Tuesday, July 24, 2007 1:03 AM CDT
Eastern marks 50 years of university status
By LISA BARTELT, Staff Writer
lbartelt@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — The anniversary passed quietly this month with nearly as little fanfare as the occasion itself.
Fifty years ago, Gov. William Stratton signed a bill making Eastern Illinois State College a university, giving the institution its fourth and current name — Eastern Illinois University.
Sen. Robert Lyons of Oakland introduced the bill on May 2, 1957, and the change became official July 5 of that year.
At the time, no immediate changes, except for the name, were planned.
“For the present at least, the change is nothing more than in name,” President Quincy Doudna was quoted as saying.
That’s how students and staff remember it, too.
“I remember when it happened, but it didn’t create much of a stir amongst the students,” said Clare (Roeslein) Dye, formerly of Litchfield, now of Las Vegas, a junior at Eastern in 1957.
Dye posed for a picture for the July 24, 1957, issue of the Eastern State News (predecessor to the Daily Eastern News), acting like she was painting over a sign that read “Eastern Illinois State College.”
“It’s nice to be reminded that this is the 50th anniversary of the name change,” she said. “That’s neat.”
Harold Marker, who taught at Eastern part time beginning in the ’50s, said bigger changes occurred 35 years before when the school changed from Eastern Illinois State Normal School to Eastern Illinois State Teachers College.
“It really wasn’t much different,” Marker said of the school becoming a university.
About the only hubbub surrounding the name change came in July 1957 when 75 prospective graduates petitioned the administration to put “Eastern Illinois University” on their summer diplomas.
Administrators decided to charge the graduates $2 for the change as the diplomas already had been printed with the “Eastern Illinois State College” name.
Still, the name change may have come at a time when the school was on the cusp of bigger things.
“The school was growing rapidly at that time,” Marker said.
Whether Eastern deserved the designation of university was debated briefly on the school newspaper’s editorial page.
“What a university should consist of is a matter of definition and whether or not Eastern meets the requirements can be debated also,” an editorial stated. “Eastern is growing, and sometime in the near future, it will probably be able to meet the requirements of a university ... The most important thing to strive for is to make Eastern, whether it be a ‘college’ or ‘university’ in name, a great institution of learning.”
Along with Eastern, Western Illinois University received the university designation in July 1957. Northern was made a university earlier that year. Southern became one in 1947 and Illinois Normal (now Illinois State University) was a university from its beginning.
According to the Illinois Board of Higher Education, a university offers graduate programs, and Eastern had taken that step in 1944.
What followed the name change was a time of growth for the university, both in enrollment and buildings.
In 1957, almost 2,000 students were enrolled, and Booth Library, now in the middle of campus, was the south edge of campus.
Today, enrollment surpasses 12,000, and the university campus stretches to Terrace Lane on the south, to University Drive on the east and to Ninth Street on the west.
Current President William Perry said the university can be proud of its accomplishments.
“Eastern Illinois University has a proud history, forged by dedicated individuals over a 110-year period, of providing an education of quality second to none,” he said. “In the coming years we will continue to pursue excellence and meet the needs of our students, our community, our region, and our other constituents.”
Dye said she keeps up with the happenings at Eastern and believes her alma mater lives up to the name it received 50 years ago.
“It’s grown so much since we were there,” she said. “I believe there is a lot of diversity. I had what I felt was a great education.”
Contact Lisa Bartelt at lbartelt@jg-tc.com or 238-6858.
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