Pomona College: 125 years of facts

A few stray facts about Pomona College, which I wrote for Sunday’s column (read that here) but cut for space reasons:

* The first yearbook, in 1894, was named, catchily, the Speculum. OK, maybe not so catchily.

* Athletic teams, now the Sage Hens, were known as the Huns until after World War I, when they became the Hens, which the timeline text says may have occurred because Germans were known as Huns and, to save money, the name “could be altered by the replacement of a single letter.”

* President Theodore Roosevelt visited in 1903, spoke before 7,000 and planted a California live oak, which promptly died.

* Built in the 1910s, Renwick Gymnasium became so pecked by birds that by the 1980s it was dubbed Woodpecker Heaven. It was also infested by bees. In a blow to the animal kingdom, it was torn down in 1982.

* Portions of Disney’s “The Absent-Minded Professor,” “Son of Flubber” and “The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes” were shot on campus.

* In 1961, the all-male dining hall went co-ed over the protests of some men, who argued that it was inappropriate for women to dine beneath a mural of a nude Prometheus, which was painted by Jose Clemente Orozco.

You can see the full timeline here.

Meanwhile, if you’re interested in the Founders Day celebration Sunday, the schedule of events can be found here.

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