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Jose Fabio Santo Trigo of Cuba became the first international student to enroll at A&M College.

A chapter of Sigma Nu was created as the first fraternity established at NC State.

A majority of students chose red and white as colors for the sports teams. The colors changed a couple different times during the early years of the college. The faculty agreed to the adoption of red and white and stated that they could not be changed again without a vote of two-thirds of the student body. The colors have remained the same since.

The A&M College Dramatic Club presented the play, "She Stoops to Conquer."

The monogram showing the letter "S" in block style with the letters "N" and "C" nestled within the spaces first appeared in the Agromeck.

Football player John Ripple became the first All-American athlete at State College.

First Student Body President

Student council required all first-year students to wear freshman caps on campus, citing a need to boost school spirit and reduce hazing. The Court of Customs, a branch of student council, punished students who did not comply. Freshmen started a tradition by burning their caps before spring final exams.

The original D. H. Hill Jr. Library, in what later became Brooks Hall, was designed by Hobart Brown Upjohn and named for Daniel Harvey Hill Jr., the first faculty member to oversee the library.

Jane S. McKimmon became the first woman inducted into NC State's chapter of Phi Kappa Phi.

The first degrees were conferred to women at NC State. The recipients were Jane McKimmon, BS in business administration; Charlotte Nelson, BS in education; and Mary Elizabeth Yarbrough, MS in chemistry. Yarbrough was the first woman to graduate who completed all coursework while at NC State, and she was the first woman to earn a master's degree at NC State.

Ada Curtis Spencer became the first woman to enroll as a freshman and complete a four-year degree from NC State. She majored in social science.

Sam Gurneau (part Ojibwe) was a star athlete in football, basketball, track, and wrestling. He intercepted and ran 65 yards for a touchdown versus Carolina in November 1930.

Freshman and sophomores battled in the annual Pushball contest, consisting of pushing a ball 6 feet in diameter and weighing 75 pounds into the opponent's goal.

Four new intramural sports began at NC State: football, volleyball, boxing, and tennis.

The first four African American undergraduates enrolled at North Carolina State College: Ed Carson (electrical engineering), Manuel Crockett (electrical engineering), Irwin Holmes (electrical engineering), and Walter Holmes (mechanical engineering, aerospace option).

African American student Irwin Holmes joined the men's tennis team making it the first integrated athletic team at State College.

The Gamma Phi chapter of the Sigma Kappa sorority was established. This was the first active chapter of a national sorority at NC State. They held their first pledge dance at the Carolina Hotel on March 14, 1960.

Irwin Holmes became co-captain of the tennis team and first African American athletics team captain at NC State.

A group of NC State students joined with students from Shaw University to protest racial segregation policies in effect at the State Theater on Salisbury Street.

Norma Wright Garcia became the first African American woman to receive an undergraduate degree after earning a BA in history.

Al Heartley was one of the first African American players on the basketball team. In 1969, he became the first African American player to be awarded a basketball scholarship at NC State. He later became the first African American captain of the team (1970-1971) and the first African American athlete to win the Alumni Athletics trophy (1971).

Ed Leftwich joined the basketball team and was the first African American freshman to receive a basketball scholarship.

Eric Moore became the first African American student senate president.

Clyde Chesney was the first African American to receive a football scholarship.

A group of students held a rally to support better wages and working conditions for physical plant workers on campus. The protest was organized by the Society of Afro-American Culture and an offshoot of Students for a Democratic Society known as "The Group."

NC State responded to a call for a "moratorium" against the Vietnam War amidst campus protests nationwide. A faculty-student committee organized a Vietnam Symposium with Chancellor John Caldwell as keynote speaker and several faculty members talking on the impact of the war.

Willie Burden and Charley Young became the first African American students to receive full football scholarships as incoming freshmen.

NC State students held a convocation on the Brickyard in the aftermath of U.S. expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia, and the death of four Kent State University students in Ohio. The following day, nearly 6,000 students from NC State and other colleges protested by marching on the State Capitol.

Seven students founded a local chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha which was NC State's first African American fraternity.

The first annual Pan Afrikan Festival began and continued until April 2, 1971. The festival featured lectures by C. T. Vivian and other speakers as well as musical performances.

The Inter-Residence Council approved the construction of cooking spaces in all dorms, hoping to alleviate problems with students cooking illegally in their dorm rooms.

Over 1,000 students marched down Hillsborough Street from campus to the State Capitol to protest the Vietnam War. The students staged a rally on the capitol steps in response to the U.S. bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong in North Vietnam.

The Talley Student Center opened in June 1972 (shown here before the installation of the fountain and courtyard). It replaced the Erdahl-Cloyd building, now the west wing of D.H. Hill Jr. Library, as the campus student center.

Kathy Bounds, Deb Webb, and Genie Jordan organized a basketball club for women.

A women's basketball team was established for the first time. The team included two African American women, Gwen Jenkins and Cynthia Steele.

Before defeating Marquette for NC State's first NCAA men's basketball championship, State beat UCLA and sparked a huge riot on Hillsborough Street.

A chapter of Delta Sigma Theta was established as the first African American sorority chapter on campus.

Gay and lesbian students at NC State celebrated National Gay Blue Jeans Day. Signs in the Free Expression Tunnel advertising the event were defaced.

Mr. Wolf and Ms. Wolf were married in a mock wedding ceremony by the Wake Forest Demon Deacon mascot during halftime of a Men's Basketball game at Reynolds Coliseum. The two were joined in "canis matrimonium," and Chancellor Joab Thomas gave the bride away.

Iranian students protested the execution of 50 people by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The students asked to remain anonymous for fear of losing their rights in Iran.

Kevin Howell was the first African American to serve as student body president from 1987 to 1988. He was a political science major. After graduation, he was hired as the university's primary liaison with state and local governments.

African American student leaders gathered at the Student Center to discuss campus issues. The low graduation rate for African American students, the lack of African American faculty members and athletic administrators, and the discriminatory discipline practices within the athletics department were problems cited by leaders during this meeting.

NC State's first annual "Take Back the Night" march and rally was held to protest violence against women.

The Lesbian and Gay Student Union was a student group, and it was also known as the Lesbian/Gay Student Union. It came into existence in 1989 and was active until 1996. It may have been the first gay and lesbian student group to receive appropriations from Student Government.

The Native American Student Association sponsored NC State's first annual Pow Wow. The event featured Native American culture, including food, dress, and especially dance.

The African American Cultural Center opened in the new Student Center Annex, later renamed the Witherspoon Student Center. In 1992, following months of student and faculty protests, NC State administrators granted the African American Cultural Center an operating budget.

Several student groups organized an anti-hate rally in Harris Field in response to recent rapes on campus, sexual harassment in classrooms, racist remarks from professors, and anti-gay messages in the Free Expression Tunnel.

The Libraries began twenty-four hour service on Sunday through Thursday. The increase was funded by revenue from a university-wide tuition increase, and faculty advocated for the funds to be allocated to the Libraries.

The Society of Native American Culture (SNAC) published the Native American "10 Commandments" in the Technician.

The Technician reported that the Native American Symposium offered information for incoming freshmen, including information on navigating campus.

African American students participated in a sit-in at a Student Senate meeting to express concern for the lack of funding for African American organizations. Out of $40,000 of appropriations, African American organizations received a mere $755. The Student Senate agreed to send the bill back to committee for re-evaluation.

Mi Familia and SHPE presented a Latin American cultural variety show called "Somos Estrellas" in Stewart Theatre.

Native American Culture Night became an annual event sponsored by the Native American Student Association.

Jackie Gonzalez was the first Latinx person elected student body president. Gonzalez and Vice President Mia Connell formed the first woman-of-color team elected into the highest student government offices.