First Danceby Greta Hays ’11

Although the process that led to Northwestern’s first on-campus dance was somewhat controversial, the event itself, during May Day Weekend of 1968, was well attended.

The auditorium was decorated like an oriental garden, featuring a real pool with a bridge and homemade boats. A live band played. It was the Saturday night of May Day Weekend in 1968, and Northwestern College was hosting a monumental event: its first on-campus dance.

But the twist had been preceded by a lot of shout.

Excerpts from communications between Northwestern officials and representatives of Reformed churches that year—including a letter that read, “It is our feeling that dancing is a worldly influence that has no place on the campus of a Christian college”—may seem amusing now, but they prove just how contentious dancing was at the time.

The previous fall, the Student Senate approached the Board of Trustees to ask for permission to allow dancing on campus. The students kept their request simple: The number of dances per year would be limited to three—during Homecoming, Winter Carnival and May Day—and plenty of faculty chaperones would be present. The Senate even surveyed parents about the issue, with 64 percent of them approving.

Jim Vander Velde ’69 was co-chair of May Day that year and remembers going with other students to President Lars Granberg to request permission for the dance. While the issue concerned some NWC constituents, it wasn’t controversial among the student body. “The Vietnam War was going on, and dancing wasn’t a huge deal to students in light of that,” says Vander Velde. “Students were happy when it was allowed.”

Only eight percent of students indicated in a poll they opposed the dancing proposal, although two students said they would withdraw from Northwestern if social dancing was permitted.

Virg Muilenburg ’62, professor emeritus of biology, was a member of the Student Affairs Committee that spent much time on the issue. He recalls his dancing experience, or lack thereof, as a student just a few years earlier.

“We were not allowed to have dances at school functions, but we could do the bunny hop,” he says. “That was as close to dancing as we could get.” Before the famous “first dance” on campus, Muilenburg remembers student-organized dances being held at the scout house in Veterans Park.

On that spring evening in 1968, it was clear Northwestern had come a long way as May Day Queen Judy (Vogelzang ’69) De Graaff and her partner led students in the first dance. De Graaff recalls that the band started off playing a fast piece, but then had to switch to something slower so everyone could keep up.