During the first six years of university history there were only two buildings on the campus. The main building, later known as Merrifield Hall, contained classrooms, book store, post office, and men's dormitory. The other building, later named Davis Hall for Hannah E. Davis, one of its early matrons, housed the girls' dormitory, and, in the basement, the university dining hall. Alumni of those days relate that the dining hall was a very popular place. When meals were ready to be served a napkin was hung out the basement window, and the first student in the main building who spied the sign, regardless of whether he happened to be in a class or not, yelled, "Rag's out!" The shout was taken up and a stampede to the dining room followed. This custom prevailed for several years. One day President Merrifield was showing some of his Eastern friends through the institution when suddenly "Rag's out" reverberated through the halls. The visitors wondered if there was a riot, and the mortified president realized for the first time how the dinner call sounded to outsiders. He suppressed it with difficulty, after many student debates on the sacredness of college traditions.
With the advent of football teams, "Odz, odz, dzi," an imitation of a Sioux war cry, became the college yell, and has continued to the present.
When a delegation from the first North Dakota legislature visited the campus on a tour of inspection in 1889, residents of the girls' dormitory held a tea in their honor. In order to improve upon the barrenness of the sparsely furnished parlor, pieces were borrowed from the girls' rooms and from friends. The expedient was more successful than the girls had anticipated, for the legislators considered the furnishings more than adequate and thereupon decreased the amount allowed in the budget for dormitory equipment.
Although the University of North Dakota has been in existence only 55 years (1938), it has had its share of distinguished alumni, among whom is Maxwell Anderson (class of 1911), playwright, author of What Price Glory, Mary of Scotland, Winterset, and other dramas. In 1933 his play Both Your Houses was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
Vilhjalmur Stefansson, explorer, attended the university from 1899 to 1902, and left at the request of the faculty. His escapades, though doubtless improved upon with the years, are quite typical of him. It is said he attended classes as seldom as possible, yet always received the highest grades. The story goes that he went to his calculus class only on the first day of the term, then returned for the final examination, which the professor allowed him to write, with gloomy prophecies of his ruin. Stefansson's mark was 98. The professor could not help remarking that he had done well considering that he had attended only one class. "And," retorted Stefansson, "if I hadn't come here the first day I'd have got one hundred."
The Arctic explorer has been credited with pranks such as releasing a small pig on the speaker's platform at convocation, and rolling a keg of beer across the campus to win a bet when North Dakota was a very dry State. There was then no trolley from Grand Forks to the campus, and President Merrifield was driven the two miles to and from town in his private carriage. One day Stefansson saw the carriage parked downtown. The driver was old in service, and when Stefansson stepped into the carriage and said "Home, Peter" in a good imitation of the president's voice, Peter suspected nothing. Stefansson rode in comfort to the campus, while President Merrifield, it is said, walked. Expelled in 1902, Stefansson was called back to his Alma Mater in 1930 to have the LL. D. degree conferred on him in recognition of his contributions to science.
The east campus road passes the Law Building, Woodworth Hall, Chemistry Building, and Babcock Hall. In Woodworth, the school of education, is the campus broadcasting studio. The University of North Dakota was the second university in the United States to offer courses in radio administration, and engineering students use the KFJM transmitter, adjacent to the campus, for practical class work in technical radio instruction. Just S. of the Chemistry Building are the university tennis courts, and a nine-hole golf course is E. of Memorial Stadium (L) erected in 1927. The university athletic department is a member of the North Central Conference and books games with schools from coast to coast. The University Museum on the top floor of Babcock Hall (open 9-5 daily) contains a large collection of Indian artifacts and geological and historical items.
The road curves back of Babcock and the Commons past Camp Depression (L), established in 1933, where railroad cabooses are fitted up for enterprising students to provide cooperative accommodations at a minimum cost. Left of Camp Depression is the shiny arched steel Winter Sports Building. Around the curve is the Armory (L) where athletic and social events and weekly convocations are held. The road to the R. passes Budge Hall (R), men's dormitory, built in 1889; Old Merrifield Hall (L), generally known as "Old Main," the first building on the campus and now occupied by administrative offices, post office, book store, and offices of the extension division; New Merrifield Hall (L), the liberal arts college building, completed in 1929; Science Hall (R), housing the medical school and State Public Health Laboratories; and the Library (L), containing 77,000 catalogued books and periodicals and about 17,500 uncatalogued Government documents.
Curving L., the road passes the President's House (R), a spacious Georgian Colonial brick residence. Next is Macnie Hall, a cooperative men's residence hall, named for John Macnie, for 20 years a member of the faculty, and composer of the university Alma Mater. Vine-covered Chandler Hall (R), named for Elwin Chandler, dean emeritus of the school of engineering, is headquarters during Engineers' Day held the last Friday in April each year. Davis Hall (R), women's dormitory, is the second oldest building on the campus, erected in 1887. It houses the home economics department.
English Coulee (R), so-called because an Englishman is said to have drowned in it, borders the campus on the W. Between Davis Hall and the Women's Gymnasium the stream curves, creating the impression that the opposite bank is a wooded island. This far bank is the stage of the Bankside Theater, and the concave bank facing it is used to seat the audience. The theater is the scene of an Interfraternity Sing held the last week in May.