Reminiscences of a Cosmo Alumnus

When I left Chicago for 605 E. Daniel and the Cosmopolitan Club in the Fall of 1941, I was the last of the Wagner children to leave home, but the first to attend school away from home. It was a new experience for both my parents and myself. My parents basically provided my tuition fees (about $125 a semester) and $50.00 a month toward rent, books and other expenses. I could get by, but it was a no-frills year. Laundry was mailed home, a customary practice of students of the time. Cosmo was organized as a co-op with each member living at the house assigned monthly to a specific committee (bed making, cleaning, outside maintenance, etc). Students who regularly washed dishes and waited table received a reduction in the monthly fee. The only full time paid position was that of the woman who cooked. We felt that our food was among the best on campus and most members ate at the house nearly ail of the time. I do remember splurging one Sunday afternoon on dinner at a restaurant with a few of my closer Cosmo brothers. Income differences had little effect on friendships; most personal relationships were formed without regard to race, nationality, or religion.

For example, a little before my arrival on campus, the Mexican government expropriated all U. S. oil well properties in Mexico. Caesar Baptista and Hector Manjarrez, two Mexican Cosmo brothers, used the occasion to display a large Mexican flag across the front of the house—to the delight of some brothers and the censure of others. The entire year I was there Members continued periodical arguments among themselves regarding the appropriateness of the act in a house dedicated to international friendship and understanding! Even now (1999) members with whom I am in contact have asked me, "Do you remember the time when Caesar and Hector hung up the Mexican flag?" The Mexicans considered the episode a joke, perhaps demonstrated by another episode during the Christmas recess of 1941. Several of the Latinos, including Caesar and Hector, went to Mexico in Gerry Schuck-Kolbens's Ford. By time of their return Mexico had declared war against the Axis Powers and they told us of the big parade they watched in Mexico City where they observed a Burro pulling a small wooden?wheeled toy cannon. On the side of the Burro was a large sign stating in Spanish, MEXICO'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE WAR EFFORT!

There were other frequent and sometimes heated discussions about implications of acts considered inappropriate by some and harmless or appropriate by others, but I am not aware that any members left Cosmo because of these disagreements. For example, each nationality was encouraged to teach a song in their native language to their brothers. It was customary to sing these songs after meals. Some Jewish members objected to singing any German songs—even of the obviously nonpolitical international favorites like Ach Du Lieber Augustin and Du, Du Liegst Mir Im Herzen. Their anathema was easily understood, but the debate continued intermittently throughout the year as their position was not accepted by a majority of the membership.

There was one major confrontation while I was there, a situation which we were unable to resolve. Ben Frank, a Hassidic Jew from New York, came to Illinois to study in its outstanding school of Chemical Engineering. There was no possibility of observing all the teachings of his religion in Champaign/Urbana so he had received a special dispensation from his rabbi while attending Illinois. His Hassidic beliefs were so ingrained in his psyche, however, that he experienced great difficulty in overcoming his established habits. For example, he became sick and had to leave the table when pork was being served, even though he himself was not eating it. Enter Hong Sit, who had been converted to Christianity by a fundamentalist missionary while in China, felt it his religious duty to convert others to his religion and soon became Ben's inseparable companion. Hong was counseled by several members of the house to not attempt Ben's conversion, but their pleas fell upon the deaf ears of the true disciple. When Ben's parents discovered what was happening to their son they both descended upon the Cosmopolitan Club, one with the righteous wrath of a mother trying to save her child from disaster, the father attempting to reason with his son without further angering his almost irrational wife. When Mrs. Frank started up the stairs to "rescue" the hiding Ben from what she obviously considered a fate worse than death, she was confronted by Beto Albelda, a Bulgarian. He obstructed her access, adamantly informing her that it was against University regulations for any woman to have access to the living quarters of a men's fraternity house. The outcome was that Ben withdrew from the University, only to return a year or so later?but not to the Cosmopolitan Club!

The Cosmopolitan Club motto was vitally important to its members when, on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941 Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and the United States entered World War II. Immediately our huge American flag was displayed across the front porch of 605 E. Daniel. Soon a large group of University students gathered before the house, demanding to know if any Japanese students lived within. Club President Abdul "Charley" Shalizi from Afghanistan assured them that no Japanese citizens lived at the house. (There were a few members from Hawaii who were U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry; wisely and correctly, this was not mentioned). Gradually the crowd dispersed, but not before reporters from the local newspaper arrived to ask questions about the Club's position on the war. "Charley" answered that the motto of Cosmopolitan Club is "Above all Nations is Humanity" and refused any further comment. I had been to a lecture that morning and learned about the attack from an oriental (Philippine?) while crossing the Quad on my return to the house. By the time of my arrival just before lunch, little evidence of confrontation remained, but the flag display remained for the rest the day.

The Cosmo experience was one of the most rewarding of my life. Being intimately associated with students from all over the world provided international perspectives which remain among my great joys. It also gave me a wonderful background for my later work, first as Foreign Student advisor at Coalinga College and later as Immigrant Advisor at the College of San Mateo. Among my closest Cosmo friends were Hector and Caesar, Hugo Terrazes of Bolivia, Abdul "Charley" Shalizi of Afghanistan, Clement "Brother Squirt" Ching of Hawaii, U.S.A., and Dick Handricks and Vern McIntosh of the U.S.A. Fifty six years later (1998) Marge & I visited the U of I campus and spent a few minutes at Cosmo, now at another residence at 307 E. John St., a block north of Daniel. Shortly after our visit was written up in their Cosmo Connections, news letter, I received a letter from Gerry Schuck-Kolben, a brother from Austria. This contact resulted in my becoming reacquainted with two others, Dick Handricks and Vern McIntosh. All indicate that Cosmo was a highlight of their life!