2015 Annual Report Edition
archives The number one question: What’s a gedunk?
T
he archive gets many questions regarding the history of Grove City College, but the number one question is: “Why are the alumni magazine and campus café called the GeDunk?” The term itself is not unique to Grove City College. The first known publication of “gedunk” was in the 1927 comic book, Harold Teen. In the comic Harold refers to eating “gedunk ice cream sundaes.” The term is also closely associated with the U.S. Navy. It is a long-standing reference to the ice cream and snack shop or vending machine on the ship, usually an area where food was available after the mess hall closed for the night. The term made its way to Grove City College during the Second World War. The men attending the Naval Training School on campus brought the term gedunk with them. After the war veterans flooded the campus, and they too brought the idea of the gedunk with them. Before the start of World War II, Grove City College had been making plans to build a student activities building that would house new athletic facilities as well as a student union with a snack bar. In 1942 the school began fundraising for the new project, an effort that picked up tremendously after the war. Work on Alumni Hall, named so because of the support and generosity of alumni giving, began in 1951 and was completed in 1953. The snack area of the newly completed building was dubbed the Gedunk and the name stuck. It became a popular spot for students and faculty. Nearly fifty years later, when the new Breen Student Union was built, it included a café that was called the Gedunk. It may be in a new location, but the Gedunk serves the same purpose its predecessor did, providing students, faculty and staff with a place to eat and meet. So why do we call the magazine The GēDUNK? The decision to adopt the café’s name for the magazine was made in 2004. It was intended to reference a place on campus that resonates with so many alumni and brings back happy memories of their days at Grove City College, just as we hope the magazine does.
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