October 2012 Archives

    Professor Ada Comstock, The Minnesota Alumni Weekly, May 10, 1910, Courtesy of University Archives, University of Minnesota

One of the most significant figures in Alice Shevlin Hall's history is Professor Ada Comstock (1876-1973), Dean of Women.[1] As Dean of Women, she held regular office hours in Shevlin Hall along with many teas so that she could get to know as many young women as possible.[2]  Dean Comstock's goal was to get to know each of the 900 young women at the college.[3] The 1907 Gopher was dedicated to Shevlin Hall and included an inscription by Professor Comstock. She wrote that the building served for health, comfort, the education and refinement of women and, most importantly served to help create: ". . .A sort of personal cultivation which women students derive from free, helpful intercourse with one another; and which manifests itself in tact and sympathy and comprehensions and the open heart."[4] Shevlin Hall was meant to provide women with a space where young women could interact with one another and gain skills that would serve them both as students and later in life.

Student Council of Women's League, Gopher vol. 20, 1907, Courtesy of University Archives, University of Minnesota

Evidently, Shevlin Hall lived up to the purposes that had been used to justify its existence in the first place. In a letter to The Minnesota Alumni Weekly Professor Comstock wrote that: "A student's building is, in my estimation, worth more than any other single addition which can possibly be made." She went on to describe the importance of Shevlin Hall and wrote the building contributed to the health of young women who had to remain on campus all day, as it provided them a space to rest and study and a place to have a meal. Women at Shevlin Hall also were able to use the building as a place to entertain and thus learned how to be good hostesses. Comstock argued that, most importantly, having a shared space encouraged women to look out for one another.[5]

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[1] "Ada Comstock Notestein: 1876-1973," The Harvard Crimson, December 20, 1973.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1973/12/20/ada-comstock-notestein-1876-1973-pbabmerican-education/
[2] "Dean Comstock Gives Teas," Minnesota Alumni Weekly, October 28, 1907, 7.
https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/53299/1/umaaMag-007_1.pdf
[3] "Co-Ed Dean Has Plans," Minnesota Alumni Weekly, May 20, 1907, 7                       https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/53298/1/umaaMag-006_6.pdf
[4] Ada Comstock, "The Alice A. Shevlin Hall," Gopher, V. 20, 1907.
https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/node/567829/574790?mode=basic
[5] Ada Comstock. "What the Building Means," Minnesota Alumni Weekly, March 21 1910, 4.
https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/53313/1/umaaMag-009_4.pdf

Prospective drawing of Alice Shevlin Hall, The Minnesota Alumni Weekly, May 14, 1906

    In 1906, Alice Shevlin hall was the first student building to open at the University of Minnesota and was built where Old Main had stood prior to burning down in 1904.[1] Shevlin Hall was named for the wife of Hon. Thomas Shevlin who donated $60,000 for the construction of the building.[2] He later donated another $20,000 to for an addition plus four $10,000 fellowships.[3] The building provided women with basic amenities like restrooms along with a space where they could engage in intellectual and social pursuits.[4]

Hon. Thomas Shevlin, The Minnesota Alumni Weekly May 14, 1906

     On May 14,1906 The Minnesota Alumni Weekly dedicated a large portion of an issue to describing the forthcoming Alice Shevlin Hall. One of the earliest ideas for a women's building would have been a tiny structure containing restrooms and little else. The plan for a larger women's building emerged around 1900 when Ada Hillman, general secretary of the U-YWCA, arrived at the University and discovered that that there was a lack of resources for women at the university. She decided that there was a need for dormitories, a women's building, and a Dean of Women.[5] Given that most women commuted from home or lived with relatives, a building for all university women was a more pressing issue than dormitories.[6]

Prospective drawing of living room, The Minnesota Alumni Weekly, May 14, 1906

      A committee of women was organized to furnish the space, as it was thought that the women who were to use the building should have a say in its interior appearance. The basement contained bathrooms, lockers and a lunch room. The main floor was "devoted to the social and religious life of the women students," and contained an assembly room, offices for the Women's League and YWCA, parlors and a large living room. The top floor contained study rooms and an emergency room where one could rest in case of illness. Shevlin Hall provided women with a place to study, rest, socialize and obtain healthful and affordable meals.[7]

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[1] See: Ada Comstock, "The Alice A. Shevlin Hall," Minnesota Alumni Weekly, May 14, 1906, 10.
https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/53286/1/umaaMag-005_4.pdf
[2] Esther Chapman, "How the Women's Building Movement Started," Minnesota Alumni Weekly, May 14, 1906, 9.
[3] See: "Shevlin Makes Transfer," Minnesota Alumni Weekly, January 31, 1910, 4.
https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/53312/1/umaaMag-009_3.pdf
Helen Lydon, "The Student Government Association," Minnesota Alumni Weekly, May 10, 1910, 9.
https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/53314/1/umaaMag-009_5.pdf
[4] Ada Comstock, "The Alice A. Shevlin Hall," 10-11.
[5] Esther Chapman, "How the Women's Building Movement Started," 9.
[6] Ada Comstock, "The Alice a Shevlin Hall," 10.
[7] Ibid.

In circa 1967, the Department of Student Unions was formed in an effort to coordinate the administration of all the student Unions on the Twin Cities campus. The four (and later three) unions still maintained independent governing boards, but a single Minnesota Union Coordinating Board was also formed, and given authority over the individual boards. This administrative arrangement lasted until 1985. From that time until 1991, the three student unions were again administered independently.

In 1991, Coffman Memorial Union and the West Bank Union merged their administrative structures and governing boards, and became the Minneapolis Student Union. By 1996, much of the space formerly administered by the West Bank Union had been given up. In that year, the name of the Minneapolis Student Unions was changed to Coffman Memorial Union and West Bank Services, and the name of the governing board was changed back to the Coffman Memorial Union Board of Governors.

In 1999, the administration of Coffman Memorial Union and the St. Paul student Center merged and became the Twin Cities Student Unions. The Governing boards were also merged on one year later, and became the Twin Cities Student Unions Board of Governors. In 2007 Twin Cities Student Unions became known as Student Unions & activities. 

Written by Jeremiah L. Mason

Coffman Memorial Union, 1948, Photograph Courtesy of University Archives, University of Minnesota

      By the time Coffman memorial Union was opened in 1940, discussions of a new union facility for the St. Paul campus were already underway, and continued to gain momentum over the years. But before a new student union facility was built on the St. Paul campus proper, a third student union opened on the Twin Cities campus, at University Village. University Village was a group of temporary housing and mobile home/trailers established to accommodate the influx of GI's attending the University of WWII, and their families. The University Village Union opened shortly thereafter to serve the needs of the unique student population. The University Village Union had its own governing board, and specialized in programs geared toward young married couples and their children. (The University Village Union closed sometime after 1967). The new St. Paul Student Center finally opened in 1959.

St. Paul Student Center, 1959, Photography Courtesy of University Archives, University of Minnesota

        With the construction of the West Bank Campus in 1962 came the establishment of the West Bank Union. The West Bank Union was administered independently, and had its own Board of Governors, like the other three existing student unions. The West Bank Union was a decentralized union which developed in conjunction with the rest of the West Bank campus. The construction of a dedicated union facility on the West Bank was discussed, but never carried out.

Written by Jeremiah L. Mason

Union at Old Dairy Hall, Courtesy of Berton M. Atkinson Archives

                 In 1916, the first amendment to the Minnesota Union constitution was made, establishing a branch of the Minnesota Union at the University Farm, now known as the St. Paul Campus.  (It is not known at the time for how long this administrative structure was maintained) the Farm Union was established in what was known as Old Dairy Hall.

                                                    Lotus Delta Coffman, 1938,                                                                           Photography Courtesy of University Archives, University of Minnesota

           Despite improvements made Shevlin Hall and the Minnesota Union through the 1910s and 1920s, the original student union building was soon too small for the growing student population on the Minneapolis campus.  In 1936, University President Lotus Coffman Formed a special Student Union Committee, and it was with his support that the construction of a new co-educational Minnesota Union was made possible. President Coffman died in office in 1938, the same year that ground was broken for what would be Coffman Memorial Union.

               Coffman Memorial Union, 1940 Photograph Courtesy of University Archives, University of Minnesota

Again, the union building was paid for by student subscriptions, as well as through WPA funds.  A new constitution was drafted for Coffman Memorial Union, recondition of its status as the single, co-educational Student Union on the Minneapolis campus.

Written by Jeremiah L. Mason

A Short History of the student Unions on the Twin Cities Campus begins with the opening of Alice Shevlin Hall in 1906. Shevlin Hall was meant to provide a place for women student groups to have offices and hold meetings, to provide a place for women students to eat and relax, and enjoy adequate toilet facilities, all of which had been completely lacking on campus or woefully insufficient prior to its construction. The Dean of Women led the charge for the construction of Shevlin Hall, on behalf of, and presumably at the behest of the women students and the women student organizations on the Minneapolis campus. The construction of Shevlin Hall was financed in large part by a donation from the family of Alice Shevlin. Shevlin had been governed in part by the Women's Self-Government Association (and possibly the Women's League) and was administered by the Dean of Women.

Nicholson Hall, Photograph Courtesy of University Archives, University of Minnesota

Following the opening of Shevlin Hall, and in conjunction with the nation-wide student union movement, the men students at the University of Minnesota soon began to agitate for their own clubhouse on campus. In 1908 an organizing committee was formed, and the first Minnesota Union Constitution was drafted. The same year, a campaign was begun to raise funds for a Minnesota Union building, and schematic plans for it were drawn up. The building was never constructed as planned. However, in 1914, the Board of Regents officially recognized the Minnesota Union, ratified their constitution, and granted them use of the building now known as Nicholson Hall. There were a number of faculty members involved with the Minnesota Union from its inception, and their involvement was crucial to the acceptance of the Minnesota Union by the Regents.

Written by Jeremiah L. Mason