By Jim Crane (Crown ’70)
In 1967, Dr. Thimann came up with the idea of letting students name the dorms after figures in the history of science. The reason why we voted for Maxwell House (and I remember the campaigning) was because we thought that by using the name “Maxwell House,” we could persuade the Maxwell House Coffee Company to provide us with free coffee as a “thank you” for the free publicity.
After we voted in the name, we contacted the company and asked it to shower us with some largesse, but the ingrates declined. As a result, to this day I refuse to buy Maxwell House coffee. But I recognize that those were simpler times. If we tried to do the same thing today, the company probably would sue us for trademark infringement.
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