Current, former USC students celebrate Preston College’s 75th anniversary

Former residents of Preston College at the University of South Carolina turned out Sunday to celebrate the dorm’s 75th birthday and see how college life there has changed – or stayed the same.

Dan Brown, a Preston College resident for two years starting in 1968, said even on his way home from work, he will sometimes drive through campus just to see where many of his memories were made while attending USC.

“It’s the same as it was in 1968 for me,” Brown said. “We had a real close-knit group of friends and we would arrange our classes sometimes so we could get together in the afternoon and sit together in the living room and watch television.”

“Everyone was hooked on ‘Star Trek’ then, and we had a group of 25 guys racing back from class to tune in at 3 p.m. to watch ‘Star Trek,’” Brown said.

Jessica Parker, a junior at the university who lived in two previous dorms, said living in such an historic building makes her feel she has a responsibility to respect the environment more than traditional halls.

“Since this has been here for so long, it’s such a cherished part of the university,” Parker said. “People on campus definitely recognize that it is an honor to live here and those who live in Preston feel like they have to uphold that honor.”

Preston Residential College is the only student dormitory on campus with its own live-in faculty member, and is one of the few places at the University of South Carolina where a student can enter as a freshman and remain until graduation.

Residential College Principal Bobby Donaldson has lived among more than 200 co-educational students, both undergraduate and graduate, for the past five years with his family.

“We have thoroughly enjoyed our time here, working to enhance the academic and co-curricular mission of our community,” Donaldson said. “Our children, ages 3 and 8, have been an active part of the community, and for our youngest, Joseph, Preston is the only home he has known.”

Donaldson, who is also an associate professor of history at the university, said the funding for the construction of the college started in part by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal as the university began to expand. After it was built in 1939, it became the home for cadets from the Naval ROTC, many of whom served during World War II.

Largely housing only white male students, the college would later be a part of the desegregation of the university in the 1960s before becoming a co-educational dorm in the 1970s.

Donaldson said many of the former students who lived in Preston have memories of the U.S. flag being lowered to half-staff after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Others remember demonstrations for and against civil rights that occurred right outside Preston’s doors on Greene Street.

“Today’s event is a reminder to students and current residents that they are part of a long and remarkable legacy,” Donaldson said.

For Bill Eccles, a former live-in faculty member in 1965, Preston holds a special place among the other residency halls on the university’s campus.

“When you lived on this campus you just lived in a dorm. Eh, OK, who cares?” Eccles said. “But this one had an identification as did Woodrow, which was the next, and as did Maxcy on the Horseshoe. They developed actual governments in the residence halls where they would be doing their own responsible organization.”

“Being able to come back and see the changes that have taken place is pretty spectacular,” Eccles said. “It changed to a really residential college with a true faculty resident and all sorts of support services.”

But there was also another fond memory Eccles, who developed USC’s computer science program, had of Preston College. It sparked when he visited the room where he and his wife, Trish, first lived after getting married in 1967.

“The most fun one was going to see the resident living in the apartment where we lived in 45 to 50 years ago,” Eccles said. “It hasn’t changed much. That’s been the biggest fun so far.”

This story was originally published October 6, 2014 at 9:06 AM with the headline "Current, former USC students celebrate Preston College’s 75th anniversary."