As a senior I lived in the dorms. And my dorm room was the room just beyond the Vagelos Center here. I don’t think it’s a room anymore. Apparently a lot of people who lived in the dorms at that time had been in the habit of using that room as a late entry when the desk was closed (interviewer’s note: easy access through the ground-floor window), and so a couple of people approached me to see if they could have the same arrangement with me, as they had with the former roomer. I said, “Well, the problem is, since I’m the Vice President of the class, I’m also the Chairman of the Quarter Senior Proctors, and I don’t think I can allow you to come through the room.” (There was a curfew at midnight, or something like that.) We had members of the senior class who took turns sitting out in the hall in various rooms during Exam Week, and we were the proctors, and if anyone in any exam room say anyone cheating, we were supposed to report them. And so we were sort of the sheriffs. And I often wondered if they didn’t put me in that room on purpose!
It was also the first and last time I ever ran an elevator. We had elevators with people running them -- they weren’t automatic. And so one of the things you could do to earn a little extra money to pay for your board was to take turns at certain hours when you ran the elevator up and down. So I ran the elevator! I’d never done that before, and I never did it again.
We didn’t have to dress for meals. Men were only allowed in the beau parlors -- the two parlors in the main dorm (Brooks). They were not allowed upstairs. There was a ping-pong parlor in Hewitt, so the guys could come around and we’d play ping-pong there. But they couldn’t go above the third floor.
A lot of people in my class were married before they graduated, and most of them were married to Columbia fellas. Most of them were not dorm students -- they were day students. In fact, ⅔ of the student population was commuters. We only had two dorms, Brooks and Hewitt, so space was limited. I commuted from Great Neck in Long Island. I’m still living in the same house!
(Interview on Founders Day, October 26, 2014, Vagelos Alumnae Center)
It was also the first and last time I ever ran an elevator. We had elevators with people running them -- they weren’t automatic. And so one of the things you could do to earn a little extra money to pay for your board was to take turns at certain hours when you ran the elevator up and down. So I ran the elevator! I’d never done that before, and I never did it again.
We didn’t have to dress for meals. Men were only allowed in the beau parlors -- the two parlors in the main dorm (Brooks). They were not allowed upstairs. There was a ping-pong parlor in Hewitt, so the guys could come around and we’d play ping-pong there. But they couldn’t go above the third floor.
A lot of people in my class were married before they graduated, and most of them were married to Columbia fellas. Most of them were not dorm students -- they were day students. In fact, ⅔ of the student population was commuters. We only had two dorms, Brooks and Hewitt, so space was limited. I commuted from Great Neck in Long Island. I’m still living in the same house!
(Interview on Founders Day, October 26, 2014, Vagelos Alumnae Center)