Fifty years ago, Lander Hall was home to Chicano students who formed lifelong friendships
Their first days together on Lander Hall’s ‘Chicano floor’ grew into lifelong friendships.
Longtime friends, left to right, Liz Henry, Brenda Morris, Myrna Contreras, Bo Rendin and Ruby Navarro met in Lander Hall in the 1970s. They visited the UW in April to celebrate 50 years of friendship.
One of the major landmarks of Ruby Navarro’s college career was the eighth floor of Lander Hall. Fifty years ago, as a nervous freshman from Iowa making her first trip west of Des Moines, Navarro lugged her belongings into the high-rise dormitory, unsure she would find her room. A helpful student at the front desk put her at ease.
Navarro was following in the footsteps of many Chicano students in the 1960s and ’70s who were housed together in Lander to share resources and friendships. She credits the Educational Opportunity Program for helping her get into the UW, and the “Chicano floor” for setting her up with a strong group of friends, among them other Spanish-speaking students as well as Native Americans and a classmate from Hawaii. “We were a co-ed floor, which was unusual,” she says.
“The guys were on one side, and we were on the other.” Despite that, social events often brought them together in her and roommate Myrna Contreras’s room. “It was so far from home,” Navarro reflects. “Our friendships really helped.”
Though Navarro faced a rocky start, including academic probation after her first quarter—maybe because of too much socializing, she admits—her dormmates and a renewed focus carried her through.
Her affinity for that time and place is so strong that about 15 years ago, Navarro returned to campus and revisited the old floor. She was dismayed to discover the 1957 structure had been replaced in 2014.
While the building is gone, the friendships endure. Navarro has stayed in touch with hallmates like Rick Razo, Patty Cook, Liz Henry, Bo Rendon, Brenda Morris and Myrna Contreras. In April, they reunited on campus to celebrate 50 years since their first meeting. It was both a reunion and a celebration, she says. “I’m just happy that we’ve all survived and done OK in life.”