When the United States declared war on April 6, 1917

• Military drill began, without uniforms and with sticks as weapons.
• All men were required to take some war-related credits, while women learned to roll bandages.
• War related courses were added to the curriculum.
• The part of Ingalls Field that was not used for football was used to grow potatoes for the Commons.

April 16, 1917

College Days reports that the Executive Committee voted “with wholehearted faculty approval” to place the college on “war footing.”

More from the Archives:

SATC on campus

Ripon Women and the Red Cross

Ripon College Sports 1917-1918

Clifford Endicott Letters : Letters from Clifford D. Endicott to Iris Fries, Fall 1918

Excerpts from College Days, 1917-19

War Dead

See also: WWI and the Birth of the Ripon ROTC in Campus Life Through the Decades

By Jennifer Baker and Calah Goehring