Pierson Prize

The July 1886 Dickinsonian shows that Zatae Longsdorff was a participant in the Junior Oration Contest. The Dickinsonian states that it could hardly be called a contest because of the fact that "the members of the class organization...refused to take any part whatever in it when the two persons outside of the organization had made known their intention of contesting." One of these two people is of course Zatae Longsdorff. Despite the protests against much of the Junior class participating, the Dickinsonian states that "the contest as a whole was good."

On May 31, 1886, Zatae Longsdorff went before the faculty to ask, "whether the Pierson Prize Medal Contest was open to all members of the Junior class without distinction of sex." The faculty decided that, as a member of the class, Zatae had the right to participate.