On Oct. 1, 1891, The University of Arizona opened its doors. When theschool bell rang that first day of class, Tucson celebrated. Gone werethe days of anger. The University of Arizona was a reality and Tucson wasproud of it.

Thirty-two students enrolled for the first semester but only sixwere admitted to the freshman class. The rest went to a speciallyestablished prep school. The problem was there were no high schools inthe territory. It took seventeen years for university students tooutnumber those in the prep classes. The University maintained thepreparatory classes for twenty-three years.

How about student life duringthose years? The students rodetheir cow ponies to school and tied them to hitching posts near Old Main.Discipline was strict. Running on the balcony of Old Main cost theoffending student 10 demerits. In 1892, the dean of students asked theBoard of Regents to prohibit the use of firearms on campus. And if astudent's class work wasn't going well the problem was immediately takenup by the entire faculty and his parents were called in for a conference.