Procrastination Destination: MoCon, the Usdan before there was Usdan
“I know that in four years, there will be no student memory of Mocon. It will be as if Usdan had always been there. It will just be a small selection of alums who will mourn its passing. You will be able to count me among them.”
Colleen McKiernan, ’89, on April 22 2010, comment on Roth’s blog post announcing the demolition of McConaughy dining hall.
Colleen is right, a very small group of students on campus today even know of the dining hall that came before Usdan, and even fewer know about how MoCon is Usdan’s cooler, older sister. I vividly remember asking an alum from the class of 89 during reunion weekend about MoCon and watching her almost cry thinking about it. "It was just so wonderful, we all loved the MoCon," she said. While the Douglas Cannon was my sophomore year roman empire, the MoCon has become my senior year obsession, and I am devastated I’ll never get to experience it as part of my Wesleyan life. Colleen spoke her truth once again, writing that:
“The absence of a single dining space large enough for the entire class seemed to be a consistent complaint about Usdan. There are so few things that one does at Wes as a whole class. Eating at Mocon was one of them…It was easy to watch everyone come and go, to find your friends as you walked down the stairs, to make announcements, do an informal poll to determine if boxers or briefs were better.”
While I think I’m maybe the only person ever to consider Usdan my favorite playspace on campus, it’s absolutely true that the space is sterile and divided. We are split between quiet and loud side, dividing the athletes from narps, straights from gays, the bullies from the bullied (EDIT: okay I know it’s not that serious and people interchange between sides, that’s just my ultra generalization because I’m jealous of MoCon's one dining space. Proud quiet side gay narp). Today everyone accepts Usdan because it’s all they know for a main dining hall, but people HATED it when it came around in 2007, calling it Usdanistan and even boycotting it.
Once you learn a little more about how loved MoCon was, you’ll understand what the uproar was about. If I went from eating in a cool flying saucer building that had been a core Wes experience for almost 50 years to corporate Usdan, I’d be upset too. Time for a WesHistory lesson!
An original sketch of MoCon from the Special Collections
MoCon, or McConaughy hall, opened in 1962 and was located on Foss between Nicolson and Hewitt, overlooking the cemetery and tennis courts. It’s named after the president of Wesleyan from 1925-1945, James L McConaughy. It seems like he was well liked at least by the board of trustees and some alumni, because they took special care to note that “only buildings likely to be permanent parts of the University should be named for Wesleyan ‘greats.’ This naming should be viewed as a substantial honor undertaken only after the most careful consideration.” The unique building cost 1.3 million to make (less than Roth’s annual salary!), and was acclaimed in magazines listing unique and modern colleges. When it opened in 1962, it was known as the “freshman dining hall,” and meals were $0.75 (breakfast), $1.00 (lunch), and $1.50 (dinner). The freshman price of board was $575. Jealous.
A menu from the 60s that I found in the Special Collections…mmm, what I wouldn’t do for a Monday meal of frankfurters, beans, and jello.
MoCon was not just a dining hall, but an event space. There were dances with almost 700 people like the Dozen Heart Ball in 1964, and regular concerts, lectures, and events from groups all over Connecticut being hosted at the Hall. It's essential to remember that at the time of MoCon’s construction, Wesleyan was still an all boys school; Robert M. Stone ‘70 remarked in the fiftieth reunion class of the pre-co-ed dances:
“Freshman year also ushered in strange new social experiences, such as “mixers” with local women’s colleges and fraternity rush. When the buses filled with women arrived at the circle in front of McConaughy dining hall for our first mixer, we behaved like crazed animals. I’m surprised any women were willing to leave the bus.”
Were people in the 1960s getting it on in the MoCon bathrooms? I sure hope so.
The concerts and talks were epic, and highlights include Joni Mitchell, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Nina Simone (tickets were THREE DOLLARS), Angela Davis, and so many more.
Brides also apparently liked getting married at MoCon because of the grand entrance you could make by the stairs, which despite me scouring the internet I cannot find any photos of. If you got married here please email us with photos and info. I need to see it.
The space and openness of MoCon was what made it special and conducive to community. In an argus article, Miles Bukiet ‘11, creator of the Save Mocon Facebook page, said, “the quality of the space was so open and big…you felt like you were in a forest, and it had a cathedral sort of feel too.” Stuart Remensnyder wrote in a Save Mocon post some of his thoughts and memories:
“Also certainly remember well the smell of Mocon the morning after a good party or concert - an acrid mixture of stale cheap beer and human sweat - testament to a well used living space. I am sorry that future students may not have a chance to enjoy the bright space on a Sunday morning looking out and away from campus rather than into the center. It was nice that it was on the edge of campus looking out and keeping us thinking of the world beyond.”
There was Smoke n Moke, or Smokon, which is way better than a dismal boozedan (which I honestly haven’t done since I was 18). There was Thanksgiving where EACH TABLE GOT A WHOLE TURKEY??? Okay, thats just cruel. A professor I had my Sophomore year told me about how he accidentally took acid at a music event at MoCon as a PHD student in the 80s (70s?) because they were passing them out and he, stoned, just wanted a sip of water to cure his dry mouth. Apparently there was lots of streaking and making announcements on the stairs, dropping cups from DKE, dance marathons, and maybe even food fights? You can read more MoCon traditions here, but watch out for how it might make you feel. As Ilana from Broad City would say:
Thank you wesleying from 2010 for this diagram in the abandoned Mocon that makes me feel like i'm in a post apocalyptic dream
In short, MoCon seemed way more lit than Usdan could ever even dream of. Fun things actually happened there, and I’m jealous. Let's not get it twisted - people absolutely complained about the food, some hated it, and many weren’t even sad to see it go in 2010. But the point is that the grimyness, layout, and events gave it personality, and more importantly, made it a student space. I can’t even fathom half of these things being able to happen in a space like Usdan, and I don’t feel like it has real community. Or maybe people are just less fun at this school now. Maybe a combination of both.
2005 argus article showing the first MoCon thanksgiving (courtesy of Special Collections)
But because everything good must apparently die here, in May of 2007, MoCon served its last meal, and thus began Moconaughgeddon. Many students and alums desperately wanted to stop it from being destroyed. For several years, it was unclear what would happen to the building. Many in the Save Mocon facebook group hoped for a concert venue, roller derby rink, gym, or an art museum, in an effort to preserve the unique building, but administration claimed that the expense of keeping it up and restoring it would be too expensive. Though it was already suspected, M-dawg Roth confirmed the news on 4/20 of 2010 that the school had officially decided to go through with its demolition, which I think is frankly hilarious. I can only imagine stoned members of the class of 2010 sent into a marajuana induced panic on Foss when they found out that their efforts to save MoCon were done.
The Mococalypse
Indeed, its destruction marked a change in Wesleyan’s larger culture, as buildings that came up in the early 2000s like Usdan, Fauver, Bennet, and Zelnick Pavilion represented a sterilization of the architecture around campus. It's destruction also erased what memory was left of James L. McConaughy – his granddaughter in a Save Mocon post reminded people that in many ways, the building also served as a memorial to his legacy.
After my research, I’ve come up with the top 5 things I would have done if I had gotten to be a Wes student during MoCon times:
Pay THREE DOLLARS to see Nina Simone at my own school
Be stoned on Foss april 20th, 2010, when everyone found out their beloved MoCon was to be demolished
Eat a whole turkey with eight of my friends at a round table
Do a official Wesleying irl poll at the top of the stairs (and have no DKE members drop cups (why does DKE even exist again??))
Officiate a Mocon wedding
Honorable mention goes to participating in the mocon bathroom freaking I hope was happening during those 60s dances
The collective memory of MoCon is MoGone, and left only to the few faculty that remember it and students who reminisce on a version of this school that they never got to experience. Maybe this article might prompt people to make Usdan a fun student space, or maybe we’ll just stick to the occasional happy birthday that one half of Usdan sings, the questionable music on loud side, and waiting in insane lines. But I miss you MoCon, and I never even got to know you.
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