Student Life at Illinois: 1910-1919

1910-1919

1910

• Intermission period between classes changed from five to ten minutes.
• Cosmopolitan Club house damaged by fire.
• Argos Club became chapter of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity.
• Aztec Club re-organized as Psi Upsilon fraternity.
• Baseball team took Western Conference championship, having won all of its fourteen intercollegiate games.
• Mary E. Fawcett appointed Acting Dean of Women.
• Class of 1910 donated terra cotta container–known as Celebration Urn–which was installed on Illinois Field
• First Homecoming on UI campus occurred. Illinois football team defeated Chicago by a score of 3-0.

1911

• The University of Illinois Alumni Association of India became the first overseas Illini club.
• Control of Daily Illini invested in a board of six trustees–three faculty members and three undergraduates.
• President William Howard Taft visited the University.
• Publication of Facts for Freshmen authorized.
• First Siren published.

1912

• Champaign voted to go alcohol-free.
• Ex-President Theodore Roosevelt visited Champaign.
• Council of Administration ruled that students may not join fraternities until they have completed eleven hours of study.
• First annual mass meeting for women held.
• Pan-Hellenic Council voted against hazing.
• Colleges of Literature and Arts and of Science combined.

  

• Student votes defeated petition to open theaters on Sundays.
• Chapter of Jewish fraternity Zeta Beta Tau established.
• Robert Zuppke appointed football coach.
• Transportation Building completed.
• Class of 1912 donated “Eternal Flame” bench.

1913

• First issue of Fortnightly Notes, supplement to the Alumni Quarterly, published.
• Lincoln Hall dedicated.
• Kappa Alpha Nu, first African-American fraternity on campus, was organized. Group’s name was later changed to Kappa Alpha Psi.
• Ex-President Draper died.
• Phi Beta sorority became Gamma Phi Beta.
• Trustees approved system of freshmen advisers.
• All classes adopted class hats.
• Sack rush replaced pushball contest.
• East wing of Commerce (now Administration) Building completed.
• Council of Administration banned popular dances from University functions.
• Lincoln Hall gateway was gift of Class of 1913.

1914

• All athletic and social events called off because of scarlet fever.
• First African-American sorority–Alpha Kappa Alpha–on campus was organized.
• Chapter of Alpha Rho Chi established.
• First annual freshmen cap burning held on Illinois Field.
• First campus sing held.
• Martha Kyle appointed Acting Dean of Women.
• University boasted largest fall enrollment up to that point: 3,906.
• Fifteen thousand people attended Armory dedication.
• President James’s wife died.
• Kappa Alpha Theta house damaged by fire.
• Stock Pavilion completed.
• Football team shared national championship title with Army.

1915

• Lambda Chi Alpha established.
• Louise Freer appointed director of physical training for women.
• Council of Administration declared end to class scrap.
• Armory completed.
• West wing of Commerce (now Administration) Building completed.

1916

• Fire destroyed the Co-op Bookstore. The new building constructed in its place will ultimately house Follett’s bookstore.
• Long-time professor and former acting regent Thomas Burrill died.
• Fanny Cook Gates appointed Dean of Women.
• Movie “Pro Patria” filmed on campus.
• Lorado Taft, ’79, and Roland Conklin, ’91, announced gift of bronze Alma Mater statue.

1917

• William B. McKinley gave $100,000 for construction of University hospital.
• On April 21st, 136 students withdrew for military and farm work. This figure grew to 1,000 by May 5th.
• Military instruction began
• YMCA and new Women’s Residence Hall used as barracks.
• Daily Illini launched “smokes and chocolates” fund for Illini overseas.
• Fall enrollment was twenty percent below previous year’s number.
• Panhellenic Council abolished dances for the year.

1918

• University service flag raised with 2,960 stars–one for each Illini in the service.
• Daily Illini published semi-centennial edition.
• Gamma Epsilon Pi established.
• Dean of Women Fanny Gates resigned. She was succeeded by Ruby Mason.
• Some 3,000 students enrolled in Student Army Training Corps (SATC).
• Woman’s Residence Hall (Busey Hall) completed. (This was the first residence hall built by the University.)
• Phi Delta Psi became national ‘Mortarboard.’
• Matrix re-organized as Theta Sigma Chi.
• Chapter of Jewish sorority Delta Alpha Omega installed.
• Homecoming canceled because of war.
• Influenza pandemic struck campus. About 300 students were afflicted, with roughly ten deaths.
• Classes canceled in celebration of end of World War I.

1919

• Alumni Association released University of Illinois in Action, a film showing University life.
• David Kinley appointed acting president.
• Women’s Residence Hall opened to students.
• Victory Homecoming attracted large crowds, including many Illini veterans.
• Wartime restrictions on student dances abolished.
• Chapter of Jewish fraternity Phi Epsilon Pi installed.
• The University closed early for the winter holidays because of a coal shortage.
• Football team shared national championship title with Harvard and Notre Dame.

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