The Y in Action

[p. 49] The Y’s Indian for November 20, 1929 was not an unusual issue. Like other issues it carried two masthead statements. “The YMCA serves to develop the sense of allegiance to the Christian program as a whole” and “The University Y operates upon the principle of student and faculty initiative and responsibility.” The remarkable thing about the issue was the welter of YMCA activities its heads and subheads disclosed: “Graduate Men Plan Seminar .on Religion. Project Started to Send China a YMCA Secretary. Dean Babcock Talks to Membership Stag. International Mixer Held on November 3. Fireside Forums Proving Popular With Students. 278 Grade School Tribesmen Are Organized. Older Boys Committee Directs A Large Group in High Y. Doctor Abdullah Yusef Ali Speaks at All-University Service. National YMCA Secretary For Korea Speaks to University YMCA Cabinet. Committee is Named For Faculty Forums. Racial Problems Are Investigated by YM-YW Interracial Commission. YM-YW Annual Reception Enjoyed By Hundreds. Deputation Teams Visit High Schools. Vocational Hour Being Arranged For All Students. Employment Staff Locates 1,786 Jobs.”

Any issue of the Y’s Indian would produce headings like these. Now for a look “inside” some of these activities.

The Employment Committee

In 1928 the Y put out a brochure entitled “What Price Education—A Story of Eight Boys Who Work.” It describes the activities of the Employment Committee and contains a brief sketch of eight young men who came to college against odds that would keep most men away.

At seventeen John Carlino went into the coal mines for three years to support his family while his father recovered from a rheumatic condition. During this time his mother died and family finances were precarious. After his father went back to work John came to the University, the Y found two jobs for him, and he was able to stay in school and be graduated.

Ken Schlusser was left homeless at thirteen. He worked by day and went [p. 50] to high school at night in Dayton, Ohio, until he was graduated. He came to the University with $200, his life’s earnings. The Employment Committee got him a meal job, another job to pay for his room and odd jobs from time to time at forty cents an hour. He made it through the University. These two cases are typical of the eight described in the brochure and the eight are typical of hundreds more who made it through the University only because they were able to work. The brochure said, “More romance is crowded into these brief incidents than one finds usually in fiction. They deal with soul stuff, not marketable labor, fabricated metal, or farm produce.”

The Employment Committee was a large committee consisting sometimes of as many as forty students. Members were working students who realized the importance of their service to those who needed help. They canvassed the community for jobs and held a meeting once a week to compare notes, get ideas, and keep the job roster up-to-date. They scheduled their time on the employment desk and someone was there from 8 in the morning until 6 in the evening, six days a week. Applicants were interviewed by the Employment Secretary, who tried to find out something about the man before he sent him out on a job. Each applicant filled in a form showing his class schedule, the kinds of work desired, jobs in which he had experience, his financial situation, his name, address, and church affiliation. Some of the jobs were permanent; most were temporary and odd. By signing up a week in advance the student could work a day at a time or a half-day at a time or for a weekend.

All through the years the Y operated the Employment Service the demand outnumbered available jobs. Therefore the Committee tried to screen applicants so those in real need would get the jobs. There were others who had no real need but wished to work anyway so they would have extra money. In some cases parents wanted their sons to work regardless of the support from home because they thought working was good for them.

For more than sixty years finding jobs for students was a major activity. Then in 1932 the University decided that job placement for both students and graduates should be one of its functions, and the Y, having set in motion a good thing, bowed out.

Freshman Fellowship

Mic Coldwell believed not only that the Freshman was important but that his importance increased in geometrical ratio as the numbers of entering Freshmen increased. Reaching the Freshman was important for two reasons—to help him survive the exposure to a new, different and impersonal environment and to win him to the cause of the YMCA and its work. Dean Thomas Arkle Clark had a theory that if a Freshman’s sights were set in the right direction by Thanksgiving he would probably make it during the rest of his college career without being shaken too much.

Hence the Freshman Fellowship groups were taken seriously as an important [p. 51] YMCA effort. By 1923 there were eighty groups. As stated in a Y publication this “made it possible for scores of new students to maintain their individuality in an impersonal surrounding and to secure that weekly inspiration which so many need to stand by their ideals they bring from home.” In 1933 the Y published a brochure entitled “Meeting the Needs of Needy Freshmen.” Under a picture of the Freshman Fellowship Committee for 1933-34 was the statement “Freshmen are educated almost as much by students as by the faculty. Upper classmen are able to interpret student life and to understand student needs better than older men. Over 75 upper classmen voluntarily served the Freshmen through the University YMCA last Fall. In serving their fellow students they serve their university; in serving their university they serve their state.”

Groups were kept small so there could be discussion. They met for one hour each week either just before or just after dinner. Each member of a group told about himself. An effort was made to get acquainted. Subjects typical of those discussed were: What are we in college for? How far do we follow the crowd? What shall we do when our loyalties conflict? Where shall we stand in our relations between men and women? How to Study. How honest shall we be? What place shall we give religion? How is a Christian student different?

In a day when high schools were smaller, TV less pervasive, provincialism more evident, and communications and travel more restricted, the fellowship groups fulfilled a real need while at the same time serving the Y’s objective of spreading Christianity.

Fireside Forums

“Gross ignorance exists among students on even the most contemporary happenings in the world. This tends to produce a selfish, contented provincialism. . . . They do not appreciate the great intellectual venture they enter when they come to college.” The above is from the minutes of the 1925 meeting of the National Council of Student YMCA Associations. Fireside Forums were an attempt to remedy this situation. During the school year 1928-29, for example, a series of six Forums were held involving 3,016 men. 138 sessions were held in 24 fraternities and 76 sessions were held in unorganized houses. Forty-nine faculty members served as leaders. Themes varied but many of them centered around citizenship. The theme for 1932, for example, was “Who is a Good Citizen?” One of the topics for discussion intimates that campus politics was pretty important in that day—“Do you believe that editorial comment across the state was justified in lamenting the practice of ward politics in the class elections two weeks ago?” To prod the participants into considering this question the following further questions were raised: “What effect, if any, does voting by houses en bloc have upon the development of good citizens? Should a house switch from ‘Mule’ to ‘Old Line’ or vice versa because some campus ‘plum’ may come their way? What is your estimate of the man who electioneers for a given party for [p. 52] the benefit of the state job which he may secure? In exercising the right of sufferage shall one vote the ticket straight?”

The Y would probably not claim that its Fireside Forums inspired the upsurge which has taken place in student concern about government, politics, war, the environment and other contemporary problems, but here again it was a case of the Y doing something that fitted the times while discharging its commitment to the Christian ethic. In more recent years “Sunday Evening Conversation” groups have done what was intended in the Fireside Forums but on a more modest scale.

All-University Services

Cooperating with the YWCA in securing outstanding speakers and with the University in the use of the auditorium, the YMCA brought to the local community through its All-University Sunday Services some of the finest inspirational talent in the country. Many of the speakers were religious leaders—Sherwood Eddy, E. C. Walcott, Richard L. Swain, “Dad” Elliott—but not all. Richard B. Harrison, “De Lawd” in “The Green Pastures” spoke at one service and statesmen and foreign emissaries frequented the rostrum. In 1926 Dr. Roy Akagi of New York City spoke on “United States and Japan—Friends or Foes.” His conclusion: “We don’t want war.” An expert on Russia discussed the pros and cons of paying its war debts and another discussed a subject much debated at the time—“Should We Join The World Court?”

Those attending the January 24, 1930 service when Dr. L. V. Roman, a black physician and educator from Nashville, Tennessee spoke should have been well rewarded. In part the Y’s Indian reported: “To live,” he said “is the common privilege of animated beings. Nature has no favorites. As far as actual existence is concerned, the dog, the worm, the oyster, the oak, and the tiniest plants are as good as any man.

“Three facts are evident concerning man,” Dr. Roman said. “The first is that he is an animal. Not only is man an animal, but he is an inferior one,” the speaker stated.

“Second, his growth is slow as compared with other animals and he cannot stand the punishment that other animals can. In the third place, man is the supreme occupant of his environment.

“His only superiority over other animals is in his power of thought, his psychology. He can control everything else, providing that his attitude is correct, and that he does not allow himself to be overcome with anger and foolish prejudices.”

The All-University Service was another example of the imaginative and timely programs fostered by the Y during the early decades of the 1900s.

Graduate Student Forums

In 1929, five years after the Faculty Forums got under way, a “Graduate [p. 53] Student Seminar on Religion” was organized “open to all religiously inquisitive graduate men.” In his brief history of these seminars Will Worley states that “The ladies got into the act some years later.” Mic Coldwell was a catalyst in getting this group organized. About forty graduate students came to the first meeting. The Graduate Seminar or Forum was to be a counterpart of the Faculty Forum which by that time had gained prestige. As Worley put it, “A number of the faculty members were in the ambivalent position of being both teacher and graduate student. Not wishing to favor one side of their personalities more than another, they decided to form a graduate group.”

The first meeting was held in the Green Teapot, an eating establishment on the second floor of a building on the south side of Green Street. Robert Browne, formerly Director of University Extension; Sidney Ekblaw, in Geology; Robert Mattlock in Agriculture; and Ernest Lewis in Economics were some of the original organizers. The group met for Saturday noon luncheons in the Union Arcade. It remained viable for many years. In view of some of the subjects and leaders selected by the group, meetings must have been stimulating. Professor Baldwin discussed “What Has Modern Thought Contributed to the Problem of Evil?” Professor Frederic Lee, “What is Happening to the Family Today?” Professor G. W. Williams, “Is the Mechanistic Theory the Final Answer to the Problem of Life?” Professors Higginson and Coleman Griffith from Psychology, “Does Psychology Make Religion Increasingly Unnecessary?” Professor Carmichael, “What Evidences Are There For and Against Immortality?” and Professor E. E. Aubry of the University of Chicago, “What Place Has Mysticism in Science and Religion?”

The Interracial Committee

The I Book for 1929-30 contains this mild statement: “The Association believes the nation will ultimately benefit by a closer cooperation between the races. This it seeks to accomplish by increasing the Christian contacts which it believes will go far in eradicating prejudice, the result of misunderstanding in the majority of cases.”

In the year 1929, blacks were still “colored students.” While the Y’s program was not aggressive, it was forward looking. The hope was that the Y’s open door to all students regardless of color or background and the presence of an interracial committee to emphasize non-discrimination would in the words of the Y report, “wear down racial prejudice on the part of some and forestall racial prejudice on the part of others by building up an appreciation of the human capacities, abilities, and potentialities of the colored students.” Nevertheless, black students have not participated in the program of the YMCA in large numbers. The tone of the YMCA at that time was a patronizing one, and this tone persisted for many years. Perhaps this is one of the reasons for only token black participation prior to the ’50s and ’60s. If a black student were to read “Colored students have served and are serving acceptably on the Cabinet, the [p. 54] Boys Work Committee, the World Education Committee, and the Employment Committee,” he would feel that all eyes were upon him to see if what he did were “acceptable.”

In later years the Y assumed a more aggressive posture. When stirrings about local racial prejudice became more visible, the Y was a leader in trying to eliminate discrimination in local business establishments, particularly restaurants and barber shops. It was active enough to make a few enemies—which was good. Pete Ingall’s strong feelings about non-discrimination cooled the Y’s relations with fraternities and hastened the demise of its work with fraterniy pledge classes.

In more recent times it has been a rendezvous (not said in a seditious sense!) for minority and dissident groups in their attempts to organize and effectuate their aims regarding problems of racism. This, together with the full-fledged international program which has existed in the Y for a long time, erased the earlier patronizing stance.

Other Activities

A description of its major problems by no means tells the whole story of the Y in action. Always ready to meet a need and always looking for ways to serve and spread its influence in the cause of Christianity, literally scores of projects, some structured some unstructured, were undertaken and completed or still continue.

For many years Life Work Conferences were held, precursors of placement work later to be undertaken by the University, but with more depth and a more direct focus on how one should live his life of work. One conference announcement asked, “Will you choose your life work or merely drift into a job?”

All-Pledge dinners for fraternity freshman were popular events for many years and attracted speakers who could intrigue young men—Branch Rickey and Alonzo Stagg, for example. Later such dinners were held for freshmen in independent houses.

The Freshman Stag held for many years in the old gym annex was a popular event.

That the Y was busy all year ’round is evident from the fact that in 1925 it compiled a directory of summer students, held eight vesper services and prepared a list of 1,800 available rooms before the rush of students in September. The Y’s Papoose was born that Fall. The first editor, F. L. Habeggar, stated that it would be published at frequent intervals and that the more serious matter would be interspersed with occasional razzing.

In 1926 the University commenced registering freshmen ahead of upper classmen, something the Y had for a long time thought was a good idea.

In the late ’20s Prohibition was a popular subject for discussion and the Y took the lead in arranging programs and talks—Liquor Parleys, some of these were called. Though the Y was strong for Prohibition, it provided a forum for [p. 55] both the Wets and the Drys. Out of one of its Liquor Parleys came a resolution asking the American Statistical Association to investigate the conflicting reports on liquor consumption since 1919 and the cost of enforcing the Prohibition Amendment.

The Y always participated in Religious Emphasis Week and sponsored All-Campus University Religious Conferences. Personalities like T. Z Koo, Charles P. Taft and E. Stanley Jones took part in these. “If you lose your sky, you lose your earth,” the latter said at one such conference—a thought worth pondering. Large numbers of faculty and staff participated in planning and carrying out these conferences. In 1938, for example, a committee of one hundred students and faculty were involved in planning a six-day conference.

Leadership conferences for its new officers, Christmas parties for foreign students, Halloween mixers, YM-YW dances and parties for the “stay-overs,” a Sunday Evening Club for mixed social religious purposes, a YMCA Camera Club which held annual shows, checker tournaments, hikes with the school clubs, the sponsoring of Soup Nights in the fraternities to help the Community Chest, maintaining an information bureau, sending out questionnaires to learn about religious attitudes, running a checking service, storing laundry bags when the post office was closed, keeping hometown newspapers in the lounge, finding rooms for mothers on Mother’s Day, publishing the I-Books, visiting the sick, making free stationery available, maintaining a wash room and public toilet (the first on the campus according to Dean Fred Turner), publishing The Y’s Indian, bringing in a variety of outside talent such as the Fisk Jubilee Singers, the renowed Japanese religious leader, Dr. Toyohiko Kagawa, who spoke in the University’s new gymnasium at an All-University meeting, and Chief Grey Earth a “real Sioux Indian” who talked to the friendly Indian tribes from the local schools—these were some of the things the Y did.

Carrying on all these activities took organization. A page from the 1928 Cabinet Manual reflects the philosophy which existed regarding service as a cabinet member. He was supposed to know certain things about himself: “Are you present at every meeting of the Cabinet? Do you press forward in initiating programs? Are you holding strong committeemen? Do you successfully conduct committee meetings? Is your attitude toward committee “I my” or “we our”? He was also supposed to know things about each committee member: Is he affiliated with a church? Is he positive or indifferent in his spiritual life? Does he attend committee meetings? Does he demonstrate initiative? Does he accept coaching? Is he a good team man? This page from the manual ended with a quotation from 2 Timothy 2:15, “Give diligence to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.”

Mic Coldwell devised an organization chart in the form of a wheel. It came to be known as “Mic’s Wheel.” It was Christ centered; there were sectors for all of the activities including one for “what needs to be done.” The inner circle was surrounded by a large circle, “The University of Illinois Campus,” made up of all the things that comprise the campus—publications, classrooms, [p. 56] politics, dorms, fraternities, athletics, faculty, social life.

Programs of the Y have been constantly under review—what activities should be continued; what activities should be terminated? In what areas of student life is there adequate help? What should the Y be doing? Because questions like these were raised and answered, the Y is still viable.

Some Memories

In response to a letter from Harold Reinhart, present General Secretary of the University YMCA, a goodly number of past Presidents of the Y answered, giving some of their impressions. Edmund G. Williamson, President in 1924-25, wrote in part: “To me, the Y was the Secretaries—Chief Wilson, Mic Coldwell, C. D. Hayes, and Harold Colvin. . . . The Y pioneered I believe in pre-registration advising, Freshman Week, Graduate School Program, programs for youngsters, campus convocations, and was a sanctuary of morale and morality in what I did not recognize as the wacky ’20s. The YM-YWCAs pioneered in joint meetings long before the Lib movement. In fact, I first saw Henry in the YWCA. . . . The University had no counselors as we know them today, but the two Ys pioneered in personalizing the expanding campus. All of this was in a warm, friendly, helpful, religious climate quite different from the business-like efficiency of the University. In a real sense the Ys pioneered the field of counseling and student personnel in a religious setting.” As one who became Dean of Students at the University of Minnesota and himself pioneered in advising and counseling in universities, he speaks from experience.

Jim Lake, President in 1933-34, wrote, “There was not much money. The country was in the middle of The Depression. The organization was located in the old frame house on Wright Street. The building needed painting inside and out, but it was a place to get in out of the cold for the students who had nowhere else to go. The ‘clientele’ consisted mainly of foreign students who occasionally could get a free roll and cup of coffee to tide them over when funds were low. . . . We took delegations to a number of fraternities and rooming houses for after-dinner round-table discussions about the Y and its program, always with a “name” faculty member along to lend dignity and credibility to these affairs. . . . The Sunday evening meetings in the University Auditorium usually packed the house. Thanks to the professional staff and members of the Board, the Y was able to get excellent speakers for these events.

“I recall one other innovation we tried—a series of Sunday afternoon teas at the homes of prominent faculty members where selected student leaders had an opportunity to exchange views with well known alumni from Chicago and elsewhere. The generaion gap was not apparent in those meetings. No account of these days, no matter how brief, would be complete without a tribute to Chief Wilson who was an inspiring man in every way. . . . Frank West and Mic Coldwell were always willing to listen to hair-brained students’ ideas and helped in so many ways, as did Professor Blair, Chairman, and other members [p. 57] of the Board. The Y was fortunate to command the time and interest of such men.”

Robert Lauber, President in 1935-36, sent a memory packed reply recalling Freshman Camp and what it meant to him, Mic Coldwell’s leadership, his own stint as Chairman of the Fireside Forum Committee, the stimulation he got from Charlie Younger, who preceded him as YMCA President, the great mixture of idealism and realism he found in Chief Wilson, the effectiveness and friendly concern of Dean Charles M. Thompson as Board Chairman, the discussion of plans for the new building and whether or not it should have steps leading to the front door (Dean Thompson maintained that without steps it was more inviting), and the hard work all the officers, committee chairmen, and committee members did to produce a team effort.

Loren Beal, President during one of the War years, 1942-43, remembers Freshman Camp as one of the most effective contacts with students, recalled Professor Provine’s talk on “Foundations and Superstructures” and Mic Coldwell’s address on “I’ve Got a Pocket Full of Dreams.” He was impressed by the interest which faculty members took in serving on the board and in other capacities for the Y. He has fond memories of Chief Wilson, Mic, Phil Morgan, and Larry Cadwell.

One of the most interesting replies came from Ernest R. Hilgard, President of the Y in 1923-24, a distinguished psychologist retired and living in California: “One important event was the Student Volunteer Convention held in Indianapolis during Christmas vacation. Even though I was only nineteen at the time I led one of the discussion groups (on race relations urging fairness to the blacks) and the Convention was quite exciting—with John R. Mott telling about his last trip around the World save one; Howard Becker urging us all to become pacifists, and the Reverend Studdert-Kennedy, the “Woodbine Willie” chaplain of the first World War (named for passing out Woodbine cigarettes to the British troops), one of the interesting characters in attendance.” After graduation Hilgard remained on for a year as one of the Secretaries. “My year as Secretary was spent primarily in the old Illini Union Building where I was in charge of the employment office and did some planning of discussion groups held in various living units.

“The succeeding presidents, Edmund G. Williamson, later Dean of Students at the University of Minnesota; Corliss D. Anderson, an investment expert for awhile with the University of Chicago and then a Professor at Northwestern; and Arthur M. Rubeck (my brother-in-law) all were in various cabinet and officer positions while I was on the ground. The Board was under the leadership of a distinguished professor of chemistry, Samuel Wilson Parr. He was a remarkably fine man and set a great tone to the meetings. Henry Wilson had his heart set on a new building of our own but most of us felt that we were pretty well off in the Union Building and the prospect of building a new one then seemed far off. He brought it to realization earlier than any of us would have expected.

[p. 58] “A fine person in the office was Miss Wahl. The communications from the YMCA, whether in the form of letters or published brochures, set a standard for the rest of the organizations around the University and led in innovating procedures. . . . An event that seemed strange at this distance was a large assembly in which we voted to support a retention of the 18th Amendment with the theme song, ‘It’s in the Constitution, and it’s There to Stay.’ We sent some delegates including Rokusek, the Captain of the football team, to a convention of students in Washington in support of the Volstead Act and against Repeal (in those days women and clergymen didn’t smoke).”

Louis Hauptfleisch, President in 1939-40, a World War II veteran of the 82nd Airborne Division, has memories of Chief Wilson and Mic Coldwell that “are still very dear and very nostalgic. Both of these men played a vital part in helping a small country boy like myself find himself.” Louis felt that at times the underlying Christian motive of Y programs was too forcefully pressed, sapping the thrust of the particular program or activity itself. His experience during this year prior to our entry into World War II was “that a large part of the student and faculty support of the general YMCA program was subdued perhaps lukewarm and at best polite. Stated another way, I felt that only a very small percentage of the student and faculty body really cared about the Y or felt that the Y had been a most important ingredient in his own development and in the development of the many young men who were exposed to its program and basic Christian mission.”

The Reverend Paul Sanders, founder of the Communty Center Foundation in Palos Park, Illinois, speaking through the Y’s Indian in 1961 said: “The YMCA at the University of Illinois played a very real part in the turning point of my life. Henry Wilson, Mic Coldwell, Cameron D. Hayes and Hal Colvin are people I could never forget. Their patience, understanding and guidance came to me when I needed it most.

“I came out of the Army after the first World War and went back to the University to finish my work on my B. S. degree. I had much of the confusion that many men have found adjusting to civilian life. Due to certain war experiences, I had very little faith in the church or religion. I also had an inflated idea of my own worth.

“I was asked to serve on the Cabinet of the Y as chairman of the Campus Relations Committee. I thought this might be the least religious of all the committees, so decided to try it. . . . After two years I came out of it with the doors opening to a new conception of life which led to the turning point in my life’s plans.”

Countless other men have had their ideas changed or bolstered by the University of Illinois YMCA. That is its business.