The celebration for the 50th anniversary of Alaska's constitutional convention brought convention delegates back to UAF last week -- some for the first time in half a century -- and with them came their stories about helping to write what is heralded as a model state constitution.

"These were believers who came to this thing," said history professor Terrence Cole of the 55 men and women who spent 75 days creating a concise, simplistic document outlining the laws and principles by which the state of Alaska is governed.

"There are few things that the university has done that are as important as this," Cole said. "Helping create the constitution is probably the most important act of public service the university has done."

Surviving delegates and participants from Alaska's constitutional convention, which was held on the UAF campus during the winter of 1955 and '56, spoke about the convention during a symposium sponsored by the Creating Alaska Project Saturday, Feb. 4 in the Schaible Auditorium and enjoyed a dinner afterward in the Wood Center. They also shared stories about the beginnings of the University of Alaska.

"Four hundred two men, 36 women, and we were a swinging bunch. Only two of us were married," said Walt Parker, who sits on the advisory board for the Creating Alaska project, a three-year project to research and celebrate Alaska's statehood. "Fairbanks was a real fun place," Parker said.

There was a hockey rink, Parker said. "If you liked playing hockey at 50 below, you had a game."

Temperatures were cold during that winter 50 years ago, but many delegates agreed that this was beneficial to the writing of the constitution because it kept the 55 delegates busy at work in Constitution Hall.

"Of all the things that I've been involved in, I've never been more proud of the decision to hold the convention at the university," said Thomas Stewart, secretary of the constitutional convention and co-chair of the Creating Alaska Project.

The framers of Alaska's constitution felt it important that the constitution be drafted away from the capitol in Juneau, and thought of the university as "neutral ground," away from lobbyists and outside interests that were exploiting Alaska's natural resources.

"I have seen all of our resources, except the human resource, the most important resource, controlled by people who didn't understand Alaska," said lifelong Alaskan Grace Schaible, Alaska's first female Attorney General and a graduate of the University of Alaska. "That was the reason most of us were in support of statehood."

Much of the work debating and working in committees was done in Constitution Hall, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November of 2005.

The construction of Constitution Hall was finished just in time for the convention, and other buildings were few and far between.

"At that time, it was Dr. [Charles] Bunnell's dream just to get this done and going," said delegate Jack Coghill, also a former lieutenant governor of Alaska. "Now you have acres and acres." Coghill was the second youngest of the delegates and represented Nenana.

"You really got to think about it, 75 days, 55 delegates, and we had the most diverse group you could imagine," Coghill said. Delegates came from 20 different communities around Alaska, and stayed mostly in off-campus housing in downtown Fairbanks. They gathered each day in Constitution Hall for meals, plenary sessions, and committee meetings.

"Having it here really gave the legitimacy to the university," said Grace Schaible, Schaible guessed that there were about 125 students at the university during her freshman year in 1945.

"Because it was so small, everybody knew everybody," Schaible said. "You had breakfast with [President] Bunnell each morning."

After the symposium Saturday afternoon, UAF hosted a black tie optional dinner in the Wood Center Ballroom. The highlight of the evening, for this reporter, was when the entire room full of people stood to sing a stirring rendition of the Alaska Flag Song.

"Alaska's flag to Alaskans dear, the simple flag of a Last Frontier," ends the song, written by Marie Drake. Like that simple flag, Alaska's constitutional convention produced what is considered a simple, yet compelling governing document.

"'The language must sing,'" said Thomas Stewart, quoting some advice he got before helping to draft Alaska's constitution. "The language does sing."