Capitol plays host to celebration
Members of ASU Theatre help re-enact the signing of Act 100 on Wednesday
Wendy Miller
Issue date: 1/15/09 Section: News
|
Act 100 of 1909 founded Arkansas State University, University of Arkansas at Monticello, Southern Arkansas University, and Arkansas Tech University as agricultural schools. Upon their creation, these schools only offered home economics and teacher education to women and agricultural degrees to men.
Today, each of these schools has reached university status, offer many degrees in varying fields and provide higher education to thousands of students from across the state.
"The re-enactment ceremony helped me to learn more about ASU than I already knew. It was interesting to me because for one day, we set aside the competition. The four colleges all came together to celebrate this act," Quan Poole, SGA vice president, said.
Members of the ASU theatre department re-enacted a legislative debate of the 37th General Assembly of 1909. Bob Simpson, chair and professor of theatre, served as Speaker Rep. J. J. Bellamy.
Jared Weston portrayed Rep. J. L. Brown of Independence County, Donnie Walters portrayed Rep. Oscar Winn of Pulaski County, James Kaut portrayed Rep. E. D. Smothers of Baxter County, and Rob Spencer portrayed Sen. Robert W. Glover of Grant County.
The actors dressed in attire suitable for a legislative meeting in 1909, and recited recorded remarks from the actual debates.
"It was a blast. The ASU theatre students did a great job with re-enacting the debate that took place. I spoke with the governor for a few minutes, and it was an overall great experience," Poole said.
RSS Feed
Be the first to comment on this story