WVU During the Great Depression
Many students found it difficult to stay in school during the Great Depression. Federal financial aid programs were available to students at WVU for the first time, as part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt?s New Deal. This aid made it possible for students to work and study at the same time. One student?s job was to be the night guard for the Chemistry Building (Clark Hall)—he remembered that he got a lot of studying done on the job because there was nothing to guard against. Students also paid for their education with funds from their family or a few scholarships. Sometimes, families moved to Morgantown so their children could attend WVU and save the cost of room and board.
WVU opened its first residence hall for men in 1935—Men?s Hall (now Boreman Hall). Out-of-town students packed their laundry into big crates or baskets and sent it home to Mom by train. There were no laundromats, no wrinkle-free clothes, and no one wore jeans and T-shirts to classes.
In December 1938, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada decision that colleges had to admit African American students to any graduate courses that were not available at the state institutions for African Americans. This would soon open WVU?s doors to a few African American students.
WVU offered its first social work courses and its first humanities courses in the late 1930s. Humanities 1 and Humanities 2 are still taught at the University.
1938-39 Mountaineer Mascot Bud “Slim” Arnold
More historical information about WVU’s mascot