Persevering through Crisis and Change

CU Boulder weathered global upheaval during WWI and the Great Depression. Students enlisted, faculty adapted, and the influenza epidemic disrupted campus routines. CU’s medical school and health programs moved to a new location in Denver, the first step toward what is now the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. President George Norlin’s defiance of the Ku Klux Klan affirmed CU’s moral leadership during a challenging moment in Colorado history. Lucile Berkeley Buchanan’s graduation marked a milestone for Black women in higher education, though her inability to walk the stage at her own graduation underscores the breadth of racial barriers at the university. The New Deal reshaped CU Boulder’s architecture, giving rise to the iconic Tuscan Vernacular style of the CU Boulder campus developed by architect Charles Klauder.