Student Activities
; "Co-Eds Read Gateway between Lectures")
; "Yearbook Staff")
Despite rising tuition fees and financial hardships for many Albertans, the University experienced high student enrollments. Similar to students from all generations, the University’s Depression-era students found levity wherever they could.
Traditional student activities such as publication of The Gateway newspaper and the Evergreen and Gold yearbook continued. If anything, Alberta’s social and political climate was fodder for lively Gateway articles and the 1934 Evergreen and Gold revealed a deepening sophistication in its presentation.
Participating in sports and physical activities remained a constant attraction for students: football, hockey, skating, basketball, hiking, tennis, swimming, and tobogganing down the suicide slide near campus.
; "CKUA Announcers pictured standing in the Broadcasting Hut")
; "Playing field in front of Residences")
Under Wallace’s presidency, restrictions on fraternities were lifted. Wallace openly encouraged student participation in the Arts.
A litany of student clubs and societies such as the Glee Club and the Drama Society blossomed during this period. The debating club was extremely popular.
One of the most rambunctious clubs was the Applied Science Society, which in 1923 changed its name to the Engineering Students’ Society (ESS). Their antics and activities surrounding their annual banquet or almost any special event became legendary.
As recounted by George Ford in Sons of Martha: University of Alberta Faculty of Engineering 1913–1988, the high spirits of ESS reached a crescendo in 1937:
The yearly high-jinks of the engineering society were eagerly anticipated. The rowdy homespun yells that resounded at all sporting events threatened them with expulsion. The annual tribute to Professor Hewetson, their beloved political economy professor was a Valentine party which overflowed the largest lecture hall. Enthusiasm reached its peak with the annual elections. The campaigning, an unofficial parade through the arts and med buildings with Godiva astride her white horse, brought out the crowds and sometimes the ire of others. They disrupted classes and laboratories with their boisterous chants and blaring music. The annual feud with the meds culminated in the Battle Royal in ’37 and was brought to an end by Presidential decree. The ESS turned its enthusiastic attention to the Aggies who refused to fight fairly! The farmers resorted to chemical warfare and stunk up the place. The various attempts at producing and editing a faculty newspaper had brought on the wrath of the governing body, causing cancellation of the beloved “Engineers’ Gateway” for a period of years. Now, the engineers have their own press, and from time to time, come out with the “Bridge”, but it lacks the finesse of those earlier literary attempts.
; "National Federation for Canadian University Students Debate")
; "The Tuck Shop")
The Tuck Shop remained the favourite place to eat, meet, and be seen.