UT’s Student Center

By Ralphine Major

ralphine3@yahoo.com

The picture showed up in a batch of slides I recently converted to digital format. Many readers may recall the student center at The University of Tennessee Knoxville which was officially called the Carolyn P. Brown Memorial Student Center.

In the basement of the student center on Cumberland Avenue, there was a bookstore, the popular Smokey’s cafeteria-style restaurant, and Rafter’s restaurant where I often stopped by on my walk to work on Main Street. It was a place where I could always pick up a copy of The Daily Beacon student newspaper. The bowling lanes where I signed up one quarter to fill class credit were also in the basement. Meeting rooms, a candy shop, and an information desk were on the street level. Several offices were in the student center. It was also the place where students would often stand in long lines to get tickets for ballgames with their activity cards. Pay phones were just inside the lobby. It seems strange now to think that there were no cell phones back then. As university students come to the ever-changing campus at UT for the start of a new school year, may they find success, many friends, and lasting memories during this special time of their lives. To students everywhere—have a great school year!

Words of Faith: “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.” Colossians 3:23 (KJV).