Morris Bishop's A History of Cornell informs that the campus experiences eighty years ago were not unlike the tough decisions facing Day Hall today. Interestingly, the contract colleges appeared to be a little bit more stable than the endowed colleges during the Depression. Not so today: On the whole the faculty was philosophical about it. We had heard of diminutions of 40 per cent in other institutions of higher learning. The cost of living had somewhat receded, while we had enjoyed a lag of nearly four years since the coming of the depression. And at least, unlike many of our previously opulent classmates in business, we had jobs. (466)Hard times forced painful economics everywhere . Budgets were sharply cut; promotions and raises were rare. "We are both undermanned and severely handicapped for the lack of new equipment," wrote the President in 1933. In that year came the inevitable salary cut. A 10 per cent reduction for all personnel in the endowed colleges was imposed. The state colleges took a 6 per cent cut on all salaries over $1,000, and a 20 per cent reduction in departmental allotments for instructors and assistants.
And a story about students tenting it may not be so novel. I remember a similar story of a student living in a tarp near Fall Creek (although perhaps not due to economic necessity) when I arrived on East Hill in the fall of 2001. But reports of a male gigolo are altogether amusing:
The depression, officially inaugurated by Black Friday on the stock market, 29 October 1929, was not immediately felt in our seclusion. Bus as businesses contracted and failed, as parents found themselves jobless, as remittances dwindled, hardship came to campus. Within a year our loan funds were severely taxed. Graduating seniors had great trouble finding employers, the architects and Bachelors of Arts being worst put to it. In October 1932 it was reported that student jobs providing room and board were all taken by juniors and seniors, and that five hundred working students could find no work to do. One student was a professional dancer, nay rather a gigolo. Others worked as meatcutters, plumbers, painters, decorators. One was a tailor, one did embroidery, one gave religious talks. Four Russians formed a vocal quartet. Two boys lived in a tent by Six Mile Creek.< (491)
And the athletics program took a hit as well:
Then came the crisis. The Athletics Council, appalled by deficits, decided on January 1933 to discontinue all varsity games except basketball and some wrestling matches and to cut the salaries of staff and coached. (505)
