The old rules were simple but a touch overbearing (the college was founded in 1885, but the oldest handbook on record is from 1891). Students\u2019 wraps and overshoes were to be stored in their proper places. You could use any of the stairways, but, really, the south stairway is preferred. And do not use the \u201cgymnasium apparatus\u201d without special permission.<\/p>\n
By the middle of the 20th century, however, the now-named Goucher College had\u00a0 from downtown Baltimore to Towson and rapidly expanded. Expectations for women were changing, fashion was changing, and so, too, was the handbook.<\/p>\n
Judy Barrett \u201957<\/span><\/strong> remembers \u201cno slacks or jeans off-campus except Wednesday and Saturday mornings,\u201d she says. Linda Whitehurst \u201961<\/span><\/strong> remembers that students also couldn\u2019t wear [pants] to class. Skirts or dresses were required.<\/p>\n Interestingly, the late-1950s handbook only explicitly states that students couldn\u2019t wear slacks, jeans, or Bermudas in the dining room (except Wednesdays and Saturdays). In reality, it was enforced campus-wide and beyond: \u201cBeware of Tone!\u201d says the handbook. \u201cTone Committee, a branch of the Students\u2019 Organization, keeps us aware of the need for careful dress and of the importance of the \u2018correct thing.\u2019 Think before you wear that ski-cap and those sneakers into one of Baltimore\u2019s swankiest stores; Tone may be lurking nearby.\u201d<\/p>\n The college clearly felt they needed to be more explicit by the early 1960s. The 1961-62 handbook states that skirts and dresses were required off-campus, and it lists where slacks, blue jeans, pedal-pushers, and even kilts were allowed: the library, Wednesdays and Saturdays in the dining room, and as needed in certain class settings. The college also felt the need to add, \u201cShort shorts may be worn only to and from sport activities.\u201d<\/p>\n By the time of the women\u2019s liberation movement in the late 1960s, the clothing rules seemed even more intolerable to the students. \u201cThe section on \u2018Personal Attire\u2019 always brought a smile to my face, and maybe more recently an eye roll,\u201d says Beth Kilss \u201970<\/span><\/strong>, referring to the rules from her first year in 1966 that were pretty much the same as those in the 1961 handbook.<\/p>\n \u201cSome students pushed the envelope by wearing blue jean skirts with T-shirts and bedroom slippers on their feet,\u201d says Lucy Hedrick \u201969<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n That finally changed in 1969. The handbook for that year said, \u201cAnything from skirts and sweaters to simple dresses to slacks are worn to classes.\u201d Tacked on was a reminder to bring a few cocktail dresses for dances with Johns Hopkins and the Naval Academy.<\/p>\n There were unwritten regulations that chafed, as well, particularly for food and drink.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were rules about how many chocolate chip cookies and how much bacon you could have,\u201d Kathy Jacob \u201972<\/span><\/strong> says. But, \u201call bets were off if you were a dishwasher, like me.\u201d<\/p>\n And there were rules against drinking on campus. Thus came about the \u201cmagic circle,\u201d a concept many alumnae who were there at the time still look back on fondly. \u201cIt was said that if you took a six-pack outside of the drive that encircled the campus, authorities would turn a blind eye,\u201d says Jacob.<\/p>\n Many students from before the days of the personal computer also remember rules around typing, although none could be found officially in the handbook.<\/p>\n \u201cYou were not allowed to type in your room as the old typewriters made too much noise. You had to lug your machine up to the upstairs lounge and remain there until you were finished,\u201d says Sylvia Foster \u201962<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Jacob adds, \u201cThere was no typing\u2014on real typewriters with real, noisy, keyboards\u2014after 10 p.m. But you could carry your typewriter down to the TV room.\u201d<\/p>\n However, the women were expected to make a lot of noise on one occasion\u2014when a man was visiting. Says Whitehurst, \u201cBetween 2 and 4 p.m. on Sundays you could have a guy visit your room, with the door open, after announcing, \u2018Man on the hall!\u2019\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cThe door had to be open two fingers worth,\u201d remembers Isabel Strasser \u201964<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cThat does seem crazy now,\u201d says Barrett.<\/p>\n \u201cYou had to yell \u2018Man on the hall\u2019 so no one came out of the bathroom in their underwear,\u201d Jacob explains. But, she says, \u201csome didn\u2019t care and did it anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n There was another way you could entertain a man in the dorms. \u201cFroelicher had two date parlors in the lobby,\u201d she says. \u201cYou could reserve a parlor for an hour and go in there and \u2018date.\u2019 My daughters find this whole idea absolutely hilarious.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Group](\"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/files\/2021\/09\/archphoto_1.92.040-small.jpg\")
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