In 1980, a record breaking eleven thousand and twenty students enrolled (the previous record was ten thousand four hundred and fifty five students in 1978). By 1987, university’s administrators decided, for the first time in the institution’s history, to cap the burgeoning enrollment, leading to a 55% rejection rate. When the cap was removed two years later, enrollment skyrocketed even further to a record eleven thousand and six hundred and fourty five students in 1989. High enrollment led to campus overcrowding and dorm room “triples”--three students to a room. Tuition also doubled during the ‘80s, from $387 in 1980 to $905 in 1989.

A new nursing program took shape. Incoming president William Curris continued the work of his predecessor (Kamerick), supervising the new bachelor of science in nursing program in coordination with the University of Iowa. Launching this program was the logical move for UNI, as students of the Allen College of Nursing in nearby Waterloo were already taking about a third of their classes at UNI and nurses were expected to hold a bachelors degree. The Kamerick Art Building (originally known as the Art Building), also opened in 1983, housing a ceramics lab, faculty offices, and classes in art education. UNI lost a building too: the fabulous Old Admin building, constructed in 1895, was in sad disrepair. A group of devoted local historic preservationists nearly saved it, and everything depended on UNI students agreeing to pay an additional $20 a year for the next five years to fund the restoration. They said “no,” and Old Admin came down in 1984.

With the Iowa drinking age rising from 19 to 21, UNI student social life changed during the ‘80s. Although Iowa had not yielded to initial pressures to raise the drinking age, the federal law signed by President Reagen called for states to forfeit 5-10% of their allocated federal highway construction funds if they refused to comply.

Students also faced more serious issues: homophobia and sexual assault on campus. Anti-LGBTQ discrimination at UNI was evident in student reactions to Blue Jeans Day, created by UNI’s new Gay and Lesbian Organization. First held on February 23, 1984, Blue Jeans Day asked students to wear blue jeans to show support for gay and lesbian civil rights. Many UNI students retaliated and wore corduroy and sweatpants; some students even spray-paint an anti-gay slur on a concrete wall outside the Union. UNI students–especially women–began to take action against sexual harassment, joining a feminist “Take Back the Night” movement sweeping the U.S. The UNI Women’s Action League led he national movement’s local rape awareness initiative in the fall of 1982, progamming a day of events devoted to promoting, informing and educating women and men about the problems and traumas of rape. To conclude the program, 50 women and men held a candlelight vigil and proceeded to President Kamerick’s house to present him with a petition consisting of over 1,200 signatures. He accepted the petitions on behalf of the administration.