By Jennifer Halley
A former central hub for the public in case of nuclear threat, Western Oregon University established fallout shelters on campus to keep people safe if need be.
Throughout the 50’s and 60’s, the threat of nuclear attack was imminent and the Federal Civil Defense Administration, now known as Homeland Security, named Oregon College of Education (OCE) – what is now Western Oregon – a headquarters for people seeking a safe haven.
To prepare for an attack, OCE designed a variety of fallout shelters throughout campus containing food such as crackers, carbohydrate supplements, giant tubs of water that paired as toilets and other supplies to keep people alive until the threats were over.
According to Tony Kment, assistant director of the Physical Plant on campus, only buildings made out of concrete could be subject to a fallout shelter. Many doomsday websites also say that fallout shelters need to be built with materials that offer strength and support in order to withstand the gamma rays and radiation.
Fallout shelters were prominent in that era as the Federal Civil Defense Administration instructed homes and businesses on how to create shelters, according to U-S-history.com. Instruction pamphlets were published as guides for families to build home shelters.
It was intense time for the government as they fought to respond to heightened public anxiety that coated much of America, the article added.
Kment, who was a child during the Cold War, remembers doing drills at school – such as ducking under his desk or a cafeteria table – in case an attack was ever to occur.
“It was scary for a young kid during that time,” Kment said.
In 1974 an article was written about the fallout shelters in OCE’s student newspaper, called Lamron2.
The article, written by Liz Alcarez, describes the campus fallout shelter locations that still exist today, but are being used as storage.
According to Alcaraz, one fallout shelter is in the lower floor of the Humanities and Social Sciences building. Two others are in the basements of the library and Administration building. Many of the mechanical rooms in the residence halls, as well as in Maaske Hall, the education building and the Food Services building could have been used as shelters as well.
Some of the signs used to announce where the fallout shelters were located are still posted around campus. These signs alerted students and staff as to where they could go if an attack occurred.
In the education building, a sign can be seen on the double doors of the mechanical room. Beyond its doors are the boxes of crackers, candy and bins used for water and waste.
