: For Students, Faculty, and Staff 
By Kat Gerwig
1970’s photo courtesy of UMedia Archives. 2018 photo and mash-up by Tiffany Reichard.
The edited photo to the right is a mash-up of people looking at posters on the kiosk in front of Walter Library. The image on the left was taken this year — fall semester 2018 — and the image on the right was taken 48 years ago, during fall semester 1970.
Back in 1970, U of M students didn’t have smart phones, laptops, or even computer labs on campus. They relied on typewriters, telephones, TV, and radio. In 1970 the United States president was Richard Nixon, The Beatles broke up, Midnight Cowboy won the Oscar for Best Picture, and IBM introduced the floppy disk
Fast forward 48 years…
In 2018, Donald Trump is president, The Backstreet Boys got back together, Black Panther is the highest grossing movie of the year, and the U of M Libraries 3-D printed a foot for a chicken.
Technology and fashions have changed over the years. And that’s not the only thing. If you look closely, you’ll notice that the kiosk in the photo was moved — in 1970 it was closer to the steps of Walter Library than it is today.
But the continued presence of that kiosk — a place for students to read posters and bulletins — is a reminder that some things about the student experience aren’t all that different today than they were nearly 50 years ago.
