University of Denver Spring 2024

50 Reasons to Love DU

6 NO.

WE TAKE OUR SPORTS RIVALRIES SERIOUSLY

Before the Colorado College hockey rivalry began in 1950, there was the 1919 War of the Mines. When DU still had a football team, our archrival was the nearby Colorado School of Mines. In the early morning hours on Nov. 6, 1919, four bombs went off on campus that blew out 100 windows in University Hall, the Iliff School of Theology, Carnegie Library and Memorial Chapel. Mines students were blamed, but no one was criminally charged. Some DU students retaliated by trying to repaint the large “M” on Mount Zion in crimson, but they were caught by Mines students, who took them back to their campus, shaved their heads and painted an “M” on their bald heads with silver nitrate. All involved went free, though, after the Denver Police Department threatened to cancel the upcoming game between the two teams should any additional issues be reported.

# 7

AND THE EMMY GOES TO... Lights, camera, winning! Whether it’s directing or acting, set design or costuming, students in the Department of Media, Film and Journalism Studies are creating innovative, imaginative cinema day in and day out—and they’re being recognized for it. In 2022, a filmmaking team in a capstone class snagged the first-ever Student Production Award from the Heartland Emmy Chapter for their short film, “The Bird of Paradise.” But it’s not only students—alumna Stephanie Filo (BA ’06) has won three Primetime Emmy awards for film editing for “The Black Lady Sketch Show” and, in 2023, became the first female editor in history to be nominated for three different projects in one year.

8.

“The RED BRICKS ” Our Community Loves...

EMPOWERING WOMEN, THEN AND NOW

Incorporated in 1888, the groundbreaking Colorado Women’s College merged with DU in 1982 and, in 2004, the renamed Women’s College moved into the brand-new Merle Catherine Chambers Center for the Advancement of Women. Though disbanded in 2020, the college’s legacy lives on through the CWC Leadership Scholars program for incoming undergrads and the women-centered organizations housed in the Chambers Center today: the Women’s Foundation of Colorado, the Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN) and Higher Education Resource Services (HERS). The Chambers building itself is also a legacy—designed, funded and built by women, including University architect Jane Loefgren, it features a signature nautilus motif, symbolizing a lifetime of growth.