Sixty years later, he can’t recall all of the particulars. But Cordell Overgaard is near certain it had something to do with the UI canceling an annual spring fun event in 1957.
“This promptly led to a huge campus uprising that was precipitated by a scheduled water fight between my fraternity, Alpha Delta Phi, and the women’s independent dormitory across the street," says the Arizona-based media CEO.
"It drew many onlookers and soon grew into a major campus outpouring that became so large that it eventually drew tear gas from frustrated police officers.
“A number of students were disciplined but none from Alpha Delta Phi. It made the national news and parents tied up the phone circuits as they tried to reach their student children."
And on an academic note, Overgaard says, "thanks to the great accounting faculty, I was able to pass the CPA exam as a senior. I attended on the GI Bill and went on to Harvard Law School, where I graduated in 1960 and was on the Law Review.
"When I first went to Harvard, the Ivy League undergraduates scoffed at me because I went to the University of Illinois. But the law school’s socratic method soon made everyone feel not very smart.”
