Gunster Student Center Provides New Way of Life for Men at U of S: 'City of Youth', Official Says, 1960

Scrantonian Article about the early days of the University of Scranton's Gunster Memorial Student Center.

1960-11-20

Newspaper clippings

Gunster Memorial Student Center

Mullaley, Edward J.

University of Scranton Archives

univscrapbook-b065_0143a

Archival Records

Student and Recreation Centers

Times Shamrock Communications

[Please note that computer-generated transcripts include formatting, spelling, and grammatical irregularities and errors.]
Student Center Provides New Way of Life for Men at U of S
'City of Youth', Official Says
"This is home," said a University of Scranton senior as he looked up at the beautiful winged-roof Student Center. Thoughtful, he added, "we didn't realize how badly we needed this building until we had it. The senior who had spent three years of his college life without a Student Center recalled how difficult it had been to find leisure time activity before the opening of the Center. Some students spent their time in the rather dismal lounge of the "B" building, now torn down to make way for the new Classroom. Building, others in the limited number of lounges of the student residence halls, and still others spent their time in the crowded cafeteria of the "B" building. Often students, because of crowded conditions in these places, had to study in parked cars. More distressing; however, was the fact that the students had to congregate on street corners of Central City and in coffee shops and restaurants. The opening of the Student Center not only changed all that, but gave the students a completely new way of life—constructive and profitable use of their leisure time. The Student Center has become equally important. "This is more than a Center," Rev. Edward J. Mullaly, S.J., dean of men, who is in charge of the building, said, "it is a city of youth. This place just brims over from morning until night with young men and their activities. The uplift in spirit and pride which it has given to the students can hardly be measured." Father Mullaly knows. From early morning to late night the university's 2,300 day and evening students make it their living room, their center of recreation, the focal point of their social and cultural activities. It is a magnet which draws the entire student body together, getting them to know and understand one another.
GATHERING POINT—The University of Scranton's Student Center which serves as the community gathering point for all members of the college family—students, faculty, administration, alumni and guests. It represents a well considered plan for the community life of the university.
The Center does more than this. It is really the community center of the university — for all members of the college family — students, faculty, administration, alumni, and guests. Here the faculty can meet informally with the students, taking an interest in their leisure time activities, and establishing a mutual understanding and respect. The teacher becomes more than the teacher, he becomes a friend and counselor. The informality of the Center provides this environment of friendliness and helpfulness. There are some that believe youth's greatest talent is eating. Miss Marie C. Druffner, director of food services at the university, agrees. Daily she provides 1,300 meals for the resident students and off-campus students. They are full-bodied, flavorful meals, designed to pad the ribs of a lad and served in the Center's modern cafeteria and dining room. Dining together the students develop a comradeship spiced with the vigor of conversation, all of which is of value in the day around process of education. Miss Druffner, in addition to feeding her army of lads, also must provide for their parties, their banquets and their club activities. At the same time, she keeps a watchful eye on the diet; of the faculty in their private dining room. Here she concentrates on the slimming effect. The snack bar, on the first floor, gets the play. Busier than Macy's, the bar, with accommodations for 175, is jammed from, morning until night. The service is automatic, but the conversation and the laughter and jokes ring with the lilt of youth. "Just to have this snack bar for our own,
MAP ACTIVITIES - The day's activities of the Center are discussed by Miss Marie Druffner, director of food services, and Rev. Edward J. Mullaly, S.J., dean of men and director of the Center, in preparation for the influx of the university's 2,300 students for their leisure time activities.
the senior said, "would be a wonderful gift from the people of this community."But there is much more. There are the lounges, where students relax between classes, where they can study and read, or just enjoy the thoughtful companionship of their fellow students. There is the game room, bright I and clean, where constructive fun is to be had, replacing the dismal halls where the students of yore became experts in pool and a lot of other useless skills. Across the hall there is t h e auditorium. Presently the University Players are rehearsing "Billy Budd". This is their own theater, their own stage, with the facilities for a first-class production. Tonight it will ring with the laughter of the students and their friends as they witness the final performance of this play. Next week there will be a dance in this beautiful auditorium-ballroom. Another night a critical problem will be discussed here by a lecturer before a serious and intense group of young men. "This auditorium", the senior said, "is another wonderful gift." Below in another room the band is rehearsing and only they can hear it. Nearby the University Rifle Team practices on its own modern, well-equipped range. On the third floor students are, at work on the "Aquinas", the university newspaper; the "Esprit," the university's literary magazine; and the "Windhover", the senior yearbook. Serving another purpose, just Saturday, doctors, scientists, taxi experts, psychiatrists and religious leaders, gathered in various sections of the Center for the second annual Alumni Institute sponsored by the University. Alumni Society. This program was held to keep graduates and interested people in the community abreast of the latest advances in the various fields of learning. Father Mullaly likes to think of the Center as the heart of the University through which all of its activities flow and are invigorated and enriched. He points out that the Center is part of the educational program of the University; as the center of the college's community life, it serves as a laboratory of citizenship, training students in social responsibility and leadership in our democracy; it provides a cultural, social and recreational program, aiming to make free time activity a cooperative factor with study in education; and in all its processes self-directed activity, giving maximum opportunity for self-realization and for growth in individual social competency and group effectiveness. Actually, its goal is the development of persons as well as intellects. Finally, the Center serves as a unifying force in the life of the college, cultivating enduring regard for and loyalty to the college. But perhaps the senior best summed it up when he said, "this is home," and added, "now when a freshman arrives at the university he walks right into a home."

Advancing the Mission