Thursday, January 28, 2010

Those Naughty Normal Girls

EMU students: Have you reported the name of your date to a faculty member?

Don't forget to also inform your professor where you two will be going, what you'll be doing, and, oh, the "ten o'clock" rule is in effect and we'll be checking to make sure you're back at your boarding house by ten--no later!

Those are the strictures EMU women used to have to put up with. Read all about it, and how they responded, in my latest story in the Courier!

8 comments :

cmadler said...

"By 1931, Charles McKenny Hall had new women's lounges. At a school assembly, school president Charles McKenny offered only a half-hearted protest to the idea of women smoking in their lounges."

Did McKenny have a building named for himself while he was still the president?

Dusty D said...

Yes. In the October 14, 1931 edition of the paper, in the story "McKenny Hall Smoking Question Up To Women," lower right corner, it says " . . . the beautiful rooms set aside in Charles McKenny Hall..."

cmadler said...

Interesting.

Have you ever come across information about the naming of that building? Naming a building after yourself like that seems pretentious; my sense is that most university buildings named for administrators are done after the person retires. Did he have some special involvement with the construction of that building, like advocating for the appropriation of funds from the state legislature or a connection to the building's purpose? Or did someone else make the naming decision (e.g. Board of Regents)? I'm just curious because it seems odd.

Dusty D said...

I agree, it is odd. When I read your first comment, I thought, "I see why she is asking...it is unusual that it'd be named after him while he was still alive." I do have a bunch of articles about when the hall was opened; I'll have to dig around and see if this odd anomaly has any explanation.

Unknown said...

from The Bum Army - Earl V. Moore, 1912

We very seldom win.
For, We fuss the Ypsi girls,
Ypsilanti maids are fine.
We call most ev'ry night.
Always leave at half past nine, ten, eleven, twelve!
We praise the taking ways,
Dimpled cheeks and wavy curls.
Sssssssssss. Booooom! Ahhhhh.... (Whistle)
Hooray for the Ypsi Girls!

cmadler said...

Be careful making gender assumptions online! :-)

Dusty D said...

jml: Oh, what fun! Dang it; I wish I had known about and included that; it's perfect! That is a fun link as well; I liked looking at the various songs. I've heard the Friars only once in person but they were fantastic.

Dusty D said...

cmadler: Yeah, I wasn't sure, but thought I had remembered some past online convo in which somehow you said you were a she, but my bad.