Page 497

 49715. 
S~i4ent Life and Interests 
 APID increase in student enrollment which had become pronounced in the 1890's
continued into the twentieth century. By 1900 the student body exceeded two
thousand; ten years later it had passed four thousand and, notwithstanding
the slump which occurred during the first World War, by 1920 it had reached
seven thousand and within the next decade, ten thousand. Depression and another
war were to reduce this total but the end had not been reached. In this constant
increase the College of Letters and Science continued, with its numerous
technical, quasi-professional, and professional courses, to occupy the dominant
position, while the colleges of engineering, law, agriculture, and medicine
drew proportionately fewer students. 
 The constantly increasing student body naturally created a mounting problem
of housing. Except for the one women's dormitory, the University had no residence
halls at ' the time Van Hise became president. Some students found rooms
in the dormitory, some in the houses of the Greek-letter societies, but the
great majority had to find places to live in the cavernous rooming and boarding
houses that continued to multiply around the campus. Pleas for student dormitories
from the president, University officers, and students had little effect on
the legislature. An additional women's residence hall was acquired before
the first World War and, after that, a men's