VIDETTE summer WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 2017 Vol. 129 / No. 62
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Singin’
all summer long
From past to present: ISU possesses a rich festival history STORY BY STUART STALTER | Features Reporter | @VidetteStuS
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ounded in 1857, Illinois State University’s history is rooted in providing students a premium education. ISU’s history also boasts a rich track record of hosting entertaining events and festivals. Archive assistant Julie Neville believes ISU’s time as an entertainment venue is almost as old as the campus itself. “I believe the earliest ‘concerts’ on campus would be put on by the literary societies which formed soon after the university was founded,” Neville said. “The literary societies on campus (Philadelphian and Wrightonian) would hold
meetings and events that included debates, speeches, and musical entertainment.” A look into ISU history book “A History of the Illinois State Normal University,” written in 1882 by John Williston Cook and James McHugh, assures Neville’s accuracy. According to the book, on Oct. 9, 1857, four days after ISU opened, ISU’s male students proposed “a society for the purpose of extending their social relations and for the elevation of their moral character and intellectual attainments.” A formal proposal was accepted the following day, thus forming the Normal Debating Society.
Later that year, the society was renamed to Philadelphian Society. However, member disagreements led to the Wrightonian Society forming in 1858. These two societies hosted ISU’s first social gatherings. Student picnics occurred each spring and a union exhibit occurred at the end of the winter semester. However, the biggest event was an annual faculty serenade involving the whole school and the Bloomington city band. The band and students would go to each professor’s house to play live music. see FESTIVAL page 6
A student enjoys the lights and sounds during a May concert put on by the University Program Board in Uptown Cricle. DJ Earworm was performing. Photograph by Shea Grehan | Vidette Photographer
James Robinson looks to make jersey his own PAGE 8
ISU will receive $65 million with state budget PAGE 2