March 2024
M T W T F S S
« Aug    
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Archives

Categories

50 Years Ago Today: School Dress Codes and Dorm Rules

by Frank Stoddard (ACS)

50 years ago tomorrow, I started college at Montana State College (now University).

Freshman class 1500 boys, 400 girls.

Dorm rules..guys had to wear tie and suit to dorm meals Wednesday and Sunday dinner meals. Girls had to wear dress and skirts..always unless it was final week or below 0 degrees F. (never shorts). Week nights girls had to be in the dorm by 10:30 and on Friday night 11:00 and Saturday it was 12:30.

At our first meeting, the dean of men said “look to your right, that person will not be here in three years. Look to your left, that person will not be here in three years.” He was right, I was not there!!!

My father has been dead 50 years, one month ago today!

I now realize, today, looking back, I should have drank more wine or went into the military earlier than what I did, or both.

Ha, I had to laugh at Frank’s memories of dress codes in college…I went to Univ. of Sou. Miss. for two years and we also had a dress code that required men to wear socks with their loafers, no shorts (Bermuda or otherwise) and a few other idiotic requirements. Gosh how things have changed from then to now.

Ken

3 comments to 50 Years Ago Today: School Dress Codes and Dorm Rules

  • Frank

    Yea, Ken, and did you have mandatory P.E. and two years of required ROTC for male students? I was in Air Force ROTC and was also on the drill team.
    I was placed in Langford Hall and had a terrific roommate from N.J.(across the river from Philly) Joe McCall and I always got along, we never had a disagreement and we always seemed to be on the same “wave-length. Wait; there was one thing that I did not go along with. Joe wanted me to go into professional boxing and he would be my manager. I guess I was prone to being rather quick with my mind (and month…glad I got over that!) and did get in a few fights that year, but Joe liked my style. I just thought his offer was one sided…kind of’ reminded me of my boxing couch when I was a sophomore in high school who you to say, after I would get hit pretty hard, “Whatsa’ problem, I didn’t feel a thing.”
    Well, the last time I saw Joe was in 1969 and the last time we talked on the phone was 1990. Today I sent him a letter (snail mail). I hope he gets the letter and we can reconnect. He now lives in Florida. My! My! fifty years ago.
    Montana State was on the quarter system, so in 1962 it started on 21 September for freshmen. I believe the end of the third quarter was 8 June 1963. In 1970, I would go back to MSU and graduate in June 1972. Later I would get my Masters from Chapman University, again with thanks to the G.I. Bill.

  • Suellen Oliver Campbell

    What a coincidence. Just this morning I sent out an email to my Lander College(now University) friends noting some of my favorite memories of our freshman year.
    rules? WE HAD RULES!
    Small southern college in Greenwood, S.C. of 500 girls and a handful of male day-students. Was currently city supported but had been Methodist when established in 1872.
    A few of the Dorm rules: no ashtrays on your bed, no more than 6 coke bottles in your room at one time, bed had to be made every day; in the dorm by 9:00PM,in bed by 10:00 or the housemother below us would bang on the ceiling with her broom, Friday was 11:00PM and Seniors could stay out til 11:30. Three weekends home each semester; suits, gloves, hats and stockings for church on Sunday; must attend church or you could not leave the campus proper. Skirts every day, except from 2-5 on Saturdays when you could wear slacks only behind the dorms, not on the front side of campus. never jeans! Demerits for each infraction (2-4) and after 4 demerits you were not allowed to go home or date on the following weekend.
    Could not go more than 15 miles from the center of campus without a written letter from your parents for each trip. No alcohol, of course.
    And my parents paid for this and I happily attended, graduating in 3 1/2 years with a teaching degree. Now we laugh at the strictness, but also what safety and protection it provided us. We also found many ways of raising our own hell, driving the dorm mom crazy and keeping ourselves entertained. It was there that I met the man of my dreams on a blind date 48 years ago (he was an outsider from another college nearby) and we share many memories of old-fashioned dating under these restrictions.
    Here’s my question for the day: Who has the most interesting mascot? In college we were known as the Lander Lilies, or a type of water nymph. Can you beat that?
    Suellen

Leave a Reply to Frank Cancel reply

You can use these HTML tags

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

  

  

  

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.