Challenge yourself to Tom’s Trivia!
See if you know as much as King of UConn Trivia and University Deputy Spokesperson Tom Breen ’00 (CLAS).
Scroll to the bottom to reveal the answers.
By late March 1920, Route 195 between Storrs and Willimantic had been closed to automobile traffic for five weeks because of winter storms, prompting then-President Charles Beach (of Beach Hall fame) to do what?
A: Call on the governor to send the National Guard
B: Shovel snow
C: Enlist a team of sled dogs to transport students back and forth
D: Cancel the spring semester
A new monument in front of Greer Field House honors the 50 (and counting) alumni and coaches who have competed in the Olympics and Paralympics. Which of these alumni Olympians competed in both the Summer and Winter games?
A: Melissa Gonzalez ’11 (ED)
B: Sara Whalen ’98 (CLAS)
C: Svetlana Abrosimova ’01 (BUS)
D: Phylicia George ’10 (CLAS)
In 2022, the Puerto Rican/Latin American Cultural Center celebrates its 50th anniversary. What was the first name of the center when it was established in 1972?
A: La Casa Borinqueña
B: The Puerto Rican Student Movement (PRSM)
C: The Latin American Center
D: El Centro
In 1962, Elizabeth T. Noftsker, dean of women, wrote to the UConn Security Department (precursor to the UConn Police) asking them to enforce rules which she felt students were breaking too often. Which of these activities did Noftsker say was acceptable?
A: Women wearing slacks on Sundays
B: Students lying down on the grass around campus
C: Holding hands
D: Smoking cigarettes in class
Students on the Great Lawn in 1944
Answers
- (B) Beach, along with about 40 or 50 faculty and students, cleared snow and ice that was more than two feet deep, finally reopening the road to cars (and horses).
- (D) George, a track and field star at UConn, represented her native Canada in the Summer games in 2012 and 2016, and then in the Winter games in 2018, where she and her partner won bronze in the two-woman bobsleigh competition.
- (A) Thanks to the efforts of the students who belonged to the Puerto Rican Student Movement, La Casa Borinqueña was established on Glenbrook Road, later changing its name to the Puerto Rican Center, and then to PRLACC. It is currently located in the Student Union.
- (C) Women wearing slacks on Sundays and anyone lying in the grass (except in the sunbathing area set aside in East Campus) were explicitly forbidden. Noftsker’s letter didn’t mention cigarettes, although she did say holding hands was OK, but not, under any circumstances, “fervent or smothering embraces.”
In 1967, I was a representative of a student government group called the Committee for University Reform. Our goal was to loosen some regulations that we felt were antiquated. (Hey, it was the ’60’s!) We met with Dean Noftsker to discuss allowing men to visit women in their dorm rooms. The Dean’s response was, “When you get a boy and a girl and a bed in a room, you get a baby.” When I pointed out that she had omitted some necessary steps in her analysis, the meeting came to an abrupt end!
By the way, we were successful. Men were allowed to visit, with the door open, from 1-3 on Sunday afternoons.
Susan Becker Krell
BA 1969