Drama Club.
Fall enrollment reached 420. In October, a drama club was formed with
Professor Donald Kennedy, professor of Business Administration and Industrial Engineering,
as faculty advisor, and Professor Ira Baumgartner as coach. Adopting the name
"Dramatechers," they put on their first play during regular chapel hour on December 9, 1931, a
one-act play by George S. Kaufman entitled If Men Played Cards As Women Do.
Employment Prospects.
During the spring of 1930, companies were recruiting and hiring
Clarkson seniors vigorously. Most seniors had multiple job offers. Many went with large
companies, and all who wanted to work could find jobs. By October 1930, however, the job
picture turned bleak.
News began trickling back that some of these newly-hired graduates of the Class of
1930 were being laid off. No more companies came to campus to interview. Senior letters
inquiring about employment either were not answered or stated coldly, "Sorry, not hiring." One
1931 senior wrote 130 letters and did not receive a single word of encouragement. Graduation
was bleak. No one had a definite job offer.
A few were able to turn to teaching; a few others to government work; some tried
selling. Somehow the Class of 1931 learned how to eke out an existence, and then gradually
how to fashion a career, if not in engineering then in some other line of work. Despite the fact
that this class graduated with the worst graduation employment record in the school's history, it
became as successful as any group who ever attended Clarkson.
Student Deaths.
Harris Ryan, a freshman from Lake Clear, N.Y., was killed in an accident
New Year's Eve when the car in which he was driving was forced off the road by another car,
and he was pinned underneath his overturned vehicle.
In September, Dennis Dunbar, a sophomore from Montreal, died of poliomyelitis in the
Watertown Hospital after being stricken with the disease on Grindstone Island where he and 21
other young men were attending the College's summer camp in practical work in surveying.
Industrial Engineering.
A new course of study was offered to students this year—Industrial
Engineering. It combined the principles of engineering with the principles and practices of
business. During the first two years students covered the fundamental mechanical engineering
principles, including kinematics, mathematics, chemistry, physics, drawing, empirical design,
and thermodynamics. During the second year, they also took courses in accounting, economics,
and business practices.
In the last two years, the Industrial Engineer major specialized in power plant work,
taking courses in power plants, applied mechanics, and engineering laboratory. To complete the
work in business principles, the last two years also included business law statistics, marketing,
manufacturing industries, cost accounting, industrial management, labor problems, and
personnel management.
Sports Insignia.
Sports letters and numerals were to be worn only by those who had been
awarded them by the Athletic Council. Any other person desiring to wear a sweater bearing a
numeral or a letter was to wear the garment with its outside in. Freshmen could not wear any
letter or numeral.
