Ryerson wasn’t always the commuter school we love to rant about. Each week, the Eyeopener unearths the stories that shook up campus in decades past.
The last week of January 1964 was surprisingly eventful time at Ryerson. At least according to the student press.
Let’s just kill the killers
A Jan. 28 article in the Ryersonian covered a debate about capital punishment. In 1961, murder crimes were divided into two types, non-capital and capital. Interestingly, Ryerson students favoured the retention of the death penalty 2-1 after the discussion took place. I hope that means more than three students attended the event. And you thought Ryerson was liberal.
Ryerson has radar
Actually, that’s the first line of the Jan 28 article in the Ryersonian. The unit wasn’t close to being state-of-the-art; someone donated the already-obsolete technology in 1961, with the condition that it was assembled and used. Rather ambiguously, the photo caption for the article reads, “Radar antenna to scan terrain.” For what, I have no clue. Naked molemen beware.
People are horrifically unscientific. And still they get press coverage.
This isn’t specifically Ryerson-related, but bizarre enough to be worth a mention. The Jan. 29 issue of the Ryersonian included an article about the International Flat Earth Society, which had members “all over the British Isles and in other parts of the world.” I’m not sure if this was a serious story, but it was on page 3. For real. It also has one of the funniest intro paragraphs I’ve ever seen:
Have you ever wondered what happened to good old Uncle Willy who went out to that Sunday morning to put out the garbage and hasn’t been seen since? And remember cousin Juliet, who went to the World’s Fair in 1939 and didn’t come back? Mother said she ran off with that playboy from Brazil, but maybe not. The answer might be simple. They may have fallen off the edge of the world.
Or maybe it was the playboy.
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By Aleysha Haniff
Information courtesy of the Ryerson University Archives
Photo illustration: Chelsea Pottage
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