International House Berkeley

Moving to the fraternities caused I-House residents to give up the privacy of single rooms. Yet the sharing of rooms in close quarters seemed to promote greater understanding. Staff members wrote in the 1945 International House Quarterly of special friendships formed across culture and race: A Chinese girl from Hawaii, a Black girl from the deep South, and a white girl requested to live together and set the pattern for other international rooms. For three terms, this first group lived together, and their room was always a center of activity. Following the War, the Navy returned the building to I-House. The large infusion of returning U.S. veterans threatened to force a reduction of the foreign student program at the university. International House helped alleviate the problem by doubling up veterans with foreign students at its own facility. This took pressure off the university to reduce the number of students from abroad. University President Sproul addressed a meeting of the National Association of Foreign Student Advisors on this issue. Citing the example of International House Berkeley, he argued that it was not a question of the veterans or the foreign students, but both. 1946–1953 "THE GOLDEN AGE" O f this uplifting and welcome post-war period, an I-House Board member writes: The International House years 1946-53 are frequently referred to by residents of the time as "The Golden Age." The expression comes not from the fact that the residents of this period were rich–far from it. Many were World War II veterans living on the GI Bill of $125 per month, and even though a double room at I-House cost only $200 per semester, kitchen and dish washing jobs were at a premium and essential if these residents were to make it financially. The building itself was not "Golden" in 1946-47. The Great Hall was torn-up for remodeling and off limits, and the new west dining room was under construction, making the entire dining area unusable. Food cooked in the kitchen and carried to the auditorium was tepid. Diners sat on benches at picnic-style tables. Only one entrée and carton of milk was permitted per person. Whenever a program was scheduled, the residents had to fold up the picnic tables and benches and clean the auditorium floor. When it was over, residents again cleaned up and returned the tables and benches before breakfast the next morning. All was volunteer labor. The total residence, program, and community activities staff consisted of three professional employees and two secretaries. Obviously, the residents did most of the work. Social consciousness was high. Through some personal, and some official, I-House actions, the Berkeley fire department was racially integrated, as were the public rooms at the Claremont Hotel. Restrictive covenants against minority ownership of residential property in the Berkeley Hills area were challenged–and fell. A Berkeley campus fraternity was racially integrated for the first time in university history by a group of International House residents. Residents in the library, 1948 Socializing at the soda fountain, 1947 Residents in national dress celebrate Spring Festival, 1949 4

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