The new $3.1 million Phi Kappa Theta fraternity house opened. High-tech in every respect, it reflected the “wired world” commitment of WSU alumnus and fraternity member Paul Allen, Microsoft co-founder. He funded the building, and equipped each of the other Greek houses at WSU with fiber-optic connections.
Weldon B. “Hoot” Gibson graduates with a B.A. in Economics. Gibson attended WSC with the help of his Uncle, Arthur “Buck” Bailey, and was a member of the football team and the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. After graduating from WSC, Gibson studied at the Stanford Graduate School of Business receiving an MBA in 1940 and a Ph.D. in 1950. Gibson was a long-time executive at the Stanford Research Institute from 1947 until 1988. He earned the Legion of Merit in 1946, Commander of the British Empire in 1947, and the Washington State University Distinguished Alumni Award for his role in creating the Washington State University Foundation.
Early on the morning of Sunday, May 3rd, approximately 200 students rioted, clashing with police on Greek Row in the College Hill neighborhood of Pullman. The riot, possibly provoked by a WSU ban on on-campus drinking, injured twenty-three police officers and about twelve party-goers.
Initially, two police officers were called at midnight to investigate a car-pedestrian accident at the intersection of Colorado and A streets. When police arrived at the scene, rioters pelted them with rocks, beer cans, and construction materials. They also overturned portable toilets and lit bonfires on the street. The officers retreated and called for backup, “giving the party a chance to cool down,” according to Pullman Police Chief Tim Weatherly.
Seeing no reduction in the rioting by 2 a.m., a combined force of ninety-three officers and troopers from Pullman and Moscow tried to disperse the crowd with tear gas, smoke, and water. This only diverted the crowd around the police, and rioters continued to attack law enforcement for two more hours. The riot was finally dispersed at 5:30 a.m. with property damage listed at $15,000. In the next year and a half, twenty-two felony charges were filed against the students involved. Many of them were plea-bargained down to misdemeanors, resulting in nineteen convictions.
