Another digitally restored cartoon from "Stilwell," the comic that ran from 1971 through 1973 in the Cleveland State University student weekly, The Cauldron. The controversial issue of rising costs of college education -- as fresh at this week's presidential debate -- dates back at least to the 1970s, when state-supported universities were in their infancy. I initially posted this with apologies for long since forgetting the details of this controversy, but a few months later, I stumbled upon a page from an abandoned scrapbook project for these cartoons that included the details. The hubbub was over a $45 per quarter rise in tuition fees, voted by the Ohio Board of Regents in the summer of 1971. In 2013, that rise might seem laughable, but it felt like a crisis to the students, most of whom were struggling Clevelanders stuck with Cleveland State because they couldn't afford to go to college elsewhere. The mention of "Tri-C" refers to Cuyahoga Community College, the junior college a few blocks from the CSU campus. I can't remember what it cost to attend Cleveland State at the time, but an educated guess is that it was something like $200 to $300 for a full-time load per quarter. (For some perspective, 2013 CSU students carrying a 12-unit course load will pay $4,632 per semester.) The burly frog named Hughes is an actual member of the Ohio Board of Regents, a governor-appointed body overseeing the state's colleges. He was, indeed, Robert Hughes, according to my notes. I do vividly remember that he was a vocal supporter of the fee increases. His rather unsympathetic stated attitude was that it was a manageable increase and that anyone who couldn't afford it ought to go out and get a job, and by god, he'd help anyone who needs to find one. Hence the fictional scene on the street, where a lineup of some 50 needy frogs waited for their turn to get job help from Hughes himself. An as yet unsolved mystery, however, is why I drew him wearing a robe that has a patch on it with the word "CLINIC." I have this vague notion that he perhaps had a health problem, such as a mild heart attack, and had been in or was currently at Cleveland Clinic, but there's no easy way to verify that, and I only use easy ways in researching for this collection. The reference to "Enarson" refers to CSU's increasingly absentee president, Harold Enarson. It wasn't long after this was published that he moved on to the bigger and far more prestigious Ohio State University (that departure also inspiring a "Stilwell" cartoon that I have previously posted on this blog), where he became famous for firing Woody Hayes. The setting for this drawing is a geographically correct representation of the heart of the Cleveland State campus, looking north from Euclid Avenue up East 24th Street. Stilwell Hall is half a block up the street on the left, and you can clearly see the cafeteria windows, where the special was selling for 50 cents -- "WITH PLATE AND TRAY $3." In front of that was the "new" science building, now four decades old, of course. That's Fenn Tower on the right, where some destitute students are jumping to their deaths from the third-floor ledge. In the distance beyond Fenn Tower is the fairly new intramural gym, famous mostly for its geodesic dome design. Its twisted support structure pokes fun at the fact that its roof caved in after a snowstorm shortly after it was built. The frog in the lower right corner, cheering the news that the campus bookstore is going to hold down its usual markup on books to a mere 40 percent, is actually coming from the bookstore, which was right there on the south side of Euclid Avenue. This cartoon was published on July 27, 1971, according to my notes. Yes, apparently The Cauldron published during the summer quarter, though there was a considerably smaller student population then. My notes also tell me that I produced the cartoon in five hours, "with the lettering aid of Tim Gallagher and alot of beer, scotch and whiskey." Gallagher was a friend and fellow CSU student who wrote some of the gag lines in this cartoon. It was the only time I collaborated with another person in drawing Stilwell. I was given a generous half tabloid page for this, which I thought was pretty cool. As a statement of protest, it had absolutely zero impact, unless it helped some frustrated students vent about the increase. I don't believe college tuition fees ever go down. Excrutiating technical detail that will read like white noise to most people: I basically had to digitally redraw this entire image in Photoshop. That took about three weeks and an embarrassing number of hours. Yes, I am now certifiably insane. All I had left were grainy photocopies and a very yellowed original newsprint copy. I'm guessing I might have given Gallagher the original, which also would have been pretty yellow by this time.
At the peak of "Stilwell's" popularity, I was approached by a bookstore rep about putting out a line of T-shirts and sweatshirts with the frog characters on them. I turned them down because they were offering what I thought was a paltry sum for rights to the cartoons. I don't remember how much that was. But I never pursued producing T-shirts or any other commercial item to cash in on the frogs' popularity on my own, so I probably should have let the bookstore have a crack at it. Oh well.
