Click on some images for further information
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Harlan Shuck -- class of 1958 (click image)
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Shelda Jacobson (later Shelda Warren) was the first student to earn a graduate degree at MSC, and later taught mathematics at the school for over thirty years.

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Read the introductory pages
of the 1961-63 MSC Bulletin
(click cover, in Adobe format)
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Joseph Kise (click image)
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Dragon Mascot of the 1960s -- click image for a
roundup of the decade in sports

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Alumni Association letter
(click for larger copy)
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1960s generic draft notice (click image)
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Before the late-70s revolution in computers. educational technology since 1955 meant small printers, spirit duplicators, 16mm film projectors, and a few electric typewriters and photocopiers (photo, ca. 1969-70).
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How MSC student activity
fees were spent in 1965
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Campus Map, 1965 (click image)

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Gerald Ippilito (Theater Department) was coordinator of the Performing Arts Series at Moorhead State from 1965 until his death in 1974

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Dr. Yvonne Condell (about 1967)____________________________

 CLICK BUTTON ABOVE FOR THE REST OF THE 1960s

TIMELINE    (**some linked documents require Adobe software to read)

August, 1957 -- Moorhead State Teachers College is renamed Moorhead State College (MSC) -- (read the official announcement).   The tuition is for 1957 is $40.00 per quarter (fall, winter and spring) for residents, $120.00 per quarter for non-Minnesota students. 

Spring, 1958 -- Controversy over use of student-collected funds for a student union leads to a short "protest" when an old church bell tower burns one night in the center of campus.  (read memories of some students concerning the controversy).

August, 1958 -- Dahl Hall, the new dormitory for women students, opens.  Federal student loans, provided by the newly passed National Defense Education Act (NDEA) makes it a certainty that college enrollments will grow for decade.

July-August, 1958 -- Arthur Knoblauch, sixth president of Moorhead State, leaves to become president of an Illinois college. John Neumaier becomes the seventh president of MSC.  (see Neumaier's reflections on coming to MSC).

June, 1960 -- MSC awards degrees to 190 students at the 57th Spring Commencement ceremony; two are MS degrees in Education, the only graduate program offered.  The newly printed MSC Bulletin profiles the college -- 73 college faculty, approximately 1500 students (full- and part-time), nine buildings (including the newly opened Livingston Lord Library). 

August, 1960 -- Tuition is now based on credits taken; for 1960-61 is $3.50 per credit for residents of Minnesota, $5.50 per credit for out-of state residents.  Housing costs $210 per quarter (for $10 extra a student can have a single room).  Fees amount to $10 per quarter.  "Sixteen credits is considered a typical load" of classes per quarter, 48 credits for a standard academic year.  Enrollment grows to 1555 students, the largest increase to date.

September 1960 -- John Neumaier announces that, with a  62 percent increase in full-time, on campus students,  MSC is "one of the fastest growing colleges in the Upper Midwest."  To deal with the number of new students, Floyd Brown, an experienced high-school counselor, joins the administration as Director of Counseling.

January, 1961 -- Asked in a campus poll if a student would pay "five dollars a quarter toward the construction of a student center," 638 say "yes," 151 say "no."  Preliminary planning begins for building a student union.

March, 1961 -- Rev. James Henderson, pastor of the Moorhead Presbyterian Church, speaks at the campus Easter Convocation on the subject of the Resurrection as  "A Day to Remember. " He tells the students that if the Christian Resurrection does not exist, "then this world is a stupid joke."

May, 1961 -- Ada Comstock Notestein, the daughter of Moorhead pioneer Solomon Comstock, speaks at the dedication of the new Livingston Lord Library on campus.  Notestein, the former president of Radcliffe College, urges women students to expand roles for women in American business and public service.  (see Library Dedication program).

June 1961 -- MSC adopts the American College Test (ACT) as a prerequisite for admission to the College. Recommendations from high school principals are no longer necessary.

October, 1961 -- Dr. Robert Hanson, director of admissions at MSC, assures students that a standing policy "initiated during the Korean crisis of the 1950s," will grant any student "drafted into the military . . . full credit to all courses in which he is doing satisfactory work."

November, 1961 -- MSC faculty debate a resolution recently passed by the Western Division of the Minnesota Education Association.  The MEA resolution calls for special lesson units in "patriotic anti-communism" to be taught in all Minnesota schools, grades four through twelve.  The MSC faculty by a vote of 66 to 6 refuses to endorse the resolution, favoring instead classes "to further international understanding.

1961-1962 -- As the number of students enrolling in colleges continues to rise across the nation, the MSC administration issues a "Report on Facilities" which estimates that at least sixty more faculty, two more dormitories and "a humanities building" would be needed within the next seven years.

February, 1962 -- George Starcher, president of the University of North Dakota, addresses MSC students in an on-campus convocation. Emphasizing that education must now change to "free peoples' minds of stereotyped ideas," he predicts that in the future, students will insist on having more influence over the contents of their learning.

June, 1962 -- MSC awards 214 degrees at Spring Graduation exercises.  Exit interview with students show that over two-thirds of the graduates have already found jobs in the booming national economy  -- (see the 1962 commencement program).

August, 1962 -- Newly finished men's dormitory opens on campus.  In the Spring it will be named Snarr Hall for MSTC president Otto Snarr (1940-55).

In 1962, the average cost of gasoline is 31 cents a gallon.  Milk costs 49 cents a gallon, first-class stamps cost 4 cents, and the average cost of a new home is $18,200.  Tuition at MSC holds steady, but will be raised in the fall of 1963 to $4.25 per credit.

September, 1962 -- On-campus enrollment reaches a new record -- 2129, representing 22 of the US states and 7 foreign countries.  Dr. Neumaier emphasizes that MSC is becoming not just a regional Minnesota school but a widely recognized liberal arts college.

January, 1963 -- Earl Herring, assistant to the president, announces that construction of the long-anticipated student union should begin in 1964 and be completed the following year. "General plans now are that the Student Union would be built as a northern extension of the Kise Commons cafeteria."

April, 1963 -- As new junior colleges are being constructed in Minnesota, MSC President John Neumaier urges the state to develop a plan for a "Liberal Arts education" that could match the best offered anywhere else in the nation. (read Neumaier's speech).

May, 1963 -- MSC Academic Dean Wilbur Williams sends a memo to department chairpersons noting that soon "merit raises" in pay will be distributed to a select number of faculty. These raises "assist in the process of differentiating" between faculty on the basis of teaching performance and scholarly publication.  The merit raises are welcomed by some faculty while others see them as a divisive force.  (read Williams' memo).

November, 1963 -- President Neumaier speaks at a special joint MSC-Concordia College "memorial service in memory of John Fitzgerald Kennedy."  Neumaier urges college students as graduates to honor the assassinated president by working for reforms, removing "hatred and prejudice" and promoting "social justice."

February, 1964 -- Many MSC student attend the 3rd Annual Institute on Human Rights, in which regional, national, and international scholars invited to campus discuss issues on human rights and "promotion of international understanding."  Several of the students at the sessions tell Mistic reporter that they hope to join the Peace Corps after graduation. Unknown to all of them, the US military is increasing the number of "military advisors" in South Vietnam.

May, 1964 -- Leonard Inskip, columnist for Minneapolis Tribune, praises MSC administration for leadership in persuading the State Education Board to approve higher entrance requirements at all state colleges,  MSC personnel have worked hard "to assemble the best teachers and the best students" and have substantially revamped its academic program to stress liberal arts.

September, 1964 -- Over 2800 students are enrolled this fall.  Another new Federal program helps with the cost of college -- the College Work-Study Program.

October, 1964 -- Concerned about the growing trend to dress casually, the Student Commission adopts a rule requiring students to follow a strict dress code on Sundays, in the cafeteria. Men are required to wear "a shirt and tie, sweater or sport coat, dress slacks and oxford shoes." Women are expected to "wear dresses, nylons, and flats or heels."  In addition, "girls will not be served evening meals during the week if they are not wearing "skirt, dress, or culottes."  Students appear to accept the rule -- for now.

October, 1964 -- Student Patrick Day (future Dean of Instruction at St. Thomas University) pens a mocking letter to the Mistic, complaining about hours at the college library: "hows we sposed to git smart when librery  don't stay open but to 9:30? Udder coleges stay open ladder -- why nut uss?"

October, 1964 -- Students Doug Johnson and Tom Bertek, presidents, respectively, of the Young Republicans (YGOP) and Young Democrats (YDFL), debate the merits of the two candidates for US president.  "Barry Goldwater does not promise that if he is elected there will be something for everyone," argues Doug Johnson; "Barry Goldwater does promise to maintain the highest of character and morality."  Lyndon Johnson will aid higher education, fight poverty and "keep the world in peace," replies Bertek; young people should heed Johnson's call to "ignite a fire in the breast of this land, a flaming spirit of adventure that soars beyond the ordinary and the contented and really demands greatness from our society."

October, 1964 -- Ruth Temple, writer for the Mistic, profiles older women who are taking classes at MSC -- "grandmothers, busy wives and mothers [who] return to college" to complete the "unfinished business" of getting a degree.  Some of the women she interviews are there because they want a job ("nowadays it takes two to make a good living," says one), while others, having raised children, now want something more ("I think I'll be a better person for having come back," says another woman).

December, 1964 -- "Dragon Fire" columnist lauds the new movie, Hard Days Night.  The Beatles on screen were "refreshing and funny because [the film] had no point to make.  The film's "inane rollicking gambol" gave viewers a "healthy sense of silliness" in "an age of anxiety."

February, 1965 -- US Representative Clark MacGregor (R-Minnesota) visits MSC campus and speaks on foreign policy.   MacGregor, a veteran of the OSS in World War II, hopes Johnson will take steps to win the support of "villagers in Southeast Asia," without whom he cannot succeed in stabilizing the region.

April, 1965 -- Larry Scott, MSC sports editor lauds "Spring, [when] a young man's fancy turns to baseball." Profiles and photographs of the 12 new and recently remodeled buildings are displayed on campus, including the recently built Dahl, Snarr, Hagen and Nemzek buildings.  Another new women's dorm (Grantham Hall) will open in the fall, and groundbreaking has begun for the new Center for the Arts. (see the draftsman's plan for the Center).

May, 1965 -- New guidelines at North Dakota State University will permit MSC students to take part in NDSU's 2-year Reserve Officer Training programs (ROTC).  Both the Air Force and Army programs "have vacancies for their second period of training."

May, 1965 -- NDSU, MSC and Carleton  College professors hold a teach-in on Southeast Asia on the NDSU campus.  MSC Professor Feld (Political Science) will take part in the teach-in and invites students to attend and "become better informed about the Viet Nam War."

September, 1965 -- State Board of Education approves the addition of three new Masters degree programs for MSC -- MA in English, MA in Music, MS in Biology are added to the MS in Education.  Academic Dean Maurice Townsend stresses in his announcement that enrollment for these new degrees will be limited and "entrance requirements will be high." (see the 1960s requirements for obtaining a graduate degree -- requires Adobe to open file).

September, 1965 -- With a growing number of students entering college from rural areas, the Federal Educational Opportunity Grant Program (EOG) provides low-cost grants (not loans) to families who have limited finances.  Student activity fees now contribute over $100,000 to campus activities, about a quarter of which is used in athletics, the remainder on the Performing Arts Series, Homecoming, campus radio, etc.  Over 3300 students are now at MSC.

October, 1965 -- Denying the widely held belief that MSC students are "apathetic" in regard to national issues, a student writes that she has friends who are "currently establishing an SDS [Students for a Democratic Society] movement on campus" -- "my friends are not apathetic, I am not apathetic."

November, 1965 -- The US Congress passes the Higher Education Act, which devotes more Federal funding to to colleges and universities and offers low-cost loans to prospective college students.

November, 1965 -- Pianist Charles Rosen performs in Weld Hall, in one of the first offerings of MSC's new Performing Arts Series.

November, 1965 -- Dr. Yvonne Condell, MSC biology instructor, is named to "Who's Who in America."

November, 1965 -- The Young Democrats host a panel discussion at the Library on the topic "Pre-Marital Sex and Birth Control."

November, 1965 -- Dr. O. J. Hagen, former College Director and noted physician (for whom Hagen Hall was named) dies in Fargo at age 93.  Hagen's late wife, Moselle Weld Hagen, was the daughter of Dr. Frank Weld, second president of Moorhead State. 

December, 1965 -- After a lengthy open forum on campus, in which all facets of the military situation in Vietnam were discussed by faculty and students, MSC students vote three to one in favor of "the current US policy."