Shockers everywhere, at events long ago to happenings just the other day, always have something interesting to say. Take this sampling as a Shock Talk example:
"The first thing I did was learn to record grades. The grades were recorded in big ledger books by hand."
"Now wait a minute. You were a freshman and you were recording the official grades of all of your buddies?"
"Yes, but I didn't ever cheat."
"Did anybody ask you to?"
"Everybody wondered why I got honors when I graduated. Never occurred to me I could change grades. I'm not very clever."
"How many people are we talking about in the student body?"
"About 400. It was time consuming the way we did it, and we did a lot of other things, too. I used to dust the bookstore shelves, used to run that darn mimeograph. Oh Lord, it spewed ink everywhere and it was awful. And then literally — nobody believes this — we were so poor sometimes, I mean the college now, that they said, ‘Don't throw the broken rubber bands away; tie them together.' Now if you have ever gotten down to that state, you know you are poor."
Laura Cross '25 (1903-98) during a 1990 interview with journalist John Roe about working in the President's Office of Fairmount College.
"We've never been through this (Y2K) before, but we have a plan. If we take care of business, this will be a big non-event. I'm convinced if something happens, it's something we didn't think of."
John Hutchinson, manager of WSU's Y2K effort, as quoted in Inside WSU.
"Do everyone a favor; don't celebrate the beginning of the new millennium until the correct date: Jan. 1, 2001."
Ragan Hacker, Sunflower staff writer, in commentary published Nov. 17.
The Shocker asks: "As the Sunflower's last issue of 1999 rolls off the press on Dec. 8, what are some of the student newspaper's milestone headlines?"
"Unless Fairmount Becomes a Municipal University, Merger Appears Inevitable," January 1926
With the exception of the word unless, a pessimistic prediction that the class of 1925 might be Fairmount's last. In the May 28, 1926 issue, the paper was able to say: "You bet folks, we're coming back!" When the students did come back, Fairmount was the Municipal University of Wichita.
"Bombing, disruption occurs near campus," July 2, 1969
An event that mirrored the country's wider civil unrest. The bombing of a supermarket climaxed four nights of rock-throwing disturbances and attacks on motorists and businessmen in northeast Wichita.
"Football players, coach and dean perished when Gold plane fell," Oct. 5, 1970
A tragedy that has tempered the university's history with great sadness yet gritty determination. The Colorado crash took the lives of 31 wsu football players, coaches, administrators and boosters as they were en route to a game in Utah. Under an Oct. 9 headline, the Sunflower announced the remaining team members' 76-1 vote to continue: "Shockers decide to continue season."
"WINNERS! Shockers earn hometown, national praise," June 14, 1989
An exuberant announcement of the wsu baseball team's June 10 College World Series championship 5-3 win against the University of Texas.
