GI Joes & College Joes:

Big Men on Campus

The veterans were not just older than typical college students. They were mature beyond their years, having traveled far from home and having endured hardships on the battlefront. Many started families and wanted to get a degree and a job as soon as possible. Veterans avoided frivolous undergraduate pastimes, but excelled in varsity athletics, student government, campus publications, and other extracurricular activities.

While younger classmates sometimes complained about the "eager beavers" who favored studies over campus social life, the rivalry between veterans and nonveterans was generally good natured. A spoof in the May 23, 1947, issue of the Technician proposed a group called Veterans of Future Wars to lobby Congress for another GI Bill that would allow younger students to receive benefits down the road. Meanwhile, veteran and student reporter Jack Fisler engaged in some amiable teasing of his own by pointing out in the October 1946 State College News that the GI Bill covered all student fees, so veterans would receive free yearbooks, student newspapers, and athletic tickets. They could "see the Wolfpack in action. . . courtesy of Uncle Sam."

 

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Credit: Agromeck, 1947.

The introduction to the "Organizations" section of the 1947 Agromeck featured this image of NC State's changing student body.

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Credit: Agromeck, 1945.

Fraternity paddling.

Most veterans refused to put up with the hazing that NC State freshmen had traditionally received from upperclassmen, hastening the demise of these rituals. On a national level, the Interfraternity Council worried about decreasing membership figures for Greek organizations. On a few campuses, albeit not at NC State, WWII veterans formed an informal fraternity called Chi Gamma Iota, the Greek letters for "X-G-I."

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Credit: Agromeck, 1947.

Jack Fisler.

Fisler served as editor of the Technician from 1946 to 1947.


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Credit: Technician, April 26, 1946.

"Impressions of a Returning Vet," written by Jack Fisler for the Technician.

 

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Credit: Technician, February 8, 1946.

Veterans Fred Wagoner and Dennis Loftin served as the editor and business manager of the N. C. State Agriculturist, the official student publication of the School of Agriculture.

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Credit: Technician, May 17, 1946.

"Wagoner Is President, Bill Thornton Wins Vice-Presidential Election."

In the spring of 1946, both the student president and the vice president were veterans of World War II.

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Credit: Agromeck, 1947.

WWII Veteran Fred Wagoner was also a member of the NC State football team.

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Credit: Agromeck, 1950.

The Cosmopolitan Club and campus Hillel.

Even though racial segregation plagued southern colleges for at least another decade, GI Bill recipients represented a wider array of religious groups and socioeconomic backgrounds than other students. Because of their maturity and academic prowess, they promoted the acceptance of nontraditional or "returning adult" students in American higher education. Many North Carolinians had been exposed to other cultures while serving in foreign countries or remote parts of the United States. The Cosmopolitan Club included both international students and worldly Americans.

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Credit: Technician, February 28, 1947.

"Patches" Meares (left) and Pete Peters (right) with his daughter, Sandra.

"The veterans provided good role models for the younger students and influenced them to study harder."

– University Distinguished Scholar Arthur Kelman, M.S. 1946, Ph.D. 1949.

 

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