The News Desk Jan. 21
Welcome to the News Desk. This week, I’ll be giving you all an inside look at the beginnings of what might turn into a fun story this semester. Check out the new episode of the podcast linked down below for some updates on what’s happening with the sports section of the News.
“The EIU Baby”
In many modern high school home economics classes, students take care of slightly creepy robotic babies like these. Apparently, back in the 1950s, Eastern’s home management department tried a similar project, except using real live babies. Students were taking care of these infants 24/7 right here on campus, even after Illinois state officials intervened and the situation made national headlines.
The home management department had two small houses where students could take turns fulfilling different roles in the home, like cook, hostess and “baby manager.” Each of these “practice babies” was raised for about one school year in the northern of the two houses, and thus were given the last name “North” to protect the anonymity of the children and the mothers who may have been in difficult situations when they decided to hand them over to these students.
The second practice baby, “David North,” was the one to become famous due to an Illinois State Child Welfare Division investigation into the whole program in 1954.
This picture from Eastern’s University Archives in the Keep shows Home Management program director Ruth Schmalhausen and President Robert Buzzard with David "North" in a baby walker.
Baby David made it into Newsweek, Look magazine, the Associated Press and other major news sources. Many expressed concern that he was being raised by twelve college students, but in the end it seems the child welfare division couldn’t do anything about it since it wasn’t involved in the mother’s initial decision to let David stay on campus.
Now remember, David was the second “North” baby. Margaret Ann “North” stayed on campus the prior school year. The one previous article published by the News on this topic implies that this practice ended after all the attention on David, but that’s not true at all. Amy “North” came the next year and Virginia Kay “North” came the year after that. The Eastern State News (precursor to the Daily Eastern News) reported that the home management department couldn’t find anyone willing to “loan” them a baby for a few years, so it appears the final practice baby, Melanie Lynn, wasn’t on campus until the 1960-61 school year.
This is just the beginning to this story. We have found all of this information by combing through old editions of the paper but that’s only the first step. We’re still looking for further records of these events, especially any word of what happened to these children later in life. Hopefully, this will generate at least one article with whatever we find.
If you know anyone who knows anything about this situation or who would have been in the Charleston area around that time, please put them in touch with me either by forwarding this email to them, replying to this email or even reaching out on my Twitter, @luke_taylor23.
What to read to get caught up:
Adult dead, child in critical condition after falling through ice. The GoFundMe campaign linked in this article has some updates on how the child is doing now that it has been about a week.
Three arrested after shots fired downtown. We try to cover crime when possible and I’m sure this story will unfold over the next few months.
There were some great events on campus for MLK Jr. Day, like this volunteer/education event and this vigil and march.
We’re also getting back to meeting coverage. Here’s the latest on Student Government and Charleston City Council.
Also, check out our fantastic opinions section. My personal favorite this week is this column on how the internet could replace religion.
Listen to this week’s episode of the News Desk podcast to hear about the sports section here!
