Joshua Cardinal Centennial Oral History Project Podcast Script October 28, 2013 Host: Joshua Cardinal, HIST

386/586 (JC) Narrators: Henrietta (Etta) Johnson, Class of 1951 (EJ), Carole Halberg, Class of 1972 (CH), Patti See, Class of 1990 (PS).

JC: Voice Over As the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire approaches its centennial in 2016, preparations are already in action to celebrate this momentous achievement. We are not only celebrating the Universitys 100 year service to the Eau Claire community, the state of Wisconsin, and the nation, but to the people of Eau Claires present, past, and future. This celebration becomes a time of reflection and remembrance. As an institution, Eau Claires own unique upbringing has had a lasting impression on the generations of students who have attended its halls and its ever adapting campus has allowed it to become one of the most prestigious institutions in the state of Wisconsin. My name is Josh Cardinal and I am an undergraduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. I have been fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to celebrate Eau Claires past by participating in the University of Wisconsin -Eau Claire Centennial Oral History project. Through my work, I was able to capture the stories of three different generations of alumni. Although they attended the University during different eras, a common theme is apparent during their interviews and that is the changes of campus life they have noticed since last attending the University. The stories that I plan to tell you, are from the interviews of Etta Johnson, an Eau Claire local, former elementary school teacher, and graduate of the 1951 class. Carole Halberg, former president of the University of Eau Claire Foundation and graduate of the 1972 class. And Patti See, a Chippewa Falls native, who currently works at the University as a distinguished student services coordinator, and graduate of the 1990 class. Their perceptions of how Eau Claires campus life has changed will be presented chronologically, starting with Etta Johnson, followed by Carole Halberg, and ending with Patti See. I hope you enjoy their interviews as much as I did recording them.

Prior to my interview with Etta Johnson, I researched old campus magazines, in an attempt to understand how student life was back in the 1950s. I found an interesting article published in the June 1950 edition of The Spectator, the Universitys Student Newspaper, describing that years Summa Cum Laude. What astonished me most about the article, was the graduates 2.8 GPA. Here is Ettas reaction to my findings and the conversation that followed.

HJ: They didnt talk about GPAs. JC: No? HJ: No, no. JC: Because now a days.. HJ: Yes. JC: Its all about GPAs. HJ: Yes, your GPA. JC: Okay. HJ: I have a lot of grandkids who are going to college and... JC: Yeah. ......... JC: Do you feel... umm sorry. HJ: Ahhh JC: Do you feel like this generation is a lot more stressful? HJ: Oh, yes. JC: Okay, so..How were.. Grades werent really a focus.. HJ: No. JC: Passing and learning the material? HJ: Yeah. JC: And umm ahh as a teacher do you feel like that style is better.. I mean? HJ: Ahh..No, I think its good for kids to ahh be accountable for what they did, we live in ahh we lived back than in a whole different era and ahh you know there werent a lot of kids who went to college they couldnt afford it and they didnt think that it was important ahh back than we had factories in in town and if you got a job at Uniroyal or something you made a whole lot of money and so guys wanted to do that and we

also had the paper mill and umm, but Uniroyal paid paid the most and so ummm gosh if you got a job at Uniroyal that was, that was great, you know. Umm so things were entirely different then. Now the focus is on if you dont have a good education you are not going to get a good job in life.1

Voice Over JC: Etta Johnsons observations towards campus life, address not only the cultural shifts among Eau Claires current student population, but also that of American society. Her remarks made me wonder what other generations of alumni thought about Eau Claires current campus life. In Carole Halbergs interview, she discusses how the physical changes that took place in the 1970s affected her experience at the University and the overall atmosphere of the campus. CH: Sure, theres been, uh, first of all, incredible, physical changes. When I was student here, um, the-the fine arts building was-was constructed during my student years. So, and I never had a class there by then I think I was a senior by the time it opened. So, that all that side of the campus, including the foot bridge, and actually the fine arts building was built before the foot bridge was. So, students who had classes there had to run around and go across the Water Street Bridge to get into the Fine Arts building and then run back to go to their next class. So, that whole thing, um, you know Oak Ridge Hall wasnt there, Chancellors Hall wasnt there, um the um, Mcphee, the-the physical education complex was much smaller, um, there were just-there were Quonset huts, in the lawn-on the lawn besides Zorn Arena those were, um, faculty offices in those. Um, Davies Center was quite a bit smaller, not the new Davies center but former Davies center there was a big addition put on after I graduated. So physically there were,um, there have been many,many changes and I think thats good thats you know a healthy environment. One thing that is different now or at least it was when I worked here, and I suspect that it still is, um, when I was a student here, I think and I dont know where it came from, but there was more of an attempt to integrate everybody. There werent separate places for, um, African American students, or um, International students, or Native American students everybody just sort of existed in the same environment and everybody gathered in the BluGold room. And I think that was very healthy, I mean we had a number of African-American students who were outstanding student leaders here um and, I-that makes a difference and I think we-Im sure we have more multi-cultural students here now than we did then. But, I think looking back I remember it seems like everybody was more, um, sharing the same experience together and not trying to carve out individual locations for whatever specific group somebody happen to be a member of, and I-that says something about or society and how weve changed. And I-and I certainly think that cultural pride is a wonderful
1

Interview of Henrietta Johnson by Josh Cardinal. September 19, 2013. Centennial Oral History Project, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. 18:41-20:57.

thing, and I just wish that we could combine that-that increase cultural pride that everyone seems to have with a total, emersion, experience for all students. So, thats something that, you know comparing then and now.2

Voice Over JC: After reviewing the perspectives of both Etta Johnson and Carole Helberg, I knew that a third interpretation was imperative to explaining the evolution of Eau Claires campus life. During my interview with Patti, I asked her how she felt about the influences that technology has had on Eau Claires current student population and if it has affected campus life at all. JC: Voice Over PS: I think it does and umm Im sure you see this yourself, but now students get out of class and they get outside of a building or maybe are not even outside of a building and they are already on their cell phones calling someone else. Where as I would walk out of a classroom and talk to my classmates about what went on in class or what we are going to do next or just those interactions when you are walking just that alone has distanced people and you would think that cell phones might bring us closer together. It seems like people have so much more to say, but I dont know that its particularly valuable and the communication is different even, you know if you can imagine umm, in the 80s when I was a student and even early 90s when I was a graduate student you weren't using email, so if I wanted to talk to a professor, I had to physically go to the professors office, I had to call the professor on the phone and those interactions are much more personal it seems to me than dropping an email or you know it seems that even a lot of college students today the way that they correspond best with each other is via texting, so I think as a culture just something somethings been lost just in the difference of the communication style.3

JC: Voice Over Later in our interview, I posed this question to Patti. JC: Okay. Umm, you have a truly unique connection with this University being that you graduated from the same institution you now work for, you have been able to witness the University as both a faculty member and as a student, in your opinion how has campus life changed if at all, from when you attended the University?

Interview of Carole Halberg by Tabitha Tatro. October 16, 2012. Centennial Oral History Project, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. 9:04-12:52. 3 Interview of Patti See by Josh Cardinal, September 22, 2013. Centennial Oral History Project, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. 13:08-14:34.

PS: Well, some of those things I have already touched on. JC: Yeah. PS: I think that umm students are not as independent and I think part of that is a cultural shift, which we kinda talked about before. JC: hmmm PS: Umm, and because of that cell phones and because of technology and probably also because of parenting styles. I think students are much more reliant on their parents than my generation was. My generation you know we loved our parents, but we couldnt wait to get away from them and I dont think thats the case today. And also my parents and and many parents of my generation had a very hands off approach. So they didnt know what we were doing my parents barely knew what I was majoring in. For years my mom thought I was a Journalism major and I was a English major and you know didnt know what classes we had and now it seems to me that parents are so overly involved with their kids lives that they they hover. You know Im sure you have heard the phrase helicopter parent, but also I think that students bring it on by reaching out to their parents over about everything and just you know the cell phone is the new umbilical cord. And so, umm thats different. And I dont think umm students are as well connected to each other as they were when I was in school. You know I just think about all of the conversations I had with classmates about the literature we were reading outside of class or you know leaving class leaving a night class and everybody going out to the camaraderie together to the Joynt together, so I dont know if that goes on umm as much and part of it is because you know you couldnt get out of class and find out what your friend was doing so you just did stuff with your class mates and umm I think thats a big shift.4

Voice Over

Interview of Patti See by Josh Cardinal. September 22, 2013. Centennial Oral History Project, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. 29:54-32:22.

JC: I would like to end my segment with a quote by G.K. Chesterton. Education is

simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.5 The interviews from Etta, Carole, and Patti are crucial not only in understanding Eau Claires past, but also its future. As the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire continues to provide higher education to new generations of students, we must never forget the stories of its alumni, who have provided us with the knowledge to move forward.

Michael Moncur. Quotation Details. http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/41856.html. Accessed October 18, 2013.