1996 OREGON STATE YEARBOOK Nº 13 “OREGON STATE, FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!” Oregon State's Fight Song is as instantly recognizable to Beaver fans today as it was more than a hundred years ago. A shortened version of “Hail to Old OAC,” written by alumnus Harold A. Wilkins in 1914, the Fight Song’s lyrics have changed slightly with the times to reflect the school’s changing name, as well as genderneutral language (“We’ll cheer throughout the land,” for example, replacing “We’ll cheer for every man”). Through it all, the spirit has remained the same. If you’re in Corvallis Friday night before a home game, you might catch the band playing it as they tour downtown bars after practice. (Find their route at beav.es/barband.) Watch a fun video of the 2018 Oregon State Choir surprising the MU Lounge with the full song at bit.ly/OSUfightsong. —SCHOLLE MCFARLAND With drums pounding, fans join the band to chant “Ohhh-Esss-Youu! Oregon State, fight, fight, fight!” Here’s how to do the arm motions properly. Nº 14 PRIDE WEEK In the early hours of April 29, 1994, members of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Alliance were camped out in a big tent on the MU Quad. It was only the third year Oregon State had celebrated what’s now known as Pride Week and the second with a tent. The first tent had been egged. Three people, later charged with criminal mischief, tried to pull up the stakes and knock it down. Holding space on the Quad, the students had concluded, required a 24hour presence. What sounded like a shot rang out around 2 a.m. Afigurewas seen running awaywith what appeared to be a long-barreled gun. No one was ever caught or charged. What happened next was a pivotal momentinOSUhistory.Withuniversity administration silent, student body President Brian Clem, ’94, and PresidentelectApril (Waddy) Berg,’99,stepped in. They organized a tent city to surround the Pride Tent. Members of student government and others camped out that night in solidarity; local merchants donated ca" einated supplies. “We’re here basically just to show our support for LGBA,” Berg told the Daily Barometer. “When something like this happens to one community, it happens to everyone.” About a month later, OSU President John Byrne established the Campus Commission on Hate Crimes and Hate Related Activity. The next year, Pride Week organizer Amy Millward noted a change in tone on campus: “We received so much support…people actually came to us to o" er their help.” University of Oregon students had established a Pride Week nearly 20 years earlier — they even advertised in the Barometer.“[In Eugene,] OSU is known as ‘Oregon Straight,’” Randy Shilts, managing editor of UO’s student newspaper, told the Barometer in 1975. (Shilts later authored the best-selling book And the Band Played On, chronicling the AIDS epidemic.) But once OSU’s Pride Week tradition began, student organizers kept it coming back each May, despite controversy, conflict and — at least forthe first decade — a steady stream of angry letters. Over the past 30 years, the week has featured speakers, dances, panel discussions and more in the name of, as the 1996 yearbook put it, “friendship and visibility.” Camping out in the tent remained a part ofthe tradition foryears,though later it became more festive and involved marshmallows. After the Pride Center building opened in the fall of 2004, students instead held a “slumber party” there. —SCHOLLE MCFARLAND ↗Student Amy Millward hands out literature at the Pride Tent in this photo from the 1996 yearbook — the first to mention Pride Week. The story ended with a quote from Millward: “People need to not be afraid of controversy, because that is how we learn.” THE MOVES DO
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTcxMjMwNg==