“Tired gentlemen running around the campus are loudly proclaiming that this six week battle with heat and profs has been ‘the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.” But it’s about over now, and the prospect of approaching exams made everyone drool for joy.” So begins an article in a summer 1953 Davidsonian.
There are no current summer Davidsonians because the college stopped summer classes in the early 1970s. The first official summer courses began the summer of 1928, prior to that students could arranged independent study with professors.
In 1929 the college published a special bulletin advertising the summer session to high school students needing extra credits, college students with and without deficiencies, and school teachers seeking college credits. Tuition for the six-week session was $42.50 with board separate.
Versions of the school newspaper were published for only a few of the summer sessions. The 1953 and 1954 editions were renamed Hot Davidsonian, a reference to local temperatures (as described in the opening quote.) In 1955, the summer editors chose The Little Davidsonian. We only have 1 issue for the summer. It contains a lively article describing the social scene written by Louella O. Linker, wife of the campus police officer. It begins:
The summer social session at the local college is underway, and my husband reports that the night life and afternoon card games have been greatly enlivened by the presence of several charming young Co-eds.
A certain MISS SARAH ADAMS brings a long line of red lights with only a few green ones in the distance. The Gentlemen at the College don’t think she learned her variation on the North Carolina Hop in Mill Town, N.C.
The article continues with references to Miss Mary Beaty, Miss Patty Kimbrough, Miss Lynn Palmer, and Miss Becky Deal. (click on the article image to see the full article).
The 1956 editors showed less imagination naming their publication Summer School Davidsonian – but they made up for it with silly poems including “Elegy Written in a Mecklenburg Monastery” and “The Postponed Ride of W. L. Davidson.” The newspapers published 1957 and 1958 were the Bobtailed Davidson. Along with notices of dances and bridge tournaments, they featured jokes:
Student: I’ll flip a coin, if it’s heads we go the party. If it’s tails we go the movie, and if it stands on edge, we study.
A famous dog trainer was amazed to see a dog watching a movie. “Pardon me,” he said to the man next to him; “is this your dog?” “Why yes,” replied the man. “Well, I’m a dog trainer, but I’ve never seen a dog that could cry and laugh at a movie. I can’t understand his enjoying it so much.” “Frankly, I can’t either; he didn’t like the book at all.”
The last summer publication was “Only in Summer School” issued in the summer of 1961 It was a great summer for movies at the Union. Features included Charge of the Light Brigade, Lost Horizon, Song of Norway,and Please Mr. Balzac— this last one was advertised as “Banned in Boston!! Scourged in Philadelphia!! Picketed in Phoenix City!! The advertising worked as the last issue reported that over half the summer student body came to the movie.
Throughout the years, the college continued to focus on teachers as well as college students in the summer programs. After the college dropped college summer classes, it continued to offer programs for teachers, especially the Liberal Arts Program for teachers. Interestingly, the Faculty Minutes do not show much discussion about the ending of summer classes so it is not clear if it was declining enrollment, declining faculty interest, declining budgets or some combination that ended summer battles with the heat.
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