Social codes/rules

Included in the 1949-50 student handbook is a list of nine rules freshman students were required to adhere to. The rules went in to effect at 8am September 26, 1949.

Included in the 1948-49 student handbook is a list of seven rules freshman students were required to adhere to.

Included in the 1947 student handbook is a list of seven rules freshman students were required to adhere to. Freshman women were expected to wear armbands, rise when the Dean of Women or any other college official entered the room, women were required to speak to all professors and their wives, "give the right of precedence to the women of the upper classes," and were required to know "something of the college history." Added in 1947, the seventh rule stated, "sole power to interpret any of the foregoing rules shall be vested in the Women's Committee on Freshman Orientation."

An article in The Dickinsonian, "New Social Rules Changes Result from SREC Efforts," explained some of the changes adopted that the Social Rules Evaluation Committee proposed, including unchaperoned visiting hours for women in fraternity houses as well as more permissive visiting policies for men in sorority houses. The SREC's proposals also resulted in increased late hours and car privileges for upperclass women with a minimum grade point average.

According to an article in The Dickinsonian, the Social Rules Evaluation Committee, formed to address the potential change to social rules, chose to evaluate women's regulations and sorority social regulations. The committee adopted this philosophy for procedure: "The work of this committee is predicted [sic] on the belief that college students are mature, responsible people capable of setting up a sound, acceptable social code of their own and also of enforcing this code upon themselves...."

The Dickinsonian reports on the issue of campus rules and surveys student opinions. One fraternity man described the social rules as puritannical. Bill Jones disagreed with the rule regarding women visitors in fraternity houses. According to the article, many students expressed disatisfaction over the "lack of places for couples or mixed groups to meet informally...." Shirley Bahrs complained of the lack of activities on campus, and Betsy Kraft bemoaned the fact that Drayer Hall, a women's dormitory, had no recreation room.

A poem by Carla Russ (Class of 1964) in The Dickinsonian addressed the lack of activities for female students. Entitled A Pertinent Poem, it begins "Mary, Mary quite contrary, what did you do tonight?" The poem uses four names as inspiration for rhyme schemes (Mary, Jeanie, Pammy, Joanie), posing a question to each character. Their responses are all variations on the same theme, and the last section, which addresses Joanie, complains, "What's legal doesn't meet our needs,/ What's fun is tagged taboo!"

An editorial in The Dickinsonian criticizes campus social rules, especially those that pertain to women. The author insists that students are capable of behaving well and gives the example of the faculty allowing women visitors upstairs in fraternities, which "did not result in an upsurge of pregnancies." The editorial calls upon the Women's Interdormitory Council to extend these curfews on weekends to bring Dickinson's policies in line with comparable schools. The author also believes that the college should allow drinking upstairs in the fraternity when women are not present.

A cartoon in The Dickinsonian humorously depicts curfew rules for co-ed students. With "Modern-Day Cinderella" at the bottom, the cartoon shows a befuddled-looking prince who watches as a young woman steps into a pumpkin carriage with only one shoe. The clock tower in the background appears to strike eleven o' clock with the words "Bong, Bong" next to it.

A Letter to the Editor in the February 25, 1966 issue of the Dickinsonian critiqued the behavior of the Music Room sergeant. According to "Janettja," the sergeant was trespassing on the privacy of students who frequented the music room by addressing them with phrases like "Cut the passion" and "No love-making in the Union" in response to a "friendly kiss."