#campushistory

Covid-19 is on everyone’s mind today, but it’s not the first time that a flu pandemic altered life on our Western campus. On October 8, 1918, the health authorities ordered the closing of the school as a safety precaution. Originally projected to last until November 27th, health authorities lifted the ban a week early and school re-opened on Monday, November 20th. The quarters were adjusted to assist in making up the course work (no online courses then.) But most students returned and all continued well. Image is from the Weekly Messenger, October 12, 1918. 

Sound familiar? This was the question on students’ minds in Autumn 1918, when another fast-moving pandemic forced campus’s closure. After the quarantine, however, life and levity returned to campus, as evidenced by the 1919 Klipsun’s whimsical write-up of a challenging academic year. See the entire document in MABEL’s Klipsun Yearbook Collection: https://mabel.wwu.edu/islandora/object/wwu%3A16451

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