SPRING 2009 / Volume 8 - Issue 3
 | BY ANNA RIGGENBACH, ’08
Many things have changed at Kent State over the years. Degree programs have been added, recognitions and honors have been given and buildings have gone up and come down. But some of the less noticeable changes include the rules and social standards that guide student behavior and interactions.
The student handbook given out or purchased every year gives the basic information about Kent State: rules, regulations, tips for freshmen and standards of behavior. A look at past handbooks, called K-books, reveals that many rules and standards have changed with the times, but some are still relevant today.
For example, some Tips to Freshmen in the 1933 K-book include: Don’t form the “away over the week-end habit” or you’ll miss the fun every time; don’t be late for classes; get into social life; and read the Kent Stater.
Ten years later, in the 1943 K-book, the Tips to Freshmen seem to be focused more on appropriate behavior. Some of these tips include: Holding hands (someone else’s) and the like on campus are not considered good taste; and if the professor has not arrived at his class by 10 minutes after the last bell, the students “walk” — (leave the classroom to return at the next meeting). The rules for the same year include: Never step on the seal in front of Prentice Gate; all freshmen must entertain an upperclassman at any time or place within the realm of reason when asked to do so; and all freshmen are required to give their seats to an upperclassman whenever asked.
Hazing of freshmen, which is against the rules today, had its very own set of rules in 1950. Some of those were: Any student of Kent State University other than freshmen may haze the freshman if it is kept mannerly; disobedient freshmen will be punished; freshmen are to give up the right of way to upperclassmen upon entering and leaving buildings; and wearing high school sweaters and letters is not allowed.
Jackie (Battung) Bolander, ’58, remembers some of the rules from when she was a student at Kent State in the 1950s. In those days, students had to dress up for a Sunday dinner in the cafeteria, women were not allowed to wear slacks or pants and were not allowed to have boys past the lobby of the residence hall. They also needed permission from their parents if they were to leave the university for the weekend. The dress code and dorm rules may seem too strict for students to follow now, but Bolander thought the rules then were just strict enough and didn’t hinder social activity.
“Looking back today at the coed ‘rules,’ I don’t remember being very unhappy with them,” she says. “However, I came from a very loving and supportive but disciplined family. I do know that some coeds felt the rules were too restrictive. As a result there were always students who tried to get around the rules.”
Brianna Olesh, a junior advertising major, says some of the rules from the 1940s and ’50s are very similar to those found today in high schools. The rules from that era seem more social compared to the rules today, which seem more moral, she says.
“I don’t think a lot of the ’40s and ’50s rules are that horrible,” Olesh says. “But the rules today are not as weird or restrictive as some of those rules.”
Some specific rules Olesh found unusual were the policy allowing women to smoke only in the dormitory smoking rooms and students not being allowed to have radios in their rooms.
When Bolander’s daughters looked at her K-books, they thought the books were a joke.
“Today people think (the book) is really way out,” she says. “But I truly felt it was in our best interest. I still feel it was.”
Through the decades, rules and tips for students have evolved and changed with the generations, but students always seem to want more freedom. Trying to get around the rules is something every generation will have in common, with K-books and other handbooks to document exactly what they are trying to avoid.
| |
