Lawrence University
TIME AND TRADITIONS: 1980s
On a Saturday in May, Ormsby residents play games, listen to music, and barbecue as they celebrate Zoo Day.
1983 Returning The Rock
Reuning Lawrence alumni wear T-shirts which read "The Rock. We Saw.
We Took. We Kept. We Returned. 15th Reunion, Lawrence. 1983," as
they hire a wrecker and crane to retrieve The Rock from its 15-year
burial grounds behind Plantz Hall.
1985 Anti-apartheid
More than 300 Lawrence students protest South Africa's system of
racial segregation, listening to student and administrative
speakers on campus and then marching to the Appleton office of U.S.
Representative Toby Roth. They present Roth staffers with a paper
asking the congressman to support the Anti-Apartheid Act of 1985.
1985 World hunger remembered
Lawrence's 60-27-13 Meal, in recognition of the world hunger
problem, attracts national attention. Sixty percent of the diner
are seated on the floor with only rice to eat, representing the 60
percent of the world's population who typically eat such fare.
Twenty-seven percent receive rice with fish and milk. The remaining
13 percent are seated at tables and served a full-course meal. The
event continues on an annual basis.
1986 Fitness facility
The Buchanan Kiewit center, a $6 million, 68,000-square-foot
recreation center, opens for students, faculty, and staff, and
their guests. David Halberstam, Pulitzer Prize-winning author,
delivers the keynote address at the dedication banquet.
1986 Double down beat
The Lawrence University Wind Ensemble is named the country's finest
symphonic band by down beat magazine. This duplicates the "dee
bee" honor bestowed upon the Lawrence University Jazz Ensemble
(LUJE), which was named the finest in the land for performance in
1985.
Lawrence's radio station, WLFM, affiliates with Wisconsin Public
Radio. WPR programming originates from WLFM in the morning, while
student broadcasting continues throughout the afternoon and
evening.
1987 Biomedical ethics conference
Thirty-five of the world's top physicians and medical ethicists
come to campus for the International Working Conference on Non-
Treatment Decisions, which provides a forum for frank and candid
discussion about some of the most critical and complex biomedical
ethical issues of our times. Similar conferences are held at
Lawrence in 1988 and 1989.
1983 Learning at the Laser Palace
Fifteen physicists from across the country visit Lawrence's laser
laboratory, known as the Laser Palace, to discuss the inclusion of laser
physics and modern optics in the undergraduate science curriculum.
1987 Warch makes national news
Lawrence President Richard Warch's proposal to eliminate the
financial incentives associated with college athletics draws
national attention. Various versions of his editorial that calls
for all colleges and universities to incorporate funds for
intercollegiate athletics within their operating budgets appear in
U. S. News World Report, Business Week, NCAA News,
Dallas Herald, and Business Journal of Milwaukee. Warch also presents
his views at a special NCAA convention in Dallas that focuses on
the problems of, and abuses in, intercollegiate athletics.
1988 Record admissions numbers
Lawrence receives a record-breaking 1,470 freshman and transfer
applications, the largest number of applicants in its 141-year
history. The projected enrollment is 1,200, the highest in 10
years. The high school grade point average for entering freshman is
3.37.
1989 New academic area
The faculty unanimously approves creation of a new academic department and major
in East Asian languages and cultures.
1989 Wriston Art Center dedicated
Lawrence's new $6.2 million, 33,000-square-foot art center is dedicated in honor
of former president Henry Merritt Wriston and his wife Ruth Bigelow Wriston.
Jefferson Riley, Jr., '68 is architect of the "unabashedly post-modern" building.
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