Tag: English80History

At 11:58 p.m. on May 8, 1970, a University police officer called in a fire burning at Old Main. The blaze, which started in the basement, soon consumed the 92-year-old structure. Stymied by an inadequate water supply, firefighters were unable to save one of the institution’s first two buildings. The…

From the earliest days of the institution that is now Colorado State University, English was taught, and women taught English. Although the first person to teach an English course was its first president, Dr. E. E. Edwards, the first to be hired specifically for that task was Elizabeth G. Bell,…

Readers aware of the many 50th anniversaries marked this year or who themselves recall the year, know that “noteworthy,” “momentous,” and “pivotal” can be applied to the events of 1969 without hyperbole. Woodstock, the Apollo 11 moon landing, the Stonewall riots, and the inauguration of Richard Nixon might readily come…

When we think of the Vietnam War era on college campuses, doubtless antiwar protests come to mind. Although the antiwar movement’s presence was certainly felt at CSU in the 1960s, Fort Collins was not Berkeley or Madison. In fact, James Hansen reports in Democracy’s College in the Centennial State that CSU students were…

Due to thinking stimulated by the Honors Colloqium, I personally have revised my conception of art, religion, and the goals of life to which one should strive….In short, I had my eyes opened to many things….This privilege, which should be one of, if not the most important opportunity [sic] offered college students is…

November 2, 1964. You are seven weeks into your first quarter as an English major at CSU. You’re one of 10, 175 students enrolled at the university. The English department is at home on the third floor of the year-old Liberal Arts building. KCSU-FM student radio launched with a broadcast…

Referring to the 1960s as a tumultuous decade has becoming a cliché, but like all such expressions, it earned its overuse by ringing true. Calling a decade marked by war in southeast Asia, political assassinations at home, and violent responses to the civil rights and antiwar movements “tumultuous” seems an…

English hit the 20-year mark as a standalone department in 1959. It was the year that Gigi won nine Academy Awards, besting Gone With the Wind’s record eight; that Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway, and that Miles Davis released the groundbreaking jazz album Kind…

As Homecoming 2019 arrived on campus in October, the university officially kicked off its 150th birthday celebration. And as English at CSU observes its 80th year as a standalone department, we visit our homes on campus throughout the years. Our first home—of English classes and later the department—was Old Main,…

In spite of CSU President William Morgan’s strong belief in the value of humanistic education and of the renaming of the institution as a university, expanding the school’s emphasis beyond vocational training did not happen immediately. The research function of the university was well underway, increasingly paid for by public…