Wes Peterson hadn’t planned on going to college. He graduated high school in June 1942 and took a job as a shipping clerk. He was drafted into the Army less than a year later.

But when Peterson heard about the G.I. Bill, he decided to attend college. He ended up at Syracuse University because it was one of the few colleges that accepted his credits from Springfield Junior College, where he studied after returning from the war. SU made the transition to college easier than other schools at the time by granting veterans sophomore standing if they took classes during the summer.

‘A bunch of us elected to go to Syracuse so we would not waste another year,’ Peterson said.

Peterson graduated from SU six decades ago, in one of the largest graduating classes in SU history. Commencement that year was held in Archbold Stadium, as the class was too large to hold commencement in any campus building, Peterson said.

The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, also known as the G.I. Bill, was enacted nationally during Chancellor William Tolley’s tenure. Although the bill didn’t require universities to accept veterans, Tolley recognized the opportunity and accommodated for the increased student population.

The Class of 1950’s commencement was one of many held during the World War II era. SU had become a leader nationwide for its commitment to helping returning soldiers receive an education. From 1943 to 1952, the university held two or three commencements each year, according to SU Archives.

Before the war, the university was meant to hold only 6,000 students. But by 1946, enrollment tripled, as the university accepted 9,464 World War II veterans. From 1946 to 1948, veterans accounted for 70 percent of the male student population, according to SU Archives.

As a result of the G.I. Bill, SU grew from a small liberal arts school to a nationally known university that continued to expand as it accommodated for more students. 

‘Once we accepted all of these students to come to campus under the G.I. Bulge, we had proved that we could handle that type of crowd, so why would we go back?’ said Mary O’Brien, reference archivist of SU Archives. 

Housing 

Although housing arrangements were not suitable for the influx of veterans in 1946, rather than turning them away, Chancellor Tolley found ways to house students. 

Prior to the war, men lived in fraternity houses or Sims Hall, and women lived in old Haven Hall, Winchell Hall and cottages around campus. In 1944, Sims Hall became a women’s dormitory for freshmen. The U.S. Department of War provided SU 300 temporary buildings — 200 for housing and 100 for classrooms. 

The 200 prefabricated buildings were made of metal and housed single men where Manley Field House now stands. Single men also lived in barracks at Collendale on East Colvin Street and in metal buildings on the hill of South Crouse Avenue and Irving Avenue. Some married couples lived in trailers at the Drumlins apple orchard, which became known as ‘Mud Hollow,’ according to the February 1987 issue of SU Magazine.   

But it wasn’t enough to accommodate for all of the veterans. Other veterans lived at the New York State Fairgrounds, an Army Air base in Mattydale, and Baldwinsville Ordinance Works, 45 minutes away from campus, said Ed Galvin, director of archives and records directory of SU Archives.

Peterson, the 1950 alumnus who began his education at SU as a sophomore under the G.I. Bill, lived in three different places during his three years as a student, starting in the barracks at Collendale.

Although the G.I. Bill allowed veterans to get a free education, it did not cover the costs of eating and housing, Peterson said. During his second year, Peterson moved to his fraternity house and became house manager, which waived his housing cost. He also waited tables at the fraternity to get free meals.

The summer before his senior year, Peterson married his first wife and made arrangements to live in the trailers at Drumlins. The trailer, which measured about 7-by-22 feet, had a backroom with a table, kitchen facilities and a living room.

‘The trailers were really small,’ he said. ‘I would go in one end and close the door so my wife could watch TV on the other end.’

Tanney Oberg, another 1950 alumnus who attended SU under the G.I. Bill, also recalled his living conditions in Drumlins.

‘We had no hot water, no bathroom in the trailer. We had to walk up the street to a community bathroom and shower,’ he said.

Despite the hardships, veterans were thankful for the opportunities they were given, Oberg said.  

Education

Many veterans did not originally plan to go to college until the G.I. Bill provided them with the opportunity to receive a free education, Peterson said. By the time they attended college, many were already married and ready to move ahead in their lives. 

‘You have to re-enter that different mode of living where everything involves learning and homework,’ Peterson said. ‘It wasn’t easy. It was tough, but well worthwhile.’ 

Whereas students just out of high school focused more on the social aspect of university life, veterans focused more on their studies, he said. 

‘Our attitude toward it was different, as we were driven to learn this stuff,’ he said. ‘When you get out of high school, you’re not as driven.’ 

Veterans were treated equally as students and expected to fulfill requirements just like anyone else, Peterson said. 

Arnold Friedman, a nonveteran 1950 alumnus, said because he attended the university with veterans, he got double the education. 

‘We learned how older people acted and behaved, how they had taken their life and put it back together after having lost 20 percent of it,’ he said. 

By 1948, enrollment quintupled in the College of Applied Sciences — now known as the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science — and forced the college to move to a vacant General Electric plant on Thompson Road, said O’Brien, the reference archivist of SU Archives.

Traditionally, men studied engineering, but during this period, a handful of women also joined the school. Lynne Sebbard, a 1950 alumna, was the only woman who studied electrical engineering in her class. 

She chose engineering because she identifies with her father and wanted to follow in his footsteps, she said.

‘I didn’t measure up to that kind of brilliance that he expressed, but I was very close to my father,’ she said. 

In high school, her principal advised her not to apply for the engineering program because he said she would never get in with all the veterans returning. But when SU’s dean of admissions visited her school, she told him she wanted to go into engineering. After looking at her grades and work, he said she could do it and that he’d like to see women in the field, she said. 

But by her senior year, Sebbard was conflicted by the career path she had chosen. She considered majoring in math or physics instead, but realized she would lose credits and have to extend her college years. 

Sebbard continued to deal with how people viewed her as a woman in the field of engineering. She said she wasn’t considered feminine or as someone to take out on dates.

‘Frankly, part of it was a battle in femininity,’ she said. ‘It was tough for me because I felt I was considered a buddy.’

Changes 

1953 marked the end of the G.I. Bulge, as the university went back to having one commencement a year, said O’Brien, the reference archivist of SU Archives.

When Bradley Strait arrived on campus in 1950, the first thing he noticed was the sea of temporary buildings.

‘There were houses along the streets, but between the houses, they had packed prefabricated buildings,’ he remembered. ‘That’s the thing that probably struck me before anything else.’

After one semester, he left for the Korean War. He returned in February 1955, graduated in 1958 and later became the dean of the School of Engineering.

The year he graduated, SU took down the first temporary building. The rest gradually disappeared throughout the next 40 years. On May 10, 1991, the last temporary building was removed from South Campus, said Galvin, director of archives and records directory of SU Archives.

Many alumni said the most significant change they see when they visit the university is the inner Quad buildings, which didn’t exist when they were students. They include Huntington Beard Crouse, Hinds Hall, Link Hall, the Physics Building and the Heroy Geology Building. The engineering school has also seen changes since 1950. 

‘It’s tremendous compared to what they had before,’ said Peterson, who recently visited for his 60th class reunion. 

When the university reached its peak of 19,698 students in 1948, it never went back to the small liberal arts school it used to be. 

‘It was one of the best things that ever happened to Syracuse University,’ said O’Brien, the reference archivist. ‘The combination of having a very forward-thinking, forward-seeing chancellor. It was a big, giant step that wouldn’t have happened except for those circumstances.’

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Published on March 27, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Laurence: [email protected] | @lgleveille