We were five graduate students in the fall of 1957, each teaching two classes of Strength of Materials in the Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Department (T&AM).  In those days, a cluster of smaller buildings surrounded Marston Hall, like a medieval village in the shadow of the lord’s castle.  We had our offices in a drafty prefabricated barracks building on the quadrangle, and taught our classes in the Engineering Annex, a small brick building west of Marston.  The department was headed by Professor Glenn Murphy and occupied a suite of offices in the southeast corner of the second floor of Marston Hall.  Dr. Murphy had his office on the north end of the suite and Professors Olsen and Davis shared an office on the south end of the suite.  Professor Olsen, called Easy Ed because he was anything but, was the Sub-head for Strength of Materials. (I never inquired too closely as to why his colleague was called Stinky Davis.)  Each day, they met with us in one of the classrooms in Marston Hall, to guide us in what we should be teaching for each class.  Olsen and Davis each taught a Strength of Materials section of their own, but they had their classes in Marston, while we were relegated to the Annex.

Robert Uhrig (M.S. 1950; Ph.D. 1954) prepared all the Strength exams that quarter.  Each was more elegant—and more difficult—than the one before it, until at last he produced a final exam that I barely completed in the two hours allotted.  My fellow instructors did no better than I; one took four hours; two took six or more; and one struggled for most of a day and never did finish.  It was obvious to us that few, if any, of our undergraduates had a chance of completing the exam, let alone earning an A.

When we met in Marston with Easy Ed, as we did for every exam, to discuss his proposed grading for the final, I told him that since the exam took me two hours to complete, it was too difficult for our students.  “And how many times have YOU taught Strength of Materials?” Professor Olsen asked.

“This is my first” I said.

“Well, what makes you think you’re so much better than the undergraduates?  It’s a fine exam; nothing needs changing.”  None of my fellow instructors backed me up.

Back at the barracks, out of the awesome presence of Easy Ed, we agreed on a plan.  We would create our own grading system for the final, giving credit for every effort that demonstrated an understanding of the concepts, rather than deducting points for errors.  When we computed the course grade, we would give more weight to the work done during the quarter, rather than giving more weight to the final exam as Professor Olsen stressed.  Finally, we’d work through the night to grade our students’ papers and develop the course grades, and get in early to have Dr. Murphy approve our grades before Olsen and Davis showed up at nine AM to begin grading the exams for their own sections.

The final took place in the Marston lecture hall at 6 PM.  The five of us proctored it, and we felt no qualms about giving the students an extra hour.  Then we returned to our barracks and went to work.  Near midnight the place was so cold that we all were wearing coats and scarves.  By three AM we had run out of coffee, but by six we had graded the final exams for all of our students and developed our course grades.  We walked over to Marston to get warm, and were waiting for Dr. Murphy when he arrived at 7:30 to open the office.  He was surprised to see us so early in the morning.  We explained that we’d worked through the night so that we could leave early for our Christmas vacation.  Dr. Murphy approved our grades, and we posted them on the wall of Marston Hall before Professors Olsen and Davis came to work.  They flunked most of their students.  That may be why some students called T&AM “Torture and Applied Misery.”