Lincoln Hall Project
War and the New Era
From Beachheads to Campus
Veterans Come Home
Student enrollment at the University (aside from military trainees) plunged during World War II, with numbers falling more than 50 percent to 8,541 in 1943-44. On the Urbana-Champaign campus women outnumbered men. The situation changed drastically as eventually some 2 million veterans across the country took advantage of the G.I. Bill, which provided a free college education. By the mid- and late 1940s, enrollment at the University of Illinois ballooned to an all-time high of 38,637 (with men outnumbering women almost 4 to 1). Sporting events revived, as did the marching band. Veterans also flocked to work at campus publications, such as the Daily Illini, and they unfortunately displaced many women who filled the roles of editors and writers during the war. Veterans also had a preference for theater. One student who previously worked on the stage crew of the play Beggar on Horseback before going to war was given the lead part after he returned.
Extra Housing and Long Instructor Hours
The sheer number of veterans who took advantage of the G.I. Bill’s higher education provision nearly overwhelmed universities, including Illinois. A year after the war, the Urbana-Champaign campus had 23,000 students who hoped to register. Campus could handle 15,000. To accommodate the influx, instructors worked longer hours and classes were held in the evening. Single beds in dormitories were replaced with bunk beds. The Old Gym Annex, ice rink, and Memorial Stadium were converted to barracks-type housing. Portable houses were set up on the south side of campus for married veterans. Temporary campuses were established in Galesburg and at Chicago’s Navy Pier (a precursor of today’s Chicago campus).