In 1971, Northwest fraternity members threw Tower Yearbooks in the fountain at the Fine Arts Building after the yearbook for the first time in college history snubbed any special section about fraternities and instead posted a double-page spread about Palms and Hole in the Wall bars.
Caption: Annuals Thrown Into the Fountain
The tensions of final examination week came to a boil Tuesday night when a group of Northwest State College Students threw their college yearbooks into a fountain in front of the Fine Arts Building. It was reported that some textbooks were also thrown into the water. At one time during the demonstration, a group of students drove a truck near the scene and unloaded a stack of a- bout 15 to 20 Tower yearbooks into the fountain. Heywood’s * * Students Dump Yearbooks To Protest Tower’s Content.
Students Dump Yearbooks To Protest Tower’s Content
The Maryville Daily Forum, May 12, 1971, Page 1. via Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-maryville-daily-forum-northwest-annu/196419792/
A group of between 150 and 200 Northwest State College students on Monday night protested the content of this year’s college annual by throwing several of the albums into a fountain in front of the Fine Arts Building.
The annual, called the Tower, was charged by some members of MSC sororities and fraternities as being “antiGreek.” In previous years, the annual had contained group photos of fraternities and Sororities as well as independent campus organizations. Mrs. B. J. Alcott, faculty advisor to the Tower staff, said that this year’s album was an attempt to present “life on campus.”
The annual was edited by Lynn Ridenour, student editor of the Tower in Kansas City, who was there today for a physical examination for military service.
Fraternity Complaint Treasurer of Phi Sigma Epsilon men’s social fraternity, Charles Place, Bethany, summed up his fraternity’s complaint about the annual. “We think that every time President Foster wants something done, he’ll come to the Greeks (MSC’s fraternities and sororities). And whenever something needs to be done on campus, whether they realize it or not, the student body relies on the Greeks. For these reasons, we believe we shouldn’t have to tolerate an anti-Greek Tower.’
A similar opinion was expressed by Charles Henry, Bellevue, Wash., vice president of Sigma Tau Gamma men’s fraternity.
“Fraternities are just as much of an integral part of the campus as a full page spread of the Bell Tower, the two local bars, and President Foster’s house. If there’s a shortage of money, why not represent the more dynamic aspect of campus life rather than the artistic whims of the yearbook editor?”
Steve Cochren, a Kansas City resident and secretary of the Delta Chi fraternity, said some independent organizations were not represented. “There’s no recognition for all of the work we’ve done. Not only the Greeks, but also other organizations. No Representatives. Some sorority members were present at the Tuesday night demonstration.
But they had been instructed by the sorority presidents to attend the event as individuals and not to represent their sororities.
Dr. Phil Hayes, dean of students, was present at the demonstration as the crowd chanted, “We want Hayes.”
He later talked with a small group of students. “To the best of my knowledge, there will be no disciplinary action taken against any of the students,” Dean Hayes said this morning. “It was just an attempt on the part of some students to publicly display disapproval of the 1971 Tower, he added.
12 Per Cent Greeks on the MSC campus represent approximately 12 percent of the total enrollment of 5,018, according to Robert Henry, news information director. About one-fourth of the Tower staff is composed of fraternity and sorority members, according to Mrs. Alcott. She also said that plans for the Tower were presented to the Student Senate and the intrafraternity council last fall before the annual was sent to the publisher.
Campus organizations were asked to notify the Tower staff of the dates of their various functions in order to arrange photographic coverage, Mrs. Alcott said. “Since it’s final examination week and near the end of the school year, I think this is one way some of the students have released their tensions,” she said.
- 1971: the year fraternities learned that if you want a chapter in the yearbook, sometimes you have to make a splash—literally.
- They didn’t see fraternities in the yearbook, so they threw the book in the fountain. That’s what I call submitting feedback in hard copy.
- The yearbook had a double-page spread on the Palms and Hole in the Wall, but no fraternities. The fraternities responded the only way they could: with strong opinions and soggy margins.
- Rumor: the fountain was restored the next week. The fraternity section? Still water under the bridge.
- They wanted their legacy in print. The yearbook gave them bar culture instead. The compromise: drown the evidence.
- 1971 motto: If the yearbook ignores you, become the yearbook’s water feature.
- When your chapter doesn’t make the yearbook, remember—there’s always photobombing the fountain.
- The Palms got a glossy spread; the fraternities got a splash page.
- The yearbook finally included fraternities the next year — apparently, they just needed to be watermarked first.
- You can’t blame the fraternities. If your highlight reel is a bar spread, sometimes you have to make your own headline.
- 1971: when fraternities discovered guerrilla marketing — and it involved water damage.
- The yearbook left them out, so they gave the fountain a chapter meeting.
- Palms and Hole in the Wall got glossy—fraternities got baptized.
- They said, “Make a statement.” They just misunderstood the medium.
- It wasn’t vandalism; it was alumni relations with Splash.
- The fraternities never left the campus — they just went monthly in the fountain.
- When your group gets edited out, make sure your protest has good acoustics.
- The yearbook had a theme; fraternities brought the afterparty.
- Next year’s yearbook: “How to Avoid Being Thrown In.”
- The fountain became the official roll call for chapters that didn’t make print.
- They wanted a spread; they got a spread… across the fountain.
- Nothing says “we belong” like soaking someone else’s hard work.
- They took the phrase “make waves” very literally.
- The yearbook: bars in color. The fraternities: grayscale and wet.
- If omission is a crime, their sentence was wet and immediate.
- The fountain cleaned up quicker than the yearbook editor’s inbox.
- The fraternities didn’t disappear — they just made their presence fluid.
- The moral of 1971: don’t make enemies of people who know how to swim.
- Bar spreads age like fine wine; fraternity pride ages like soggy paper.
- The only thing more permanent than print is a memory dunked in fountain water.
