sure you’ve heard the old adage, “A picture is worth 1,000 words.” The truth in this saying is evidenced by the variety of photos without text in the later issues of the Tower Yearbook. The 1973 edition (titled, “The Urban 1973 Almanac and Yearbook, A Guide to the University of Detroit”) is a great example of this. The title page of this yearbook alone, offered as it is in the curly-ques and leafy design of an actual almanac, is a reflection of the times. In those days, a return to a simpler time was encouraged: back to the present moment, back to nature, back to the farm, back to the almanac. And in this urging to slow down the frantic rush to the future, we have the potential bridge between university life and the changing cultural....
Take a look at the photo below. This is an image of a usual campus scene in 1964. In this photo, students rush to class or hurry to their parked cars or into the library at the right side of the picture. The day is warm, probably Spring, and students seem distracted by their studies, the change in the seasons, or each other. One student in the foreground seems to be checking his watch, others seem lost in their own thoughts. Here is a moment in time, fifty years ago, held forever in this frozen image....
The 1968 Tower Yearbook focuses on the student of this period, the way they looked, played, studied, and dreamed. The attention here is on those who worked to make sense of a senseless time, to gain knowledge that would allow them to make changes and help create the future we know now. They paved the way and redefined dedication, honor, and freedom. And while they may look and dress and communicate differently today, that drive and quest for knowledge still defines what being a UDM student really is....
This year we mourn the passing of Bruno Leon, founding dean of the University of Detroit School of Architecture (1964), who entered eternal life on Tuesday, June 4, 2013. Although I had never met him, I followed Mr. Leon’s life through the pages of the Tower Yearbooks from 1962 to 1988 (the last “official” yearbook publication) in our digital collection. In 1984, when Mr. Leon received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the university, the tribute to him posted...
