USC after World War II

USC after World War II. . , The aftermath of World War II wrought numerous changed at the University of Southern California. Before Pearl Harbor, USC enrolled an average of 6,000 full time day students. Less than five months later after the war ended in 1945, returning veterans taking advantage of the GI Bill had swelled enrollment to 8,300 daytime students and 3,500 evening students. Enrollment continued to soar over the next six years; at its peak in 1947-48, USC's combined daytime and evening enrollment reached 24,000, the overwhelming majority made up of former servicemen., Accommodating so many new students naturally posed a monumental challenged for the university. During the postwar period, the university educated more returning GIs than any other Southern California college or university and in the processes taxed its faculty and facilities almost past the breaking point. Twenty nine army barracks were moved to campus to alleviated the shortage of classrooms, laboratories and offices. But students still faced long lines, overflowing classrooms and crowded arteries as well as a severe lack of parking and housing. Classes were scheduled from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays and even on Saturdays, forcing faculty to work double shifts, initially with no increase in pay. Subjected to nonstop wear and tear, the physical plant deteriorated precipitously until funds were generated to make the necessary repairs., The ex-servicemen changed the character of the university in significant ways. Older and more experienced than their fellow students, the Trojan veterans - or "Trovets" - demanded much of their professors, thus elevating academic standards. To help cope with the booming enrollment, the administration hired more professors, adding 111 instructional staff members in 1945-46 and 371 instructors and assistants the following year. This new blood brought about a fundamental change in composition to the faculty, introducing people with fresh ideas, varied interests and new approaches to education, who were well equipped to teach the sophisticated returning veterans., A disproportionate number of students from the postwar years went on to achieve considerable success and fame, including columnist Art Buchwald, producer David Wolper, writer/physiologist Leo Buscaglia, and former Speaker of California Assembly Jesse Unruh, who served as president of the Trovets in 1946. But the biggest winner may have been USC itself. Expanded, strengthened and invigorated, the university began its transformation from regional institution into a major research university, one whose accomplished faculty and diverse, highly qualified student body raised expectations for the years to come.