During his visit at Homecoming 2015, Tusculum College alumni Paul “Rooster” Lawless ’70 graciously provided a “look back” at Tusculum College. In his reflections, he has, in great detail, described Tusculum’s physical qualities that differ from today. He also shared personal experiences.
Paul Lawless graduated in 1970. He describes his experience as viewing Tusculum in two pieces: the first few weeks and the rest of his four years. This is due to the first few weeks being filled with freshman hazing. The freshmen were “Rats,” while the upper classmen held the title of “Sir.” Following his third year, hazing had dwindled away due to the death of a student, not at Tusculum, involved in hazing.
“Survival at Tusculum was a tiny, square wooden building, the kind college students might try to cram into just to see if 50 people would fit inside, jammed cheek to jowl,” said Lawless. He goes on to describe Tusculum’s post office as a building that only held mail boxes for upper classman while the rest of the student body waited in lines extending out of the building to receive mail.
Paul Lawless and his wife, Martha, attend the keepsake preservation workshop during Homecoming.
The Quad during this time was an oval loop of asphalt that circled the middle ground between Haynes Hall, Craig, Rankin and the gym. Thinking of the quad, Lawless remembers it as Rankin’s front yard. The stairs in Rankin were a hangout for the mischievous. The metal furniture was not so popular during this time. “If you were foolish enough to sit on the metal furniture on the front porch of Rankin Hall, someone would notice you, fill a waste paper basket with water, and remind you of how foolish you were,” explained Lawless.
Excerpt by Kayla Freeman, freshman business major from Charleston, S.C.
You can read more of “Rooster’s” memories in the upcoming issue of Tusculum magazine.