Prohibition drove alcohol underground at U-M beginning in 1920. But apparently not underground enough. A police raid in 1931 brought national attention to drinking on campus. Archived records at the Bentley show how U-M administrators responded—and what the fallout was like.
Eighteenth Amendment
In the fall term of 1845, just four years after classes had begun at the University of Michigan, a junior named George Becker and several friends joined together to create the University’s first fraternity, a chapter of Beta Theta Pi. Despite breaking university rules at the time, the brothers met in a cabin in the woods to pursue “the cultivation of intimate social relations.” This kind of "cultivation" drew harsh opposition from U-M faculty.
campus life