Editor’s note: This is the fourth article in a 10-part series examining significant events and the climate of the campus at Iowa State in each of this century’s decades. The stories are based on articles from the Daily during those time periods. Today’s article will look at the years 1930-1939.

Mirroring the conditions of the entire nation, Iowa State was forced to slim down and toughen up during the early 1930s, although the latter part of the decade would prove to be more promising, if only for a short while.

President Raymond M. Hughes was at the helm of ISU during these tough times, and through his leadership, the school was able to weather the storm.

Enrollment at ISU in 1930 was at an all-time high – 4,318 students – but a mere three years later, that figure had plunged to 3,292. Feeling the crimp of the reduced revenue from low enrollment and of smaller state appropriations, ISU in the early 1930s was forced to fire many faculty members. Even those who weren’t ushered out during the high tide of the Great Depression rarely received their paychecks on time.

Hughes tried to combat this through various means. Probably realizing that many students just couldn’t afford the $12 fee, he stalled until 1934 the enactment of the so-called “blanket tax,” the predecessor to student fees, in spite of years of overwhelming student support of the fee.

In a 1932 interview with the Iowa State Student, he said one of his main goals for the upcoming years was to change the focus of ISU athletics from intercollegiate competition to much-cheaper campus intramurals.

But by the time Hughes resigned in 1936 and Charles E. Friley stepped up to the presidency from his post as dean of the Industrial College, things were looking less bleak. Student enrollment began to rise once again, reaching about 6,000 students by 1939, and the Iowa Legislature began to relax its grip on state appropriations.

While the slowly reviving economy began to improve in the late 1930s, ISU began to build on campus again. Residence halls Roberts, Friley (north side), Oak and Elm were built during the second half of the decade. The Nuclear Engineering building and Snedecor Hall also were built during this time period.

Construction crews were busy at the Memorial Union, where 1939 renovations included the addition of a student commons and bowling lanes.

Student enthusiasm for athletics waned during the early years of the 1930s, evidenced by a 1930 Student editorial asking, “What is wrong with Iowa State football?” The football team garnered a mediocre 33-36-9 record during the decade, although the Cyclones did secure one Big Six championship.

And although athletics still were an important element of student life, sports events did not usually attract the same attention as they had in years past (although seven students were arrested in a 1937 riot after a 21-7 victory over Kansas).

During the more difficult years of the 1930s, Hughes wasn’t the only one sensitive to the financial concerns of students. The Cardinal Guild, the student government body, voted in 1930 to cut class dues and ease the financial burden of students.

But for the most part, students at ISU during the 1930s seemed to either be indifferent to the troubling economic situation of the United States or simply oblivious.

The student body during the decade stuck to very strict moral values, shown by the uproar of student discontent in 1937 when it was reported that the Iowa Liquor Control Commission was considering establishing a liquor store in Ames. Clergy-led discussions with titles such as “Why you shouldn’t drink beer” were attended by large crowds.

Students did make attempts to declare their independence, however.

The Guild made a strong push for the administration to relax the curfew for female students, eventually getting the Friday curfew pushed back to 11 p.m. and the Saturday time moved to midnight. However, co-eds still were required to be home by 8 p.m. during the week and were not allowed to attend any social functions not sanctioned by the university.

The middle of the decade saw the rise of independent students (those not living in dormitories on campus or associated with any greek house) in student government. In 1937, the Independent Party romped the Representative Party (whose members were almost exclusively greek) in the campuswide election.

The increasing power of independent students was not the only change in student government during the decade.

The positions of class officers, which were previously elected for sophomores, juniors and seniors, were abolished in the late 1930s, and an executive decision from President Friley outlawed any student from holding more than one major campus leadership position.

Before these changes, student government was a messy affair at ISU. There were so many different offices that elections were held seemingly every month for one post or another, and students often held high-ranking editorships at campus publications while serving as high-ranking officers in student government.

By the last few years of the 1930s, though, it became obvious that there was a possible danger on the horizon. Reports about Nazi Germany began to appear in the Student, which by now was a daily newspaper.

At first, the reports did not seem to hint of any pending danger, such as former Student editor Bob Root’s Jan. 22, 1938 column asserting that American journalists were portraying Hitler wrong and that he wasn’t a “big, bad wolf.”

Soon, however, discussion of war began to dominate students’ minds. A poll in late 1938 showed that half of ISU students thought the United States should stay out of all wars unless faced with an invasion.

There were even several peace demonstrations on the steps of Beardshear Hall during 1939, and student opinion was staggeringly in favor of ending the tradition of mandatory military training on campus.

However, events they could never have foreseen would soon dramatically change that notion, as well as change ISU.