Carol Showley, Newcomb College, Class of 1974

Carol Showley’s yearbook photo, 1974. Photo provided by the Jambalaya Yearbook.

As someone who attended Tulane during the height of the “Streaking” fad, Carol Showley had many colorful memories of her time as a college and graduate student. Carol began her Freshman year in the liberal arts program at Newcomb College in the Fall of 1970. She later went on to receive a degree in Art History, and then stuck around to pursue a graduate degree in Architecture at the Tulane School of Arts and Sciences, and graduated in 1977. Before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Carol hadn’t been back to campus in almost 20 years. After the tragic storm passed, she decided to become more involved in the University that she loved. In 2005, Carol joined the board of the Tulane Alumni Association and was later named President in 2014.

A sketch of New Orleans in 1974. Photo provided by the Jambalaya Yearbook.

Originally from a town outside of Chicago, Carol was set on attending college in a warm climate. She had visited New Orleans once before, so she knew that she liked the area, but what really made the decision for her was that attending Newcomb allowed her to achieve her dream of studying abroad during her junior year. Carol referred to her year spent in Madrid as “one of the best years of her life.” Carol has kept in touch with her roommate from Madrid after about 40 years, and said that she would encourage all students to do a full year abroad to become fully immersed in a foreign culture. Carol also noted how thankful she was for the friendships that she made during her time as a Newcomb and Tulane student. She endearingly described the nature of her relationship with her college friends: “We just have a tremendous bond.” Carol commended Tulane’s special ability to bring students from many different places together, and provides the ideal environment for strong bonds to be formed. Although Carol has since moved to San Diego and her friends settled in places like Houston and Florida, they have managed to remain close by traveling together.

After participating in her fair share of clubs in high school, Carol came to Tulane to mainly focus on her studies and working toward her junior year abroad. She did, however, participate in many of the social activities that Tulane had to offer. One of her favorite Tulane traditions was the “Free Flicks” on Fridays at McAllister Auditorium. Carol remembered spending Friday afternoons hanging with friends on the quad, grabbing dinner at the dining hall, and then promptly heading over to McAllister to see a current box office hit. Many of her favorite memories revolved around the Tulane tradition of “TGIF,” which is now called: “Fridays at the Quad.” Although this tradition still exists today at Tulane, Carol noticed that the amount of students that participate in FAQ had decreased significantly since her time as a student. On her last few visits to campus, she saw the quad used as a patch of grass that students walked across to get to class. Carol attended a recent “Crawfest” at Tulane, and said that this highly populated event reminded her of how the quad used to be back in the 70s.

Carol thinks back and can picture the quad filled with students throwing frisbees, reading books, laying around with friends, even WTUL would broadcast from the quad for TGIF. Carol’s favorite Tulane memory was centered around a specific Friday in the Spring of 1974, which was her final year as an undergrad. At this time in history, streaking was a trend that was sweeping the nation. Carol mentioned that this streaking fad even made its way into the 1974 Academy Awards broadcast, as she remembered a streaker running across the Oscar stage. Since Carol’s dorm faced the quad, she and her friends had no choice but to witness the rugby team streaking across the grass that day. Carol couldn’t help but giggle when she spoke about how she and her friends hid the boys’ clothing as a funny prank. As the rugby team made their non-intentional second lap around the quad, Carol remembered hearing a WTUL broadcast: “Will the people who stole the rugby team’s clothes please give them back!” Since it was all in good fun, Carol and her friends returned the clothes and everyone had a good laugh.

Photographic evidence of the on-campus streaking craze. Photo provided by the Jambalaya Yearbook.

When asked of her memories of campus during the Vietnam War, Carol does not recall any large impacts on student life. However, she did remember reading an article in TIME Magazine about Tulane in the Spring of 1970, during her senior year of high school. The article discussed how Tulane students burned the Tulane ROTC building and a burned a Nixon effigy on the quad as a response to the war in Vietnam. Carol laughed at the memory of her sister joking about how she was going to show the article to their parents! The 70’s were also a flourishing time for music in American history, and Carol took full advantage of the music scene that New Orleans had to offer. One of her favorite music venues, which no longer exists, was called “The Warehouse” on Tchoupitoulas. She remembered taking the streetcar with friends to go see acts like Bob Dylan, Ry Cooder, and Captain Beefheart. Carol fondly reflected on going to the Auditorium at Audubon Park to see world renown acts including James Taylor, Jethro Tull, and the Moody Blues. During her time at Newcomb and Tulane, Carol also recalled that campus programming brought a great variety of musicians to perform on campus in McAllister Auditorium. For her freshman year homecoming in 1970, Tulane hosted the Allman Brothers. Carol also attended the shows of Jackson Brown, Laura Nero, and Jimmy Buffet at McAllister, and she specifically remembered Todd Rundgren performing in a tutu and jumping off the stage.

Carol explained how it was impossible to discuss her favorite places in New Orleans without mentioning food. Carol and her friends would all wait until someone’s parents were visiting so that they could pick somewhere wonderful to eat. In her seven years spent in New Orleans, Carol said that she had her fair helping of the best that the city was cooking up, including places like The Carribean Room, Arneud’s, and Brennan’s. Another characteristic of New Orleans that Carol had an infatuation with was the architecture. As an expert in the field, Carol explained how the European influence in New Orleans’ architecture is unlike any other. She reminisced: “There is a joie de vivre in New Orleans that you don’t find anywhere else!”

Carol said that she loves to see how Tulane has evolved since the 70’s. She commended the University for the beautiful landscaping improvements that have taken place over the past few years, and she was thrilled to see the positive ways that Tulane and New Orleans have bounced back after Hurricane Katrina. She was not surprised at all that The Boot is still the most popular bar for Tulane students as she exclaims: “What a goldmine that place is!” All in all, Tulane has held a special place in her heart for decades.

[Editor’s Note: This article was captured as part of the class “Media Histories” taught by Vicki Mayer in collaboration with the Office of Alumni Affairs at Tulane University.]