While the Power House and Administration buildings still exist, almost everything else on this campus map has been changed since 1940.
The horseshoe design was still years away and the North Mountain dorms wouldn’t be built for another decade.
As the article below points out, none of the streets on the adjoining map have names.
Can you imagine not only reporting and editing a college newspaper, but also printing it on a machine that requires each letter to be manually placed in a matrix? That was the case for editor Roy Brophy when former Cal Poly President Robert Kennedy came to the university in 1940 as adviser of the California Polytechnic.
While many young Americans were sent overseas to fight in World War II, Cal Poly did its best to help in the wartime effort.
From 1940 to 1943, the university began emergency training programs in industrial arts for special war-related jobs for both men and women.
The original El Corral Bookstore opened on the campus of Cal Poly in 1933. According to an advertisement in the Nov. 24, 1959,edition of El Mustang, a plush animal gift started at $1.90.
Today, the bookstore’s Web site sells a plush cow for $12.99. Though the times and the prices have changed, El Corral has always stayed the same.
The “spider building” is set to be completely renovated starting in fall 2008. Also known as the science center, its renovation, along with other renovation projects around campus are dependent on ballot measure 1D passing in November.
The proposal will allot about $16.
Though it’s been over 50 years since El Mustang ran this “welcome” article to incoming students, change is apparent in every aspect of how Cal Poly was then versus now.
When Cal Poly first opened its doors, there were only 15 students and three faculty members.
Imagine Cal Poly without women. Quite a different place, isn’t it?
During the 1929-30 academic year, California passed legislation officially excluding females from all enrollment or admission processes, effective June 30, 1929.
Due to a shortage in funds and other factors, females were not admitted to Polytechnic School (Cal Poly’s name at the time) for nearly 30 years.
“Is this the damn switch?”
It wasn’t exactly the most prolific way to announce the birth of a radio station, but it was with this perceptive inquiry that K Cal Poly Radio (KCPR) began its very first broadcast way back in 1968.
Thanks to the collective efforts of Cal Poly students Gary Gardner (first chief engineer) and Alan Holmes (first station manager), KCPR – then the product of a senior project – went on the air from room 201 of the Graphic Arts Building in the fall of 1968.
We lost our innocence that day in the beginning of my freshman year. My biology professor interrupted his lecture to tell us that President John F. Kennedy had been shot and then dismissed the class. Not a word was said as we walked out of the room in shock.
The ’60s was all about change, both big and small. With society in such great turmoil, it just seemed like the right time to change the image of the campus paper.
Part of the ’60s was about “relevance”. Publishing a daily paper was appealing because we wanted to provide the campus with the most current, relevant information we could.
Today, the PolyCard is the life of a Cal Poly student. It is needed for everything starting right when you come here. As a freshman, it holds the meal plan. Later, it can be used for Campus Express. The PolyCard is also necessary to go to the Rec Center, to get into sports games for free, get onto the library Web site and even to go to the Health Center.