When one thinks of Eusoff Hall, one cannot help but remember the roots of this truly unique hall. Although Eusoff Hall only began operations in 1988, its history goes back a long way for it's the residents that make a hall.

Eusoff Hall gets its history from that of Eusoff College. Eusoff College was opened for accommodation in the year 1958 as the first and only university hall of residence for women. The hall was named after the late Dr. Haji Mohammed Eusoff, a member of the then University Malaya at Singapore and the chairman of the University Council from 1953-1957. The first principal of Eusoff College was Dr. Ruth Wong, while the first JCRC President was Miss Ng Kim Lan.

Things began to change when NUS shifted to its current campus in Kent Ridge in 1981. Gone were the days of the 5 minute walk to university for the residents of Eusoff College, replaced by that of long rides to the university. In 1987, construction work on the 5th and 6th halls of residence in NUS at Kent Ridge commenced and it was decided that Eusoff College was to move into one of them. However the name Eusoff College was replaced with Eusoff Hall so as to fall in line with the names of the other NUS halls of residence at the Kent Ridge campus. The new Eusoff Hall was completed in June 1988, and hall operations commenced immediately.

 

The History of Eusoff College and Hall

By Mark Emmanuel

Dr Mark Emmanuel is a Resident Fellow in Eusoff Hall and an Assistant Professor with the NUS History Department. He wrote this chapter for the 50th Anniversary commemorative book,  50 Years of Eusoffians, 1958-2008. Copies of the book are available for sale though the Eusoff Hall Office.

Eusoff College and Eusoff Hall have a rich history dating back 50 years. As an institution, it is older than the modern nation of Singapore, and its contributions to the success of the nation immeasurable. There are different ways of writing the history of this great Hall of residence. One might consider its numerous achievements, many of which are recorded in the chapters that follow. However, here in this brief history of the Grand Old Dame, as an alumna described it, we celebrate Eusoff’s culture of excellence rather than its excellent moments because this is a history of Eusoff, the institution; its traditions and virtues and, ultimately, the Eusoffian spirit. It is these traditions, shared experiences and ideals, and belief in the Eusoffian spirit that connect all Eusoffians—the past with the present, and to those who will follow in our footsteps through the gates of our great Hall.

Eusoff College

When Eusoff College was officially opened in 1958, Singapore was not yet an independent nation. However, a modern Singapore nationalism was already taking root. There was a growing sense that this was a nation in the making, and plans were made to ensure that with independence—whether as part of Malaysia or on its own—Singapore would have enough educated and talented women and men to help this island state stand on its own. The opening of Eusoff College as the first and only university residence for women signalled the importance of women to the nation, to its fight for survival and eventually its progress as an independent nation.

The expansion of university education in Singapore also meant the need to provide more residential places for students. Then Vice Chancellor of the University Malaya in Singapore, A. Oppenheim, announced in March 1958 that two new halls of residence would be established at the Bukit Timah campus—Raffles Hall for men and Eusoff College for women. Eusoff was built as the larger of the two halls in order to accommodate the large number of women undergraduates enrolled at university. However, this plan was not without controversy. While women students welcomed new accommodation on campus, the women medical students billeted at the Women’s Hostel in College Road refused to move into Eusoff at Nassim Road because the College was located too far from the hospital. University authorities were sympathetic and responded with solutions such as a shuttle bus, which helped the medical students' transition into Eusoff College.

Others complained about the name 'Eusoff' itself. The College was named after Datuk Panglima Kinta Dr Haji Mohammad Eusoff, who was Pro-Chancellor of the then University Malaya in Singapore and Chairman of the University Council from 1955 until his death in July 1957. As a member of the Carr-Saunders committee, he played a substantial role in the foundation of the then University of Malaya, and the College was named after him as a mark of respect. The objection to the name, however, stemmed in part from a strong belief that the woman’s college should be named after a woman and not a man. 'We would prefer it to be named Lady Caines College', opined one female student. In an era of growing liberalisation in women’s affairs, these ladies held strong opinions about decisions made for them, often without consultation, both within and outside the University. However, the University newspaper, The Malayan Undergrad, wrote in support of the Eusoff name, suggesting that while the name was 'alien to the advocates of more appropriate and honeyed titles', the gesture was a generous tribute to a man who had provided selfless and immeasurable service in the field of education in Singapore. There was no better choice of name for the College than Eusoff.

Mrs Maude Scott officially declared Eusoff College open on 1 November 1958. Mrs Scott was a meaningful and symbolic choice because she was the earliest woman graduate of Raffles College, which was the precursor tertiary institution that was eventually absorbed into the University of Malaya in Singapore. The first principal was Dr Ruth Wong, whose tenure helped to establish the Eusoffian values that we celebrate even today; and the first president of the Junior Common Room Committee (JCRC) was Ms Ng Kim Lan.

The College was to house 208 students including women medical students. Applications were open to all female undergraduates but a residential stay was compulsory for all senior women. This was part of a policy to provide all women students with some experience of residential life at university. The hostel experience aimed to give students from different faculties a chance to interact and, through these social interactions, to make some meaningful contribution to university life.

The first students paid $33 a week for living in the College, which was a princely sum then. Professor Chan Heng Chee, a College Resident in 1961 who later became a leading academic and Singapore’s first woman ambassador, funded her college fees by giving private tuition and working as a journalist for various newspapers.

            The College had single and double rooms. Senior ladies were given priority in the allocation of single rooms because they needed a quiet place to study. The rooms themselves were the envy of the university community. The rooms were equipped with bookshelves so large that some students found difficulty in filling them; dhoby (laundry service) baskets, towel racks and decent curtains, according to The Malayan Undergrad. Common facilities included a music room and a games room. There was also a lounge where Eusoff ladies could entertain their guests and any male visitors that came calling. The lounge was lavishly furnished for its time. Rather than the ubiquitous heavy furniture found elsewhere, the Eusoff College Lounge featured lightweight bamboo furniture with colourful cushions. To add to the air of gaiety and clear opulence by university standards, pots of ferns and flowers decorated the lounge. There was a small library filled with light reading materials; kitchenettes for late night suppers; and the all-important laundry areas for the washing of 'dainties'. Mindful that this was a ladies' college, the architects built walls between and adjoining hostel blocks in order to deter the boisterous boys from Raffles. However, as many a Eusoff lady would later find out, these walls did not deter the most determined Romeos of the day.

Eusoff College: The Life of the University

Within months of opening, Eusoff was the life of the university social scene. It gained a reputation for excellent food that was better than anything elsewhere on campus, thanks in no small part to the excellent catering team that worked in the College, many of whom stayed on till their retirement. Guests looked forward to their in-house Formal dinners and Exchange dinners with Raffles Hall. Formal dinners on Wednesdays began as high table affairs but quickly took on a more informal atmosphere. Students enjoyed the more relaxed setting where guests were invited to dine with them. Rather than a formal sit-down dinner, guests and students alike queued for their food and sat down together afterwards. Guests to the College quickly realised that if they arrived later that 7pm, they might end up sitting alone and began turning up earlier so as to enjoy the company of this vibrant group of ladies. Exchange dinners with Raffles Hall also became part of the Eusoff tradition.

Eusoff’s reputation as a social beehive was aided in no small part by the good press it received in the campus newspaper. There was even a Eusoff College Gossip column in The Malayan Undergrad of September 1958, which reported that the Eusoff ladies knew how to throw parties. The Eusoff Annual Ball became de rigeur in the 1960s and the College was famous for its Grand Annual Open House, where family and friends were invited to the College to take part in celebrations. The Going Down Tea was a well-known tradition where College ladies would invite their lecturers and tutors to attend a tea party at Eusoff College at the close of semester. Social events like hops were anticipated throughout the academic year and the Hen Party was the talk of the campus community. The Malayan Undegrad called it 'the most successful social event' on campus. The night was filled with great food and entertainment, and featured games, dancing, and the ladies' performances of sketches and songs. As the newspaper wistfully noted, 'not a gentlemen was to be seen and they (the ladies) had the greatest time of their lives'.

            Eusoff College was an incredibly close-knit community, in part because it was distinctive as the only women’s college in Singapore. Everyone, including the Senior Common Room Committee (SCRC), worked actively to build the Eusoffian spirit. Fellows often threw supper feasts, pancake parties and even champagne parties, funded from their own pockets, to help students feel at home in Eusoff. Ms Lim Bee Lum, who joined the college in 1960 as a student and eventually became its longest serving SCRC member (1972–2000), both as a fellow and now as a non-resident fellow, used to give her students ice-cream treats before their exams. Professor Wong Hee Aik, Resident Fellow from 1972–91, kept her door open to students who often dropped by for a chat or to browse her bookshelves.

 

Political and Social Awareness

Apart from a healthy social life on campus, the Eusoff ladies were also active in promoting social causes and raising funds for the needy. Social events were often organised with the aim of raising money for charitable causes. There are too many to enumerate but in 1969, for instance, 'An Evening of Food, Fun and Wine' raised $1,800. Perhaps the most lasting legacy of this drive to help the less fortunate was the decision to establish a formal committee to serve the larger Singapore community. Together with Raffles Hall, a joint Voluntary Corps was formed in academic year 1968/69. The Raffles-Eusoff Voluntary Corp (REVC) brought the best out of both halls as they worked hard to bring some relief to the sick, the poor, and the disadvantaged. This tradition is capably carried on today by the Eusoff Voluntary Corps (EVC).

Politically, the ladies of the College were also swept up by international events. The world was in turmoil in the 1960s. Southeast Asia was in the grip of the Cold War and the Communist threat continued to loom large over Singapore after the end of the Second World War. The two key issues of the 1960s were the American war in Vietnam and, closer to home, the more emotional issue of the merger of Singapore and Malaysia. Eusoff ladies participated in many of the talks and marches on campus on these two issues. Alice Lee, who lived in the College between 1965–67, recalled attending many of these talks, in particular the memorable 1967 debate between Singapore’s then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Year and Malaysia’s future Prime Minster Mahathir Mohamed about communalism in Malaysia and Singapore.

Campus life was a hive of political activity and debate, and it was not surprising that half of Eusoff College marched in support of academic freedom at the University Autonomy March in October 1966. At other times, Eusoff College joined or was joined by other halls of residence in protesting against campus authorities. For instance, in the 1970s, the Housecoat Affair, which saw a College resident punished for what was perceived by the student body as a minor infraction, prompted a show of strength, with other halls of residence pledging to march together with College residents to show their displeasure at university authorities.

The Eusoff ladies found that some of the men on campus and in society at large felt that a woman’s place was in the home as a dutiful wife. By participating actively in campus life and involving themselves in political and social causes, these ladies were fighting against accusations of social inactivity and apathy and, more importantly, they were carving out a space for themselves and future generations of Singapore women.

 

Boys and Eusoff College

As a ladies' college, Eusoff was a magnet for the boys. If there was one thing that Eusoff College ladies remember well, it is the public phone ringing incessantly. Boys were always on the phone calling the darlings of the university, and the quadrangle rang out with shrieks of 'Telephone!'. Molly Leow, a staff member at Eusoff, was so driven to distraction by these male callers that she used to bellow over the PA system for her charges to report promptly to receive their male callers. She terrified these female students so much that one demand for a student to 'Come down now!' made the poor girl rush down in a towel because she had been in the shower!

            It was inevitable that the College would be a great attraction for the men on and off campus. A regular male intruder to the College’s grounds was dubbed The Prowler, and over the years there were many others who took on this unsavoury mantle. The ladies, however, were no wilting daisies. Police whistles were bought and liberally used; barbed wire was wound around pipes to prevent these men from climbing into rooms, and a fence was even constructed at the back of the building.

            On a happier note, all the hostels on campus competed enthusiastically with each other, and this often included good-natured taunting, ribbing and pranks. Perhaps none was more famous than the 'Duke of Dunearn Road Hostels'. On the occasion of Duke of Edinburgh Prince Phillip’s visit to Singapore, the ladies from Eusoff were dispatched to the main road with a banner in an effort to waylay the handsome, young consort of Elizabeth II. However, a younger upstart from Dunearn, dressed as the Duke and standing in a Morris Minor as a carriage, proceeded to wave at the real Duke passing by on Dunearn Road. The faux Duke’s party then proceeded to Eusoff College to woo the ladies, who spilled out of the College mistakenly believing that Prince Philip was arriving. Unfortunately, the horrors from Dunearn were the only ones to be found, and such a resounding chorus of boos had never before been heard from Eusoff College.

There was a happy rivalry between Eusoff and Raffles College students during their years at Nassim Road that was played out as a battle of the sexes. The Raffles boys were often the bane of the Eusoff ladies, who ran the gauntlet and suffered many catcalls from these cheeky fellows as they walked by Raffles. However, the ladies could give as good as they got. Nothing personified this better than the Cracker War. In February 1959, Dr Ruth Wong, first principal of the college, set off firecrackers on Chinese New Year as part of the Chinese tradition to ward off evil spirits and welcome good luck. The Raffles boys took this opportunity to harass their neighbours at Eusoff College with a sneak attack using firecrackers, which prompted the ladies to retaliate in kind. What became known as the Cracker War eventually transformed into a more formalised annual battle between Raffles and Eusoff. The men from Raffles launched panty raids, stealing into Eusoff for the sole purpose of liberating lingerie from the College clotheslines. Their hard-won loot of silken dainties was then strung up on a flag post, as much to mark their victory as to mock and embarrass the ladies next door. Not to be outdone, the ladies launched a blitz on Raffles armed with firecrackers, and thus the Cracker War tradition was born.

There were occasions when mild-mannered fun went awry. On Christmas Eve 1965, the boys from Dunearn launched their own Cracker War against the College but a few over-enthusiastic boys damaged College property in the process. In what became known as the Eusoff Affair, DRH was caught up in a storm that attracted the wrath of university administration, and which drew comment in the national newspaper and even from the prime minister himself.

Grapple as they did with this inter-hall rivalry, there was also a mutual warmth between Eusoff College and the other halls both at the institutional and at the personal level. There were exchange dinners, high teas, joint talentimes, campfires and hops that brought both halls together. The REVC founded in 1968/69 was just one example of the joint efforts by halls of residence in working together as a university community. Beyond the inter-hall affection between Eusoff College and Raffles, there were also warm and cordial relationships with Dunearn Road Hostels (DRH) and King Edward Hall (KE) at Sepoy Lines adjacent to the Singapore General Hospital. Nothing illustrated this friendly relationship better than the incident of 1963/64, when 15 Dunearn residents were expelled for catcalls aimed at the Eusoff ladies as they passed by Dunearn Road Hall after the varsity carnival. The Eusoff JCRC immediately jumped to their defence on the basis that these poor men had been treated unjustly by their hall. The poor fellows from KE who boldly raided Eusoff College in 1966/67 also fell afoul of the University authorities and needed the Eusoff JCRC to intervene and plead for leniency on their behalf.

On a personal level, Raffles, DRH and KE men were often guests at the Eusoff College lounge, and once separated from the herd, they were easy prey for the lionesses at Eusoff. Boys were not allowed past the guest lounge and many of them were subjected to the probing gaze and the questioning of many a Eusoff lady while waiting for their dates to appear. This was part of the happy but often merciless taunting both male and female residents engaged in that made university life all the more interesting and exhilarating.

 

Going Co-ed: Abrupt Change

1983/84 was the last academic year in which Eusoff remained an all-girls college as the University announced a policy change that Eusoff would go co-ed the following year. The announcement was abrupt and short. A note from the College principal informed the ladies that the University had decided that Eusoff would become co-educational in 1984/85 and that it was a 'policy decision', meaning that it was irreversible. At the same time, Eusoff College would be expanded to take over the previous Raffles College building at Nassim Road, which would be renamed the Nassim Wing, while the existing buildings at Evans Road were called the Evans Wing. The University had begun to move in stages to the newer and larger Kent Ridge campus in 1981, and with Raffles Hall's move to Kent Ridge in 1984, Eusoff College became the last student residence to remain at the Bukit Timah campus. 

While the change in policy and the absorption of another building were relatively easy to manage, attitudinal change was far more difficult. This necessary change in mindsets was the foremost issue on the minds of all Eusoffians, such that even the cover of the yearbook featured a NUSSU news article on the decision to turn Eusoff College into a co-ed hostel. Naturally, there was much initial resistance to the idea as habits and traditions would have to be altered to accommodate the boys. The policy change meant the passing of the 'Eusoff girls are the best!' cheer and the 'No male visitors beyond this point' sign. Most of all, there would be an end to the lively hen parties. The resistance was understandable: the College had been an all-women’s college for 26 years, a mantle that it had worn with comfort and great pride. More than that, the ladies saw it as a 'loss of uniqueness'. For almost three decades, the College and its denizens had fought the good fight, demonstrating that women were equal to men, and that there was no task these women could not handle. Eusoff College's conversion to a co-ed residence certainly signalled the passing of an exceptional era.

 

A New Era: National University of Singapore and Eusoff Hall

While the College was going co-ed, other changes in the University were to have dramatic implications for Eusoff. In academic year 1980/81, the University shifted from its Bukit Timah campus to a new and larger campus at Kent Ridge. College residents found themselves having to commute to Kent Ridge to attend classes. The move to Kent Ridge created uncertainty over whether Eusoff College would move, leading to speculation that 1980/81 would be the last year of Eusoff’s existence. The level of anxiety was such that the 1980/81 JCRC, thinking that the end was nigh for the College, even considered spending its remaining funds. In the end, the move to Kent Ridge and the transition to Eusoff Hall only took place in June 1988.

The evolution was successful because in its remaining years at Bukit Timah, the College found new ways to integrate its residents into a mixed hall. In 1984, Professor Andrew Tay was appointed Vice-Principal of the College to assist the principal, Dr Lim Kiat Boey (1976–96). Professor Tay recalled some initial resistance to the change but felt that it was quite understandable because it had been an all-women’s hostel for a long time. The other problem in integration was the distance of a few hundred metres between the Nassim Wing and the Evans Wing, which the College successfully overcame by holding numerous activities in the field between the two wings to foster as much interaction as possible. When it came time to move into Eusoff Hall at the Kent Ridge campus, the tensions about a co-ed hall of residence had all but disappeared.

 

Building Eusoff Hall

By December 1985, university administration had decided to build two new halls of residence at the Kent Ridge campus: one was to house Eusoff College residents, while the other was to become Temasek Hall. The construction of the new hall at its current site along Kent Ridge Drive began in earnest in January 1987. Costing $10 million, the new hall was designed with modern finishes and could host up to 485 students. Professor Andrew Tay was appointed Founding Master of Eusoff Hall in 1988. He played a big part in helping the architects to design the spaces needed in the hall. As a result, the new hall had facilities for Rag and Flag construction; a Band Room for practice sessions; a stage for hall performances; and meeting rooms for the JCRC and SCRC, to name but a few.

The new hall had 345 single rooms and 70 double rooms spread over 5 residential blocks. At the time of its opening, each block held 97 students and had common facilities like laundry rooms, a water fountain and telephones as well as two spacious and well-furnished common rooms cum kitchenettes. Residents were also mightily impressed with the in-house sports and recreational facilities located in the additional Communal Block, which housed the Hall Office, Dining Hall, Function Hall and the Master's Lodge. Students had access to two squash courts in the basement; two outdoor tennis courts, one adjacent to the Hall and the other along Heng Mui Keng Road; as well as an all-weather, multi-purpose court where students could play everything from basketball and volleyball to sepak takraw and badminton. The Hall also boasted a large Games Room where residents could indulge in billiards, carom, darts, aerobics and board games. In what was considered luxury at the time, the Hall also had a lounge room with a colour television, video recorder, and a hi-fi set; as well as a fully air-conditioned computer room equipped with 20 personal computers.

            Moving to the Kent Ridge campus also meant adopting a new name—Eusoff Hall. The word 'college' was dropped in order to bring it in line with the naming convention that was standard for all the other residences at the Kent Ridge campus. There was also some discussion at the university administration level that the appellation 'college' created the incorrect impression that Eusoff was a degree-awarding body similar to Raffles College, a predecessor institution of the University, which had been a degree-awarding body. Owing to the strong demand for student accommodation, the University had decided that Eusoff College would continue to run as a hostel in Bukit Timah. Hence adopting the new name Eusoff Hall for the “new” hall at Kent Ridge was convenient as the hostel at Bukit Timah could continue operations under its current name Eusoff College.

 

New Beginnings, Sad Endings

Eusoff Hall began operations in June 1988 and was officially opened by President Wee Kim Wee on 5 August 1989. Despite the new name, residents who moved from Eusoff College to Eusoff Hall were determined to carry on with the best traditions of the former. As far as the residents and the university administration were concerned, Eusoff Hall was merely the continuation of Eusoff College at a new location. The entire JCRC from the College moved over to the Hall and carried on with their duties, and all College residents were treated as returning seniors in the admission exercise for Eusoff. Since an SCRC was still required at Eusoff College at Bukit Timah, about one-quarter of the SCRC volunteered to remain at Eusoff College while the rest of the SCRC volunteered to continue their tenure with Eusoff Hall at Kent Ridge. Dr Lim Kiat Boey was asked to continue as Principal of the College while Professor Tay became Master of Eusoff Hall, where he would champion a number of initiatives until his departure in 2003.

Eusoff College continued to operate at Evans Road until 2001. After Dr Lim Kiat Boey stood down as Principal, Professor Lee Kok Onn took over as Principal until its closing in the evening of 24 March 2001. In a solemn ceremony, Professor Lee surrounded by hundreds of Eusoffians symbolically locked the gates and handed the key to the Vice Chancellor, Shih Choon Fong. The tiled crest that lay in the lobby of Eusoff College, crisscrossed by hostelites for more than a generation, was moved in its entirety to the entrance of Eusoff Hall, where it still stands today as a symbol of a shared past. Each day, Eusoff Hall students pass by this icon much in the same way of the hostelites of old.

With the closing of Eusoff College in March 2001, several alumna of Eusoff College set up a fund to establish the Eusoff College Medal to honour an Eusoffian for his/her overall outstanding academic performance and contributions to Hall activities. A gold medal is awarded annually using proceeds from the capital of $30,000 raised from donations and from an amount received from the Eusoff Hall Reserves. The NUS Senate approved the establishment of Eusoff College Medal in February 2004, and the first recipient in July 2004 was Ms Angeline Lam Mingli. The Eusoff College Medal is the only medal of its kind associated with a hall of residence in NUS.

 

Legacy of Eusoff College

Eusoff College was not merely a hall of residence for women. It represented the aspirations of a young nation for its women. On the 10^th Anniversary of the Hall's founding, then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and Mrs Lee accepted an invitation to be the Guests of Honour because he believed in the potential of these young women graduates and recognised their important role in society as professionals. The Prime Minister used the occasion to make the point that Singapore stood out from the rest of Asia in its positive regard for women, stressing that women should embrace the equal opportunities in education and in the workforce.

Eusoff College represents all that is good in Singapore womanhood, and its rich history is a testament to the signal achievement of the women who graced its corridors. Dr Nalla Tan, who was principal of the college from…on the occasion of its 25^th anniversary captured the essence Eusoff College when she wrote:

I’ve not been long in Eusoff College as its Principal, but I have seen within its walls, along its corridors, at every meeting place, in every stance, movement and attitude, the qualities of young womanhood which are required for the kinds of traditions that we want Eusoff to be associated with. These are the intangible qualities of honur, integrity, courage, humility and truth – truth and humility above all.

The ladies of Eusoff College are an inspiration to all Eusoffians – male and female alike - and it is their traditions that we emulate and celebrate. 1983 and the move to becoming a co-ed hall was the beginning of a new era. While some feared that this marked the end of Eusoffian values and spirit, these fears never materialised. Rather, most traditions were retained and some were modified but in the end it would be a continuation of the original Eusoffian spirit of endeavour, excellence and harmony

Eusoff Traditions

            Despite becoming Eusoff Hall, the Eusoff College “cultural DNA” was well embedded in the Hall because of the JCRC, the returning seniors and the SCRC who crossed over to Kent Ridge. The Hall also recognised that it was important to keep our alumni engaged with the Eusoffian community because they were the bonds with the past. It was in the interaction between the past and the present that the Eusoffian spirit was renewed. The Hall reached out to our alumni in 1988, and it was formally registered as a legal entity in 1989 with the key help of a pro tem committee consisting of several Eusoff College and Eusoff Hall alumni and chaired by Mrs Tan Chee Kiaw, an alumna and currently Deputy Director of the NUS Computer Centre. On 8 January 1994, Vice-Chancellor Professor Lim Pin opened the Eusoff Heritage Corner. In his speech, Professor Lim Pin congratulated the Hall for its strong relationship with its alumni and said that the University would be soon setting up its own alumni association. The Heritage Corner was a tangible sign of the determination of the Hall to celebrate its continuity with the College. Its purpose was to educate current residents about Eusoff College, moving to Kent Ridge campus and the evolution of Eusoff Hall. It was meant to be a way for residents to reconnect with the past and to take pride in the heritage of Eusoff College and Eusoff Hall while at the same time becoming a focus for the alumni to maintain their links to the Hall.

This connection with the past helped maintain some the most prized and time worn traditions like Orientation, high table dinners, social activities like the Annual Ball, social service functions, and cultural productions became a part of the Hall tradition. The Grand Annual Open House was still a great event in the year’s calendar but invariably traditions were modified and new ones added. Cultural Week, which was introduced during the Co-ed phase of the College was reintroduced but changed slightly. Rather than courses on grooming and folk dancing, the existing template of talks on culture like music and literature were enhanced. In 1990, for example, Cultural Week emphasised different aspects of culture, ranging from dance to drama to choir. Under the sponsorship of Shell Singapore, the JCRC was able to invite the woodwind quintet from the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and organise a talk on Chinese geomancy and Swedish culture. The latter reflected the new realities of a strong international student presence in the Hall. The week was rounded off with an international night in which all the international students performed an item from their culture.

There were new traditions to reinforce the Eusoff sense of identity. The Hall inaugurated its first ever JCRC Investiture ceremony in 1988 and began a new tradition of giving each JCRC member a maroon jacket with the Hall Crest emblazoned on its breast pocket. Rather than the Going Down Tea, the Hall began the Public Forum where lecturers were invited to engage with Eusoffians about the burning issues of the day. Another new tradition was the Kent Ridge Hill run held at the end of orientation in which the entire hall comprising Master, Resident Fellows, Seniors and Freshmen all jog from the hall to the top of Kent Ridge Hill around dawn in a show of unity and as a symbol of achievement. There are other traditions that were kept and some others changed and others yet created. In the final assessment, all these traditions still reflected the Eusoff spirit, which was necessary to see the Hall through some difficult times.

While Eusoff College operated in Bukit Timah, it was difficult to attract the most talented students in sports and the arts as student applicants inevitably preferred the on-campus halls because of the convenience and their newer facilities. The situation began to change dramatically with the establishment of Eusoff Hall on the Kent Ridge campus. For all the years since 1988, admissions data has consistently shown that the most number of freshmen and new seniors chose Eusoff Hall as their first choice hall. The main reasons for this were the Hall’s proximity to many large faculties and its unmatched in-house recreational and sports facilities. With the continual infusion of fresh top talent and the inculcation of the Eusoff spirit every year, Eusoff Hall quickly rose in prominence in all areas of endeavour. The Eusoff spirit was indomitable. Students would go out onto the field and battle for honours because that was the Eusoffian spirit of competition. It was this remarkable quest for excellence and an enduring belief in the Eusoff spirit that quickly helped the Hall gain recognition for its cultural and sporting excellence, and for its unswerving commitment to social service.

 

The Culture of Excellence

Since 1990, Eusoff Hall has become one of the powerhouses of cultural excellence on campus. The ladies of the College were well known for their sketches and their performances but going co-ed saw a shift toward sports. However, the move to the Hall in 1988 saw an influx of talented performers and arts oriented students. In 1990, the Eusoff Choir bagged the Championship in the Youth Section of Cantata 1990, and in that same year, a small group of dedicated students would stage a rock musical at Lecture Theatre 13, which would be the first of many celebrated performances. In 1991, the Hall would be the first cultural group from the university to stage a performance at the 1,745 seat Kallang Theatre. KOJIKI, a dance-drama, earned rave reviews in the press including The Straits Times and the Asahi Shimbun. In the following year, an even more ambitious production, a dance-drama called “Shadows of Kul” based on an original script and choreography was staged for an unprecedented two nights at the Kallang Theatre. The guests of honour were President and Mrs Wee Kim Wee.  Since then, the Hall has been similarly praised for its annual cultural productions, and this has created a rich tradition carried on in recent years by annual Eusoff Hall Dance Production. The Dance productions involve almost half the hall or about 200 or more students in a fantastic extravaganza of acting, dance and song with its lavish sets and strong support from the community, which attracted high praise both from within the university and from outside it.

            In other ways too, this cultural excellence has gone beyond singing, acting and dancing groups in the Hall. Encouraging student innovation, Professor Andrew Tay helped Eusoffians achieve their dreams of making a film. In 2000, Eusoff Hall pioneered student filmmaking in NUS with the release of Clocks and Cockroaches. The compilation of 4 short films involved more than a hundred Eusoffians who were engaged in everything from the acting to the propwork, debuted in front of an audience that included Teo Chee Hean, Minister for Education and Eric Khoo, the well known film director of 12 Storeys and the Mee Pok Man. Subsequently in 2001, Eusoffians embarked on the ambitious project to produce a full-length feature film, Jack’s Car, which they did with financial support from the Singapore Film Commission and the National Youth Council. The most recent film production, The Forgotten, completed filming in 2008.

Eusoff Hall has also emerged as one of the leading centres for sporting excellence in the University in recent years. Many years in the making, Eusoff Hall was finally crowned the Inter-Hall Games (IHG) champions for the first time in 1998. Since then, we have been IHG champions in 2006 and 2008. The Women’s Team won their first championship in 2000, and have subsequently been Champions in 2001, 2005 and 2006. The Men’s team have been Champions in 1998, 2006, 2007 and 2008. Individual Eusoffians have won sporting awards and have represented Eusoff, the University, and Singapore in overseas events; most notably, national sprinter, UK Shyam, duathlon specialist Sikhander Singh who represented Singapore at the SEA Games 2007, and Chen Huifen, who was a national netball player, who played for Singapore at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Our athletes have also been honoured at the TeamNUS Sports Awards ceremony, with 56 Eusoffians receiving awards out of a total of 481 awardees. Vijay Liew (JCRC President 2006/2007), Andrew Boey and Pan Jiahe were also part of the NUS President Sports Team Award (Dragon Boat). Eusoff has also been at the forefront of sporting innovation; having introducing syncronised swimming in 1997 – a first in the university, and only the second educational institution in Singapore to have the sport.

Perhaps our greatest achievement is the unfailing generosity of our students in social service. Community service and action has had a long tradition in Eusoff and in the Hall; and students have played their part in tending to the needs of others. The regular Christmas Dinner, through what became known as the "Adopt a Brother/Sister" and "Adopt a Granny" schemes, was an opportunity to share the festive joy with the less privileged. This social consciousness was very much reflected in ambitious projects like the “Piece by Piece for Peace” project in academic year 1990/91. Held in conjunction with the Annual Food and Fun Fair it raised $4,450 for the needy and was also used to promote awareness for peace among students during the first Gulf War, which was ongoing at this time. In 1995, the Hall was part of a combined Halls fundraising project with a bazaar of 40 stalls, an open house for junior college students and a Jam and Hop – a dance party on campus. The late President Ong Teng Cheong graced this event. The following year, the Eusoff Voluntary Corp (EVC) organized Social Awareness Week with the theme, “If not us, who? If not now, when?” They collected funds for Third World countries by selling ‘love loaves’.

Institutionally, the Hall has been active in the community especially through the tremendous work performed by the EVC, which carries on the REVC tradition established in 1968; and in 1997, the EVC made a commitment to visit and provide practical help to residents living in one-room flats in the Outram area once a fortnight through arrangements with a voluntary organization. This has become a longstanding arrangement and today, Eusoffians make weekly visits to 19 elderly people in the area, bringing with them food and good cheer. It now includes a Health Management Programme, which the Hall generously funds, to ensure that these elderly have access to badly needed medical care. The EVC has been recognised for its immense contribution to society by numerous awards including the prestigious NUS Student Achievement Award 2007. Through their efforts, these young Eusoffians have enabled some of the most disadvantaged individuals in our society to live with dignity.

These efforts at social service do not stop at home. The Eusoff Expeditions Team, which was part of an International Service Learning project, has burgeoned into an annual expedition to Cambodia to help the children of Prey Veng province. Eusoff Expeditions was established in 2004 by Grace Koh, a young lady who was determined to make a difference in the world. Grace conceived of the plan, put it to paper, and won the support of the Hall and the University in supporting this expedition. Thus far, the team has been to Cambodia four times. Each year the team wins funding from the National Youth Council for their exemplary efforts. Grace continues to champion the cause even now as an alumna of Eusoff, and she has big plans in the making with a proposed hostel for the children of Prey Veng to attend school in Phnom Penh. She is one of many young Eusoffians who live out the best ideals of Eusoff in their daily life.

            These are but a few examples, and the chapters that follow detail in many ways the culture of excellence that has been a part of our past and our present. We will see how Eusoffians have challenged the norms within society; how they have excelled in Culture and the Arts, Sports, in the working World and in Community Service. The traditions, value and virtues that have inspired thousands of Eusoffians both past and present will invariably inspire future generations to great heights of excellence and harmony. Eusoff…All Hail to Eusoff!

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