A SALUTARY INFLUENCE the building which would practically double the available space. Work began in the spring of 1961 and was completed a year later, in time for formal dedication exercises on June 1, 1962. The cost was $494,685. While a few of the hopes for the long-delayed field house might have been realized by the completion of the Student Union Building in 1959, clearly this was not the facility most people had in mind when they used the term. Useful as it was, the union building scarcely eased the heavy burden on Plank Gymnasium, built for a student body one-third the present size. Faced with the urgent demands for more library space, a new physics building, and facilities for health and physical education, the trustees decided not t...