By By Matt Ern, Staff Writer
The books were issued by an organization called Gold Key that was made up of outstanding students appointed by faculty and was designed to assist the student council. The handbooks make for very interesting reads, and some of what was or wasn’t allowed on campus may surprise you.
Regulations have changed quite a bit over the years since the handbooks were written, as can be expected. But some of what happened on campus back in the day can be a bit shocking. For instance, the 1950 handbook states that “sunbathing is prohibited on campus,” but smoking was allowed almost everywhere.
Students could smoke in all classrooms and laboratories, dining areas and lounges in Memorial Hall, as well as in the hallways of Mason, Brower, Barnard and Heger halls, just to name a few locations. The list goes on and on.
Card playing was only allowed in designated areas and only at certain times, although gambling of any form was not tolerated. “Appropriate” dress was required at all times, and students were encouraged to “refrain from walking on the main quadrangle and in fact on any of the lawns and malls of the college.” If only the authors of these handbooks in Gold Key could see all the sunbathing that goes on out on the quads every spring.
Another interesting thing prohibited back in the day was “campus raiding,” which is exactly what it sounds like. Hofstra students were forbidden to “raid” and pull pranks on other campuses, “in the interest of the personal safety of the individuals involved and in Hofstra’s policy of friendly inter-collegiate relationships”. The fact that this was a real problem is pretty amazing. Stealing a rival school’s mascot was not something that only happened in the movies.
Flipping through the handbooks’ list of clubs and organizations lead to the discovery of something called the Kate Mason Society. The society was named after Kate Mason Hofstra, and all women of Hofstra automatically became members. It was responsible for organizing events on campus. It’s interesting to think that a certain group, such as female students, could be singled out and put automatically into a specific organization.
One of the most interesting discoveries made using the handbooks is that hazing was not only condoned in those days, but the university supported it and played an active role. Freshmen were required to wear beanies, which could be obtained in the College Bookstore during the designated hazing period. Besides selling the beanies during orientation, the school outlined a list of requirements for freshman being hazed in the handbooks.
The first rule listed is that all freshmen must carry a copy of the handbook and have its contents memorized. They would then have to answer questions pertaining to the information in the handbooks from anyone that quizzed them. If they were found without a copy of the handbook, they were to be sent automatically to something referred to as “Freshman Court”.
The list goes on and on, with some rules seeming more logical than others, such as being required to memorize fight songs and school cheers. The freshmen were also mandated to attend pep rallies and other school events, which seem like good ways to introduce them to the community and build school spirit. But most of the other regulations seem arbitrary and designed to belittle new students without rhyme or reason.
They were required to wear signs bearing their name in block letters, had to carry matches and a pencil at all times, were restricted from walking along certain paths and using designated entrances to halls such as Memorial, as well as being expected to “carry out all reasonable requests of upperclassmen.” This seems like the kind of rule that has exactly enough room for interpretation to get the freshman into trouble while the university can turn a blind eye.
Demerits also existed in those days and could be doled out at the discretion of the upperclassmen. Demerits given to a freshman during hazing were added up and used to determine the, “severity of the penalty which [would] be imposed upon the freshmen at Freshman Court”.
It’s safe to say students at Hofstra had a very different college experience in the 50s than we do today. Despite the strict restrictions on dress and sunbathing, students could smoke and haze each other as they pleased, and the speed limit on campus was a whopping 15 mph.