(“Campus Living at KU”)
The DMZ – a Symbol of Socialization
Back when Kutztown University was separated based on the concept of gender, one area became a common ground, a Power/Exclusion Landscape
The large strip of grassy land that separates the two points of the south side of the campus of Kutztown has an exciting yet mainly unknown history behind this tiny strip of land, otherwise known as the DMZ. To understand the DMZ and the way in which it was important to the past and still plays a big symbolistic roll today, this paper will be exploring how primarily the DMZ obtained its name, and how that played into the separation of the genders, as well as what the sculpture that is found in the middle stands for and its hidden past meanings.
Firstly, it is essential to know the history behind the DMZ and where it obtained its name. After conducting research with Sue Czerny, Kutztown University’s Head of Archives, for a week, new evidence surfaced for the first time that the DMZ was mentioned by name. As the original document that Sue had provided me detailed all the information she had gathered, it was found that “When the dormitories were built, [Deatrick] and Beck Hal, the all-male dorms were separated from Berks, Lehigh, Schuylkill, and Johnson, the all-female dorms” (Czerny). Much of these stems from the concerns of privacy and safety, which is illustrated in the 1975 edition of the Keystone Yearbook for Kutztown University. Within the 1975 Keystone Yearbook, you find the first ever mention of the DMZ that was able to be found, in the comic Kaptain Keystonia; in this two-page expose, they focus on President Straightman (most likely President Stratton), where Hippies have invaded the college and turning people into non-caring students. What then occurs can only be described as horrific as Kaptain Keystonia says in response to Straightman’s comment about someone affected by Apathy, who is a coed, not caring what you do to her, “Oh yeah? Anything?” (“1975 Keystonia”). The audience is silent as only the imagination can describe what happens next.
Many Yellow Journalistic “Worst Case Scenario” topics, such as the one posted in the Keystonia, sparked this perceived danger of coed rooms. The origin of the name of the DMZ is shrouded in many theories, such as a tribute to the dematerialized zone between North and South Vietnam. However, I believe that this reference predates the DMZ present in Vietnam and goes back to how segregation based on gender occurred. When coed did not exist at Kutztown University, it would make sense that one of the areas would be more likely to have an area where both men and women could interact simultaneously, not feeling the weight of being out of place. This extends to the way they also petitioned, as it mentions the “opening of a coed dorm and extended visitation hours had stilled what little student discontent remained from the previous spring (when 24-hour dorm visitation had been the goal of an angry, united student effort)” (“1975 Keystonia”). When it mentions this, one may see a moral shift from a place of exclusion and separation of genders to a place of inclusion and incorporation of genders.
What makes the DMZ the DMZ is the gendered landscape surrounding it, but the unknown sculpture surrounding the small fountain is left out of the equation. Many, not even Sue, knew when or who made the sculpture, that was until it was uncovered in the 1975 edition of the Keystonia, which details the construction of a sculpture for the DMZ fountain in 1966 and its creator Klaus Ihlenfeld (“1975 Keystonia”). The sculpture, pictured below, looks like a telescope, right? As the Keystonia details, this is most likely not a telescope, as the yearbook mentions: “As with much of his work, this piece is abstract yet related to organic plant forms” (“1975 Keystonia”). This makes many believe that it may stand for a microscope, but as abstract as it is, perception is in the eye of the beholder.
Though it may seem weird to mention gender and a fountain in a single paper, they both come together in one factor: change. The original plan for the fountain was not the same as it could have been, it was more extensive, and more water sports would have been implemented (“1975 Keystonia”). The same can be said for the college, which was meant for teachers, mainly women, then expanded to men. The landscape and how both genders interacted on campus would change when it was expanded to men. Using the DMZ and the fountain as a meeting spot for both genders to meet on neutral ground, the birth of coed dorms and the intermingling of different viewpoints came. Overall, Kutztown University’s DMZ and, by extension, the fountain both opened the doors for a less gendered central landscape.
Works Cited
“1975 Keystonia.” Research Commons, 1975, https://research.library.kutztown.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=yearbooks_1970-1979. Accessed 7 Nov. 2024.
“Campus Living at KU.” Kutztown University, https://www.kutztown.edu/life-at-ku/campus-living.html. Accessed 7 Nov. 2024.
Czerny, Sue. DMZ Interview. Interview by David Hunsicker Jr., 4 Sept. 2024.
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