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Navy Pier to Here | 2005 UIC City & Corporate Award Recipient Profiles

FEATURE STORY — January/February 2005

The Early Years

Alumni share their recollections about Navy Pier, campus life, classes and faculty members

By Dan Kening

Arlen Gould: One day in October, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the air raid sirens in Chicago went off and we could hear them throughout the hallways (at Navy Pier). We all stopped in our tracks.

Navy Pier

Gerhard Gottlieb '68 LAS: Navy Pier was mostly an underground experience. People used to joke that it was the only school that could be sunk by a U-boat.

Kevin O'Connell '69 ENG: Navy Pier was six-tenths of a mile long from one end to the other. So if you had a class at one end, you had a relatively short time to traverse that length. The worst-case scenario was to have a physical education class in the Armory and then have to go about half a mile through a stampede of students to a class at the far end of the pier .

Arlen Gould '66 LAS: One day in October, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the air raid sirens in Chicago went off and we could hear them throughout the hallways as we were walking between classes. We all stopped in our tracks. We looked at each other fearing the worst. Someone looked at his watch and yelled out, "It's 10:30 a.m. and it's Tuesday!" [Editor's note: This was the city's standard time for testing its emergency warning system.] Everyone started laughing and joking and moving again to their next class. That day was a live lesson in the Cold War. The sirens had sounded at the approximate time that the U.S. Navy was to intercept Soviet Union ships steaming toward Cuba with missiles aboard. The media had reported that if the Soviet ships didn't turn around, war might break out. As Theodore Sorensen, President Kennedy's chief speech writer, told several of us in an interview a year later at Circle Campus, we had come very close to going to war against the Soviets. Yet that day, we all laughed and let out a collective sigh of relief.

Circle Campus Opens

Bill Hawes '68 ENG, MS '69 ENG: It was like a beginning, and as with any beginning, the transition was unique. Circle was not completely finished when we moved in. It was a mud hole and we were limited to the upper level and concrete sidewalks to get around. But it was exciting and it created new opportunities. Because of the physical nature of Navy Pier, there was limited social activity. But when we moved to Circle, it felt more like a university. Greek organizations began to spring up and more activities were available. I spent more time on campus at Circle than at Navy Pier. In fact, I only came home to sleep.

Nancy Holmes: There were some strange things in those early days. I remember registration was held in a former bra factory.

Raphael Juss '66 LAS: I remember the first day of classes. It was very difficult to get to the classrooms because the campus grounds were nothing but gravel and mud. You really had to watch where you walked. But by the end of that first day, the grounds had been landscaped—trees had been planted and grass rolled out. I was absolutely amazed at how the campus was transformed in just one day.

Gottlieb: The first semester or two, there were still a lot of I's to be dotted and T's to be crossed—but it was a big improvement. It was kind of cushy compared to the grunginess of Navy Pier. It felt more like a permanent solution.

Campus Life

Gottlieb: There was a group called the "Exedra Sitters" who hung out on the exedras on sunny days. The small amphitheaters were also very conducive to socialization and provided a nice setting for people to form associations and groups. It got as much use as the Student Union did during nice weather.

Hawes: I remember the food strike in the fall of '65. The food — as in all college cafeterias — was terrible. There was general disgruntlement to the point where the student government conducted a two-day food strike. We had to protest something, I guess, so we found something to protest. Also, there was a burgeoning anti-war movement on campus similar to those across the nation. That created some problems for me because I was in ROTC. We had to wear uniforms once a week and at times we were harassed, but that was just the times.

Michael Kole '67 LAS: The Greek organizations started as soon as the new campus opened. They provided a way of establishing relationships and building leaders. I was in Phi Alpha Tau and Gaylord Cox—one of the associate deans in English—was our counselor, and he remained so until he died a few years ago. He helped a lot of students and was a big factor in providing continuity to the fraternity.

Nancy Holmes '68 ENG, MS '70 ENG, PHD '76 ENG: There were some strange things in those early days. I remember registration was held in a former bra factory [the Formfit Bra and Girdle Company] that the university owned. Everybody used to refer to it as the "Girdle Factory."

Susan S. Stevens '67 LAS: I was fortunate enough to be able to spend a lot of time on campus when I didn't have classes. I worked for the school newspaper, the Chicago Illini. The newspaper and student government offices were located on the third floor of Chicago Circle Center, which was "Activity Central." You kept seeing the same faces, and they were a good group of people, all committed to making the school a better experience for everyone.

Academics

Howard Marks '66 LAS: I was exposed to some brilliant professors, including political science professor Milton Rakove [author of "Don't Make No Waves . . . Don't Back No Losers," an inside look at Richard J. Daley's political machine]. Many of us consider ourselves disciples of his. He provided us with a roadmap of how politics are really organized and played in America, and inspired many of us to go into public service.

Bill Hawes: I spent more time on campus at Circle than Navy Pier. In fact, I only came home to sleep.

Gottlieb: It was an incredibly tough school. During my first year, about 50 percent of the student body dropped out. By the time I finished, 70 percent to 80 percent of the kids had flunked out or given up. It was one tough place. But you got a hell of an education.

Hawes: Engineering Professor Surendra P. Shah had the biggest impact on me. During my senior year, he offered me a graduate research assistantship. I wasn't even contemplating attending grad school. But his support got me motivated and helped me to complete my master's program.

O'Connell: I remember one of my physics professors, Fischel Moraine, who would come in with sunken eyes because he was up all night grading papers. Typically, professors would take a week or so to get your papers back, so it was remarkable that he did it so quickly for us — and we really appreciated it.

Bob Howard '69 CBA: Circle Campus was great academically. I later graduated from the Harvard Business School and Circle prepared me very well for the rigors of Harvard. In fact, I usually tell people I graduated from Circle before I even mention Harvard, because I'm from Chicago and I'm proud of the University and what it offers.

Post-College

Kole: It shaped my life in terms of building and maintaining relationships and learning to get along with people.

Gottlieb: Psychologically, there was no doubt Circle did not start out to be like Northwestern University or the University of Chicago. It was a blue-collar university and there was a real solidarity to it. We weren't there for the rah-rah-rah stuff. Grads from that era have a strong success rate. Life doesn't guarantee everyone does well, but based on the blue-collar ethic of the campus, many students ended up doing very well.

Editor's Note: To read more memories from UIC alumni about the early years of the campus, or to post your own, visit www.uiaa.org/chicago and click on the 'From Pier to Here' link.