Thursday 7/22 Team 1/2 60 reminiscing tour – EMU

I’ve been taking care of my Michigan bike (a DL1000 Vstrom) making sure it is running. After changing the regulator on it I decided to take it for a spin to my college stomping grounds- Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti MI. Aka the “Gateway to University of Michigan” as we use to say when I was going there. EMU is just about 8 miles from U of M.

The campus at EMU looked similar to what it was 45 years ago, with a few new buildings around. The dorm I first moved into was still there. Phelps Hall that was all guys, across the courtyard was the gals. Did administrators think that the courtyard between the sexes helped with anything?

My second year I lived in the top floor of the Towers, which was the only co-ed floor on campus at the time. All the other floors alternated between the sexes.

I lived on campus two years, off campus the last three and lived in Ypsilanti full time since my dad sold the house I grew up in during my sophomore year. Besides earning my degree in Business Administration with a major in accounting I also learned how to drink and party during those years and still keep in touch with old friends and roommates. It was also a time to learn how to stand on my own two feet!

The most notable part of campus was just off campus, the Ypsilanti water tower. This obvious phallic symbol spawned local folklore that to save the tower from falling, no virgin was to graduate from EMU. This spawned t-shirts during my tenure with “Save the Tower” or “Tower Power” printed on them. It is amazing what you remember from college. I went to the campus book store trying to find another t-shirt and couldn’t find any “Save the Tower” shirts, apparently the school wants to clean up its image.