UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #380
WURTH, CHARLES C.

WURTH, Charles C. (1918-1992)
Undergraduate Student
At UW: 1937-1944

Interviewed: 1984	
Interviewer: Barry Teicher
Length: 02:06:57

Plight of disabled students in late 1930s and early 1940s; Student academic life; Discrimination on campus; Student social life; Campus religion; Student government; Presidents Glenn Frank and Clarence Dykstra; Effect of WWII on student life; Soldiers and WAVES on campus.

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:20  Attended UW from 1937-44.  Was one of about five blind students on campus.  
Professors sometimes allowed them a longer time to write; tested them orally or made other 
alternate arrangements.

00:03:49  No special services available for visually impaired or disabled students at this time, 
but there were informal arrangements.  Delta Gamma members volunteered to read for him.

00:06:11  CW was sociology major, preparing for social work.

00:06:40  Attended high school in Oak Park, Illinois for three years, went to Madison's East 
High School during senior year.  Always wanted to attend UW.

00:08:54  Dean Ruedisili and Dean Glicksman from Letters and Science, their personalities.

00:10:40  While at UW lived with family on Madison's East Side.

00:11:04  Orientation at Stock Pavilion as group, toured campus, Memorial Union.  Class size 
fairly small.

00:13:07  Course selection process.  CW assigned to advisor in sociology.  Spent about 20 
minutes per semester on advising.

00:15:11  Registration process.  Fee $42.50 per semester.

00:17:15  Entered university with interest in sociology, declared major at end of sophomore 
year.

00:19:00  No set dress code.  Most men dressed in slacks and shirt.  Tie not necessary.  Blue 
jeans popular after about 1944.  Most women wore dresses or skirts.  Professors generally 
dressed in suit coat and tie, except for Hans Gest in sociology, who dressed in T-shirt and baggy 
pants.  Discusses Gest's teaching methods in social psychology.  

00:31:10  Classes co-educational, women seemed to be treated equally with men.

00:32:04  Considerable resentment of Jewish students by other students, especially those from 
Midwest.  Felt Jewish students, especially those from New York and New Jersey, were 
intruders.  Felt like country bumpkins next to Jewish students from East, many of whom were 
very bright.  No overt confrontations on these issues.  Anti-Semitism very pronounced just 
before and just after war.

00:41:08  Few blacks on campus, 1943-44, although a few black activists who addressed people 
in union.  Mentions Oliver Hardy, former teacher at Tuskegee Institute as fellow student.

00:43:48  Teaching styles.  Some students skipped lecture, no attendance taken at lecture.  
Memorization.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:47:12  Enormous amount of homework in history, but it varied according to subject. 
Professors very accessible.  

00:49:40  Grades, grading procedures.  No break before exams.  Final exam formats.  No
take-home exams.  Teaching assistants often graded.

00:58:32  More on teachers.  McCormick in sociology a statistician.  Professor Gillen and 
Howard Becker mentioned.  Becker a colorful lecturer.  Anecdotes.

01:04:31  Discusses popular lunch spots, stores on State Street.

01:09:09  CW held two jobs at Memorial Union.

01:11:43  Dances on Friday night at Great Hall, later that tradition died out.  Bowling, pool at 
union.  CW member of Concert Committee.  Soda Fountain on 600 block of State Street.  
Some professors seen at Log Cabin.  Mentions Amber Inn on State Street.

01:17:45  Mentions Hoofers.

01:19:22  Lady Chatterley's Lover was popular book to borrow from library.  Records popular, 
especially symphonies.

01:21:10  Daily Cardinal seen by CW and friends as "mouthpiece for Eastern establishment."

01:22:14  Dates entailed attending performances at Memorial Union and then going out for 
soda.  On weekends women had a 12:30 curfew.

01:27:30  Intramural sports, spectator sports--boxing, basketball, football.

01:30:08  Major social events, proms, dances.

01:32:39  End of side.

Tape 2/Side 1

01:32:57  Religion on campus.  Discusses Catholic Youth Center.  Father Cacera--his 
personality, ways of interacting with students.  St. Paul's Chapel.  CW attended for 
entertainment and discussion.

01:38:13  CW did not pay attention to student government.

01:39:38  CW went to lecture by Norman Thomas.  Leftist political groups mentioned as 
neither effective nor popular.

01:41:18  Activities of Concert Committee, selecting program.  Pro Arte quartet.

01:45:06  CW had no contact with dean of men.  Mentions dean of women.

01:48:20  Presidents Frank and Dykstra.  Dykstra mingled with students.

01:50:02  State Street stores.

01:52:29  WWII's effect on student life.  Reduced activity on campus.  Empty classrooms, 
mostly females.  Muted school spirit.

01:54:48  Soldiers on campus.  Discusses racial incident--southern soldiers objected to black 
man's eating in dining area.  Most students CW knew saw this as an ignorant objection, but not 
necessarily racist.  

01:59:07  WAVES in Chadbourne Hall.  Marched from place to place.  Little mingling 
between  military, civilian students.

02:02:00  CW's career goals.  Decided not to pursue social work.  Instead he went into 
vocational  counseling and then into restaurant work.

02:03:56  CW feels his education was better than today's students receive in Letters and 
Science.  He believes scholarship no longer rigorous.  Partially this might be factor of increased 
size.

02:06:57  End of interview.  

END of Oral History #380