Many people don’t know Northwestern students blocked Sheridan Road in the 1970s to protest the Vietnam War. Or that the Black Student Union shut down the Bursar’s Office in the ’60s when they staged sit-ins during the civil rights movement. Or that NU and the University of Chicago considered merging in the ’30s when both schools were strapped for cash.
For many students, NU’s history is largely a mystery.
This lack of college heritage is common for students nationwide. To combat this, the University of Arizona recently added a new course, Heritage and Traditions at the University of Arizona, to its fall curriculum. The class aims to strengthen students’ sense of community and pride in the school by exploring the university’s past, according to Jennifer Cartwright, co-organizer of the class.
At NU, a student-organized seminar offered in spring 2001 came up with its own solution.
The 20 students in History of Northwestern were responsible for presenting research each week on topics such as campus in wartime, religious trends and profiles of major NU figures.
Speech senior Lauren Weiner, Weinberg junior Pritha Ghosh and their seminar group developed a format for a class concentrating on NU’s heritage in the context of U.S. history as a project for the Undergraduate Leadership Program. The idea was that exploring a shared past would help students realize common bonds, according to Weiner.
A student-organized Seminar is a one-credit class in Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences coordinated by students with the help of a faculty sponsor. Student organizers are in charge of writing the syllabus, compiling reading material and issuing grades.
But making the class permanent proved problematic, Weiner said.
“We realized that the major barrier in making the class a reality was finding a professor willing teach the course,” she said. “We had to make it happen as a (seminar).”
There has been talk of an alumnus or university archivist taking responsibility for the class, but faculty members are hesitant to take on such a large project, Weiner said.
Similarly, the Arizona class will have no professor and instead will feature various lecturers geared toward specific aspects of school history including athletics, academics, facilities and landscape, and the impact of university presidents. Students will make presentations on school traditions and interview alumni to explore how the university has changed over time.
“Alumni interviews are great because students want to hear someone other than faculty members tell them how wonderful UA is,” said James Knight, head of Arizona’s Department of Agriculture Education and co-organizer of the class.
Organizers hope alumni interviews make it more likely that students will become involved as alumni, Knight said.
Arizona Alumni Association President Sandy Ruhl said knowledge learned in the class would be beneficial to students as future alumni.
“By students knowing more about (the university’s) heritage and traditions they share and celebrate with 200,000 alumni worldwide, they will feel more connected to each other and the extended UA ‘Wildcat family,'” said Ruhl, who lectures on alumni contributions.
Weiner said NU’s group had similar hopes. In addition to fostering a sense of solidarity, she said the class aimed to create a more active alumni base for the university to work with in the future.
Despite the similar goals of the two heritage classes, only Arizona succeeded in integrating its course into the mainstream curriculum.
Though NU’s seminar turned students away because of the 20-student limit, overall faculty and student response for the continuation of the class is mixed.
“In my opinion, such a class would be of slight utility,” history Prof. Frank Safford said. “It is far more important for our students to learn the histories of other parts of the world.”
But other professors, such as Prof. Sarah Maza, said a class about NU has potential.
“A class on NU history would be interesting, but only if it is done as part of a real social history that explores the history of higher education in the U.S. and looks at the sociology and identity of faculty and students,” said Maza, NU’s history department chairwoman. “If someone could teach a stimulating class on the subject, I would welcome it enthusiastically.”
Speech senior Ashley Waite took the seminar in the spring and said it was valuable because it placed NU’s history in a broader context.
“Over and above learning all of these interesting facts that make you a better tour guide when your friends and family visit, it was great to learn how World War II affected the campus or how the administration dealt with civil rights issues in the ’60s,” she said.
