From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for May 16, 1987:

As had happened in many other years, every room in Lawrence’s 13 hotels, motels, and bed-and-breakfasts was reserved for Kansas University’s Commencement weekend. Rooms at the Holidome had been reserved since early June 1986, and the Eldridge Hotel had begun receiving calls for reservations when it first opened in January. Joseph R. Pearson Residence Hall at KU had been temporarily pressed into service; guests could stay there for $15 a night. Although the accommodations at JRP were not luxurious, the rooms were popular for their convenient location — and, for some alumni, perhaps for the memories that they evoked.