| Summary: | Italy, Germany and Asia; similar propaganda had involved the United States in the last straggle. To be sure, the paper published a series of articles by John Anker ('40) criticizing British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain for his "appeasement policy" during the Czechoslovakian crisis of 1938. That same year an article expressed mild criticism of President Roosevelt for not opening the United States to Jews who faced increased Nazi economic persecution. Yet in neither instance did the authors suggest any action that might lead to United States involvement in a future war. Indeed, the Concordian maintained an isolationist stance from the beginning of war in Europe on September 1, 1939, until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor more than two years later. This mirrored the silence of the Norwegian Lutheran Church on the developing international crisis. Not until the invasion of Norway in April 1940 did Norwegian-American Lutherans exhibit hostility toward the German invader. After Pearl Harbor, campus, church and nation rallied to the colors and supported the United States military effort. Concordia may have been isolationist but it was not isolated from the pressing political and cultural issues of the day. Cobbers had occasion to discuss many subjects. Apparently a sufficient number took advantage of the opportunity to make the campus a rather lively place intellectually. Memorable Professors Faculty, whose antics entered into Cobber legend and folklore, played a significant and memorable part in college life. Many of these remarkable men and women devoted their entire lives to the institution and its collegians. Without their dedication and sacrifice, the school could not have survived. The following few are illustrative of others too numerous to discuss. Emma Norbryhn, a native of Norway and a graduate of Concordia Academy and Saint Olaf College, taught Latin, German, French and Norse at the same desk in Main 19 from 1908 until her retirement in 1948—the longest tenure of service at that time. She was a charter member of Concordia Women's League, an expert horticulturist, avid fisherwoman and proficient cook. Martha Brennun, the daughter of Norwegian immigrants and a Norbryhn student, began teaching mathematics after her commencement in 1917. During thirty-eight years at the college, she served for twenty-five as registrar and occasionally instructed in Norse and religion as well as mathematics. Brennun had many firsts to her credit: the Emma Norbryhn first woman to receive a baccalaureate from Concordia and the first to become president of the first senior class, the alumni association and the literary society for college women—Alpha Kappa Chi. Brennun's activities away from Concordia reveal that combination of religious piety, Christian service and scholarly endeavor so characteristic of Lutheran faculty of the day. She taught grade school at an Eskimo mission in Alaska for two years and took other leaves for study at the University of Minnesota and Lutheran Bible Institute. She attended summer school at various places, went to Europe three times, and instructed in Sunday and Thursday School at Trinity Church.65 College Life in Hard Times 149 f n
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