Imagine this scene: You're walking across the Academic Quad on a brisk autumn day in October 1954. You hold a copy of the Tufts Weekly in your hands, eagerly scanning an article that has made big news on campus. In fact, this news is so big the Weekly was moved to declare this "the first time that such liberal rules have been put into effect in any men's college in the East. We have set a precedent." What headline, you may ask, transformed Tufts into such a radical institution?
"Women Permitted in Dormitories."
Men and women in the same residential building before marriage? What kind of lunatic could even dream of such a policy?
Considering the context and putting sarcasm aside, it appears that Tufts really did take a big step by allowing men to bring their dates back to the dorms. Just look at all the ways this new policy essentially turned Tufts into a coed free−for−all:
1. You've been out all night at the local watering hole, wooing that special girl. Things are going so well that the two of you decide to go back to your room for the night. Well ... not quite. First "a dormitory resident signs his date in by putting her name, her school, his name, and the time" in a book kept at the front desk in each dormitory. And as for spending the night? If this is a weekend we're talking about, then "hours after 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday evenings come under the regulations for parties and must have chaperones." Nothing screams "party" like a chaperone in your dorm room.
2. So, you've finally managed to follow all the rules: Your date is signed in. It's Sunday, so she's visiting from 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Now the fun really begins, as long as "the doors to the rooms are left fully open and normal lighting [is] being used." I've always found the harsh glow of fluorescent lights to be particularly romantic.
3. Though it's hard to believe, you were one of the lucky ones if your date actually made it into your well−lit, easily monitored room. According to these liberal rules, you weren't allowed to bring a girl to your room if your dorm had a lounge. Instead, the two of you had to remain in the lounge and your date couldn't leave "for any reason except to us[e] the toilets." This is where it starts to sound like prison.
4. Let's assume you've found a girl who has not yet decided to desert you. Things seem to be looking up because you and your date are the only two people in the lounge, even though your ninety minutes of visiting time are almost over. You lean in for the kiss and ... your Faculty Resident stomps through the lounge, performing his duty to provide a ten−minute warning before all girls have to leave the dorm. What a mood−killer!
But look at us now: Not only have we done away with the check−in desks, open door policies and visiting hours, but men and women can actually live together in the same dorms! I sometimes wonder, though, if these relaxed policies are really worth it. Because when I think about the guys' wing of my freshman dorm, all I can remember are my male neighbors' impossibly loud, three−hour−long Guitar Hero battles and the fact that their half of the hall constantly smelled sort of funky.
I guess that's just the price you pay for progress ...
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