During the middle of the 20th Century, the United States underwent a pandemic of rubella, then known by the misnomer "German measles." Although the disease itself was relatively mild (it was also known as "three-day measles"), women who contracted it during the first trimester of pregnancy often saw significant impacts on fetal development. One such impact, in those pregnancies that resulted in successful births, was deafness.
As a result of the pandemic, Gallaudet College saw a significant increase in enrollment in the mid-to-late 20th Century, known as the "rubella bulge." To address the sudden need for space, the former campus of the Margaret Webster Junior College for Women in Northwest D.C. was purchased in 1983 and used to house students enrolling in "preparatory" studies. These classes were focused on ensuring that students were college-ready prior to enrolling in a degree program.
Students who attended the prep program often referred to themselves by the year they attended rather than as members of the class of their graduation year, and alumni report feeling as though they had "bonded" with their prep classmates to a greater degree than those who had enrolled directly in a degree program as freshmen.
The "Northwest Campus," as it was called, was short-lived, being a response to a temporary problem. When enrollment reflected the end of the "rubella bulge," in the mid-'90s, the Northwest Campus went on the market and was sold in 1997.
During this era, prep students were often included in the Tower Clock as a fifth class of students, but between 1990 and 1992, three yearbooks were created that focused exclusively on the prep experience.
