1986 at Willamette

Written by Lilly Thies, class of 2026

The year is 1986. Ronald Reagan is the President of the United States. Dionne Warwick, Lionel Richie, Madonna, and Whitney Houston release the top songs of the year. Power suits, shoulder pads, and florals are in vogue. Newspapers contain headlines about the Iran-Contra affair, Al Capone’s Vault, the Chernobyl disaster, Hands Across America, and the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. Argentina wins the World Cup in Mexico City in a match against West Germany, Microsoft goes public, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first group of musicians. The New York City Gay Rights Bill is passed, providing protections against discrimination for LGBTQ+ New Yorkers. Anne Frank’s complete diary is published by the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation. The highest-grossing movies of the year are Top Gun, Aliens, and Crocodile Dundee, and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Phantom of the Opera premieres in London.

For Willamette University, 1986 was a year of change, to say the least. The 1980s, known to some as the “Hudson Years” after University President Jerry Hudson, were driven partially by an $18 million capital campaign to renovate and modernize many of the campus’s older buildings, such as Collins, Eaton, and the University Library, as well as the construction of the Mark O. Hatfield Library, dedicated on September 4, 1986. For Willamette, this year was about changing technologies and a shifting campus culture.

Technology

The early 1980s marked a period of rapid technological advancement. Compact discs hit the market in 1982, Lotus 1-2-3 introduced computer-based spreadsheets in 1983, and major personal computing milestones followed with the releases of the Apple Macintosh in 1984 and Windows 1.0 in 1985.

One of the changes that occurred on campus in 1986 involved the Collegian, the long-standing student newspaper. Editor Dave Chiappetta announced in a February 21st issue –which apparently followed a few months of silence from the Collegian– that “the ASWU Publications Board and Finance Board approved the purchase of a new Apple Computer Macintosh LaserWriter system,” which would “change the Collegian drastically, and for the better.” This system allowed Collegian staff to typeset and produce their own issues, rather than continuing to use SalemType, a downtown business that had previously done their typesetting. Chiappetta cited a four-day turnaround and a bill of over $200 per issue with SalemType, both of which could be mitigated with the LaserWriter, which could do “typesetting within hours, and for less than $10 an issue.” The implementation of the LaserWriter also allowed the Collegian to publish shorter, more frequent weekly issues rather than longer biweekly issues. The initial reaction to the new system seemed to be positive. Though some complained about the new format of the Collegian, which had been updated to reflect the new system they were using, it was certainly an improvement to have more frequent, timely issues.¹

Another pillar of campus life that emerged from the illustrious year of 1986 was the Mark O. Hatfield Library, which was constructed as a response to the growing insufficiency of the University Library despite an addition to the building in 1967.² The Mark O. Hatfield Library was designed with technology in mind, with an open and modular floor plan that could be updated as technology advances and needs change. The building integrated the Atkinson Graduate School of Management and the Music libraries as well, creating a centralized hub of knowledge. A 1985 edition of the Collegian notes that the new design planned for “rapid and efficient adaptation of library facilities to accommodate information technology advancements expected to occur in the next decade.”³ To emphasize the technological advancement the new library would allow, the library staff implemented the “Inlex System,” also known as the ONLINE Catalogue, which equipped each book with a unique barcode to fully automate circulation and allow for easier research. Notably, Willamette became the first university library in the Pacific Northwest to achieve this level of automation– putting a new spin on Willamette’s oft-used tagline “First in the West.”⁴

University Librarian Sandy Weronko noted the shifting of campus culture as a result of the new building: “The library has now become the true center of the campus. It is the place students meet, study and write letters as well as do research… Visitors always comment on two things: how light, spacious, friendly and comfortable the building seems, and how many people are in the building– even on sunny afternoons. And that’s the true test of success for a library building.”⁵

Campus Culture

Interestingly, though the Glee competition was still going strong, a few students identified a need for increased school spirit. Student Anna Brief decided to take matters into her own hands after witnessing Willamette football suffer an unfortunate loss to their rivals at Linfield: “As I watched a victory disappear, I couldn’t help but noticing how much cheering fans made a difference for our arch-rival’s performance at a time when their spirit needed a boost.” Brief decided to petition ASWU for the right to purchase a new Barney Bearcat mascot costume in an attempt to raise morale in the student section at athletic events. She also made an impassioned call to action in the Collegian, lamenting that nobody would “pry their butts off the bleachers to run, crawl or walk down to the field to clap for the football players in a spirit tunnel (merely two lines) and show their support for the team– win or lose.” Though the process of improving school spirit was slow-going, Brief was not discouraged. “It took several years for Willamette spirit to slip into the dregs of apathy, and it will probably take several more years to pull it back out.” Indeed, Barney the Bearcat remained a fixture at Willamette sports games and other events until Blitz was introduced in 1999.⁶

1986 also brought up long-standing debates about the campus alcohol policy. In 1984, President Reagan signed a bill that required states to raise the alcohol purchasing, possession, and drinking age to twenty-one. This was somewhat of a drastic shift for college campuses, as most students entering college were eighteen already or turned eighteen during their first year, but most did not turn twenty-one until their junior or senior year. Various drunken incidents, often involving fraternities– or in one case, an intoxicated student breaking into the Mark O Hatfield Library– spurred the administration to reevaluate its alcohol policies, especially during the time of increased drug and alcohol regulation bills implemented by Presidents Reagan and Bush.⁷Many students used the Collegian to express their opinions about these incidents. In one case, John Rhoades, then-president of Delta Tau Delta, wrote such a piece condemning the administration for suspending the student who had broken into the library, citing a lack of due process.⁸ The alcohol policy continued to be reviewed and revised throughout the year, and the years following with varying degrees of strictness and varying degrees of success.

The Bistro was one of the hot new topics at the beginning of the 1986-1987 school year, originally conceptualized by John Donovan and Eric Fishman as a student-run late-night eatery. It was designed to have an upscale atmosphere and act as a non-academic space where students could work late into the night away from the fluorescent lights of the library. It was also designed to be a social hub for discussion and as an intimate performance venue.⁹ Assisted by political science professor Bob Hawkins (now honored with a plaque in the Bistro), Donovan and Fishman appealed to President Hudson, who gave them the green light to move forward with planning. The Bistro moved into the University Center’s publications room, displacing the offices of the literary magazine the Jason, the University’s yearbook Wallulah, and the Collegian to the basement of Lausanne for the foreseeable future. The Bistro opened for business during Opening Days 1986 with ten staff members, and has remained open since.¹⁰ The Bistro achieved its goal of becoming a campus social hub, hosting Friday Night “Bistro Raps,” which facilitated discussions between students and administrators on various social and political topics.¹¹ “Club Bistro” was an ASWU-funded initiative to bring musicians and comedians to campus, much like the concerts and open mic nights that happen in the Bistro today.¹²

Other highlights

Other highlights of the year include the men’s basketball team traveling to Hawaii to play (and eventually lose) games and spend the week lounging on the beach, the discontinuation of two-stick popsicles, and a wildly popular Crazy 8s concert on campus. Additionally, the Juniors’ triumphed in the Glee competition, secured by creating a marching formation of a baseball bat hitting a ball, a ticking clock, a bouncing ball, and the number “1986”, which then shifted to form “1987”. Residence halls competed against each other in Intramural sports and took trips together to Thetford Lodge, Bend, or the Oregon coast. The men’s track and cross country teams defended their conference championship titles (track for the sixth year in a row!), and football had the best record in 12 years.¹³

During the 1986-1987 school year, Willamette Theatre performed the plays Black Comedy by Peter Shaffer, 5th of July by Lanford Wilson, The Alchemist by Ben Jonson, and The Skin of our Teeth by Thornton Wilder. According to 5th of July director Nicholas Leland, “Creation for the set for 5th of July took about as much time as the play rehearsals…There is real grass and about three tons of gravel on the floors, as well as plants all over the theatre room.” The room needed a “a full day’s worth of fluorescent light in order to keep the plants healthy.”¹⁴

1986 at Willamette foreshadowed, in some ways, the impending digital age and the era of the personal computer, exemplified by the adoption of new technologies in the library and publications room. It also represented the changing values of its students and faculty members as Generation X entered the world of higher education and the push to reevaluate what campus culture looked like. Students questioned the alcohol policy, the role of Greek life on campus, and protested for University divestment from South Africa. Students and faculty members used the newly-constructed Bistro as a place to engage in discussion with each other, creating an even tighter-knit community.

Endnotes

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David Chiappetta, “From the Editor’s Desk: A new era at the Collegian,” Willamette Collegian, 21 February 1986, https://hdl.handle.net/10177/10641.
Library expansion fundraising brochure, circa 1965, Box: 3, Folder 51, Willamette University Library records, WUA129. Willamette University Archives and Special Collections. https://willamette.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/archival_objects/88709 Accessed May 26, 2026.
Jon Radmacher, “Trustees approve plans for Hatfield Library: construction to begin this spring,” Willamette Collegian, 8 February 1985, https://hdl.handle.net/10177/9211.
Bueford Hemingway, “ONLINE makes it fast and simple,” Willamette Collegian, 6 October 1986, https://hdl.handle.net/10177/10177.
Building planning: correspondence with Ted Wofford, architect, 1978-1991, Box: 3, Folder: 55. Willamette University Library records, WUA129. Willamette University Archives and Special Collections. https://willamette.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/archival_objects/88713 Accessed May 26, 2026.
Anna Brief, “Spirit Club can make a difference,” Willamette Collegian, 17 October 1986, https://hdl.handle.net/10177/7740.
J. Michael Stockman, “Alcohol Policy May Let 21-Year-Olds Drink at Functions,” Willamette Collegian, 2 November 1990, 1. https://hdl.handle.net/10177/8499.
John Rhoades, “Whatever happened to due process ???” Willamette Collegian, 6 October 1986, https://hdl.handle.net/10177/10177.
Martha Bennett, “Bistro Takes Shape,” Willamette Collegian, 14 March 1986, https://hdl.handle.net/10177/7485.
Bistro, 1987-1988, Series III, Box: 11, Folder: 32. Willamette University Office of Student Activities records, WUA054. Willamette University Archives and Special Collections.
Kelly Hartwell, “Bistro Rap: Duvall Advocates WU Divestment,” Willamette Collegian, 17 October 1986, https://hdl.handle.net/10177/7740.
Pat Kurkoski, “Bistro Willamette continues success,” Willamette Collegian, 29 April 1988, https://hdl.handle.net/10177/8271.
Wallulah, 1985-1987, Series VI, Box: 49. Willamette University Student Publications collection, WUA023. Willamette University Archives and Special Collections. https://willamette.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/archival_objects/19673 Accessed June 24, 2026.
Michael Ishii, “5th of July is ‘thoroughly enjoyable,’” Willamette Collegian, 21 November 1986, https://hdl.handle.net/10177/9250.

Image Citations

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5th of July poster, Willamette University Digital Collections, https://hdl.handle.net/10177/41929
Barney the Bearcat with Cheerleaders. 1986. Willamette University Campus Photograph Collection.https://hdl.handle.net/10177/40691
Hatfield Library Staff Area. Library Staff Scrapbook, 1991-1995, Box: 5, Folder: 5. Willamette University Library records, WUA129. Willamette University Archives and Special Collections.
Hawaiian Luau poster. Willamette University Digital Collections, https://hdl.handle.net/10177/40797
Human Pyramid, Campus Photo Collection, 1980s-WU, Willamette University Archives and Special Collections.
Library staff member at computer. Library Staff Scrapbook, 1991-1995, Box: 5, Folder: 5. Willamette University Library records, WUA129. Willamette University Archives and Special Collections.
Party Supplies, Campus Photo Collection, 1980s-WU, Willamette University Archives and Special Collections.
Publications office. Wallulah 1986, page 63, Willamette University Digital Collections. https://hdl.handle.net/10177/11849
Students walk through the mill stream. Wallulah 1987, page 157. Willamette University Digital Collections, https://hdl.handle.net/10177/11864