Book looks at lively side of UO's past.

Byline: GREG BOLT The Register-Guard

Whether painting the Skinner Butte "O" with the backsides of some hapless Beavers or barricading themselves on the roof of Deady Hall during Junior Flag Rush, students at the University of Oregon have never lacked for extracurricular activities.

They had bonfires and noise parades and beard-growing contests known as "whiskerinos," they dunked freshmen - and Beavers - in the millrace, they marched for peace and to celebrate football victories. But for a few sober, disciplined years following the university's founding in 1876, the history of the UO is as replete with tales of student high jinks as it is with academic accomplishment.

Both are explored in a new book published by the UO Press, "Pioneers, Scholars & Rogues - A Spirited History of the University of Oregon." The $19.95 softcover is a lighthearted review of 125 years of university history meant to remind alumni of times past and bring newcomers up to date.

Jeffery Jane Flowers, the UO Press production editor who compiled the book, said the idea came from the folks at the UO Bookstore, who said they're frequently asked for something that offers a quick history and some fun facts about the university.

"We always have requests for some kind of light history of the University of Oregon," she said. "Folks come to campus and they want to know the history, they want to know when the buildings were built, they want to know the words to the fight song."

Putting all that together was a two-year project for Flowers. Divided into five chapters covering about 25 years each, the book hits the high points without going into studious detail about administrations or budgets or politics.

Readers will discover, for example, that an early student prank involved heating an old cannonball in the basement furnace of the original dormitory building - later to become Friendly Hall - then carefully carrying it to the top floor and sending it rolling down the stairs in the middle of the night. When the alarmed and indignant resident faculty member went to retrieve it, he got an early equivalent of the hot potato.

Peace marches aren't exactly a new thing on campus, either. The first came not in the Vietnam era of the late 1960s but the pre-World War II year of 1935.

In fact, Flowers said, the university has a long tradition of protest and strained relations between students and the administration.

It goes back as far as the late 1800s, when students anonymously mocked a set of authoritarian rules that forbade them from drinking alcohol or using tobacco, among other things, by recasting them as biblical commandments handed down by the "Father," university President John Wesley Johnson.

"There's been tensions between the administration and students almost from the beginning," she said.

"We do have a long tradition of that kind of free speech and inquiry on our campus and I think we're all proud of that, even though it isn't an easy road for the administration sometimes."

Debates over military courses and training weren't new when they erupted in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They began as soon as such classes were first offered in the years leading up to World War I, when the empty field later occupied by McArthur Court was turned into a battlefield training ground, complete with trenches and lookout towers.

But the serious nature of world events and academic rigor rarely managed to deprive students of their high spirits. Through wars and depression, students maintained a sense of humor.

In addition to the homecoming galas, the Canoe Fetes on the millrace and innumerable dances and socials, students engaged in more energetic and entertaining expressions of youthful spirits.

One was the Junior Flag Rush, a turn-of-the century ritual that grew into epic, campuswide spectacles.

It started with the idea of burning off springtime energy by setting a day in May when the junior class would raise and defend its flag against the rival sophomores. It soon escalated into full-scale battles that saw students barricading themselves on the roof of Villard Hall while opponents used ladders and battering rams in attempts to dislodge them.

Traditions change, though, and Junior Flag Rush eventually morphed into University Day. The springtime ritual remains to this day as an annual campus spruce-up event. "It's amazing to think that goes back as far as it does in our history," Flowers said.

"I enjoyed finding that students weren't necessarily more serious in different eras. There was always an element of playfulness."

That playfulness was at times a bit extreme, even by today's standards.

In the post-Civil War riot of 1937, about 2,000 Beaver fans rolled into town to taunt the Ducks over a 14-0 loss, only to find themselves set upon by crowds that trapped one group of Beavers in a local cafe.

It took delicate negotiations by city officials to extricate the upstate rivals, but the price was being dunked in the millrace and having to repaint the "O" on Skinner Butte - using the seats of their pants.

Ducks gave as good as they got, though, and one year kidnapped the homecoming queen and princesses from Oregon Agricultural College, as Oregon State was then known. They were returned after being photographed in UO lettermen's sweaters.

The book covers plenty of other highlights, including profiles of the university presidents and prominent faculty members. It tells when different buildings were constructed and how UO athletic teams fared over the years and offers the stories behind various landmarks.

All in all, Flowers said, the book is meant to entertain as much as inform. "I really think what came out of the process was a sense of pride in the university," she said. "There's really a strong sense of community here, and I don't think we ever want to grow so much that we lose that."

The book is available at bookstores statewide, or can be ordered from www.uopress.com.

CAPTION(S):

Popular de- mand led to "Pioneers, Scholars & Rogues."