Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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91018 STUDENTS- CO-EDS AT CAROLINA AT CAROLIN University of South Carolina VOL. XVII. COLUMBIA, S. C. FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1924 NO. 24 Co-eds Help to Develop S6ciad Side of Life A Senior Expresses Such an Op inion and He Really Knows ATTEND SAME CLASSES When a Carolina Man Goes Out From Here After Four Years' Stay He Generally Knows How to Handle Him self In Case of Need Being a member of the student body at Carolina I wish to express here a few of my opinions concerning co education. In the first place, let me state that I am glad to find that opposition thruout the State to co-education is scarcely to be found-certainly not as it once was. This means that the people are beginning to realize its values and are seeing the situation in its true light. This fact is fur ther evidenced by the tremendous growth of our student body. Within the past few years we have grown by leaps and bounds and next year without a doubt there will be regis tered at Carolina upwards of eleven or twelve hundred students. On our campus today we have about 180 co-eds. In this number we have some of the finest girls to be found in South Carolina, which means in this entire country. The girls at present are staying in town. Next year they will be accommodated at the new dormitory for women. This hall will meet a need which has existed at Carolina for several years, yet it will not accommodate the in creasing number of girls long. Getting back to our subject we wish to remind that at Carolina the boys and girls attend the same classes, receive the same instruction and partake of the advantages offered than which no better are to be found in South Carolina. The boys and girls are together enough to know the characteristics one of the other, therefore, from a social standpoint everything Is for and nothing against co-eds. Some of our co-eds paint and rouge, wear bobbed hair, pull eye brows, etc., but "variety is the spice of life." The boys know the girls and the girls know the boys, or some thing about them at least. They know each other as they are and not as they would be as in the case of extensive use of paint and whitewash, etc. Being together develops the social side of life. When a Carolina man goes out from here after four years' stay he generally knows how to handle himself in case of need. Why is this so noticeable? We are glad to attribute one reason at least to the fact that we have co-education. The very presence of the girls lends a touch of aesthetic appearance and drives out that natural tendency to he like brutes. Social etiquette takes the place of awkwardness and an appreciation for woman's place in' the world results. Some would argue that the presence of girls here attract boys who are less inclined to study than those g'oing elsewhere. We beg to differ with such, however, for there is no finer group of boys to be found at any university or denominational col lege or college otherwise. Again he who will not study certainly can not remain at Carolina long. He must at least study occasionally. There fore, we conclude that if the girls are an attraction at Carolina they THE NEW CO-ED BUILDING This new huilding is situated on the south end of Gibbes Green. It is the first building to appear on the Carolina campus given over entirely to the Co-eds. In tile years past they have had study rooms under the ol( President's building and in the small house on Sumter Street, known as "Melton Hall." The young ladies appreciate the use of these, but the time has arrived when the baby has outgrown even these and needs another. 'hey have at last gotten it.. Two years ago the Legislature appropriated the suni of $50,000, with the promise of an additional suni the following year. The contract was let, the work begun last summer and the building finished this spring. 'Ihe new building has not been named as yet. \Ve would guess tho, that this will be decided by the TPrustees at their next meeting. The ground in front of the building is now being leveled, and will be planted with small plants, flowers, grass and other greens. This picture was taken right after the hail storm of last week, the reason for ihe broken window glasses. This is the first of a series of buildings to be built for the co-eds. Roonis have been provided for one hundred girls. A large hall for meeting purposes is on the first floor. 'The building has been completed but will not be used until next fall. Legislature of 1894 Opened The Doors of - The University of South Carolina to Women Carolina Friend Writes of Movement That Resulted In New Co-educational Building Now Completed on Gibbes Court Miss jessie M. F+raser It is well-known to all that tile educa tion of women at our state university is in its infancy yet. A matter of thirty years in any human development marks only its first stage, and the mere pres ence of women on our campus has clic ited identical comment that any young and hawling child does in any cradle. Its irate uncles have frowned and sworn and prophesied (lire calamity for infint and for tolerant household. Its other nonchalant relatives have contrib uted remarks of polite emptiness on its various features when doting parents have attracted the attention of sich rel atives from their own personal interests. The neighbors have wished the trouble some child (lead often, and even mit aloud have spoken their minds on the subject. And its parents have labored for the poor little thing because they. and only they, were able to see gt great perfected dream beyond the yellings of infant teething and the maladies of early childhood. All of which is by way of saying that we have only reached the stage of catching our breath in the struggle to provide shelter for this ini fant, and so may write down a few of tile facts that somic day must be writ ten in full by the ihistorian of the Uni versity. The Legislature in 1894 opened the doors of the University of South Caro lina to women. To be more explicit, we might say that the Legislature in that year unlocked the back door, for no in vitatioins to enter were issued to the women of the state, and no officer of the state stood at this "open door" to wel come women seeking university atmos phere and training, nor was there any hand to guide them to their right ful place Oil the campus of their fathers, Hut they came in small ntumbers, the cour ageous pioneers. They crept in, and for more than twenty years they were wil liing to be. and were called "co-eds" inl a mati's College. Then came the sound of drums and iarching cet, an( the worldN was bathed inl a sea Of sacrificial btood . . which always clears the vision of humanity. With tie opening of the World War, Iniiv more woImeni caime to the Univer sity to get the training of men to take tlt places of those men made vacant inl the world of daily necessity, to take ad vantage too, of the courses that tle Uiiiversity imimediately offered in the alibilance and im4tor corps efficiency. and to atteid Red Cross courses to which service old Harper College was dedicated for the (iration of the war. The dormitory vacaicie- caused by the war-time service of faculty members and meli students had lade it possible and advisable for the University to take advaltage of this demand and ' to dpenl DeSaussure to women as a campus dormitory. This provision it was well known, could only last dur ing the war years, but it diaturally led to the call for a Woman's Building. The state-wide movement for a woman's building at Carolina is a story in itsel f, and written by destiny's sure hand, it is oie Of those slow chapters of a world in post-war reconstruction. It stands as the marker of a red-letter day ill South Carolina's history when the real heart of the University was opened to the women of the state, and this story be giiis il tie fall of 1919. The nineteenth amelllmnt to the fed eral constitution was not ratified when the movemient started which was to cil initate inl our Woman's tilding. In fact many men and women who first worked for the Woman's Building were avowed opponents of womenl becoming voters, either by state or federal action. Alld so. while the coning of woIIman silf frage ido(btedly gave effcctive illlet Is () this movivvmectt for the corni frt oi .1tur women in the later years oif its pro gress, it must he cceded that the uig inators of the Voian's Buildig "drivc" were stinitlated purely by their high smiled ambitioi for a richer university resource by which South- Cariditas W4Miaihood might be ilore fullyI de. velope41 fir service i al lihis o f hi1i inanl life. It is t o tile h loor of the Ahinin.c A. s ociatiitn of the Univcrsity that the first steps were t ak en ill this im porta it directiti. It the early fall (if 1910, the Altimnac Assticiatito applied fo,r mein her.ship ini the ;-tuth Carolina IeIerak tion of Vomien's Chlbs, the most power fil body of organized women in the state, and from the same meeting at which the resoltution tor federation was adopted. a committee Went to the pres ident's ofice to ask for the appoint moit of a committee to promote ant or ganized Intovenent to secure a htbiilding fo r uir women students through legis lative appropriationl. At the May (1920) meeting of the South Carolina Federation of Women', Clubs. held ini Rock Hill, the resolution endorsing the state-wide moveient was carried by the resolutions committee to the iltotr of (lie federation. It passed vitholit a disseiting vote, requesting on1 the part of the Federation for tlie wel fare of the state that the Iegislatire should appropriate $250,00).O() for a Woman's 1uihlding on or near tile Cam pus of the University, for tie accoio dation of its women students. That was indeed a "challenge of peace." Immed iately champions adl( opponents line( up for battle. (Continued to Page Six') Co-eds- Are Eligible For All Degrees University Makes No Discrimi nation Against Women Students .-. . FIFTY HOLD M. A.'S Ample Opportunity Given For Research Work in Many Fields-Graduates Have High Standing The University of South Carolina is a coeducational institution where no dis crimination is made against the women students as they are eligible for all the degrees and honors conferred ly the faculty and the student body. At pres ent wonien may work for aid receive the following degrees A. B., B. S., C. E., A. M., LL.B., and hll. D. This means that to women students the op portunity is given for expert training in the arts and scieices, the school of commerce, the law school, the schools of education and journalism, the school of civil engineering and the pre-medical course. Ample opportunity is given for research work in many fields and more thai fifty women have been granted the Master's degree since 1903. This year several fellowships are held by women graduate students and some women are earning part of their expenses while pursuing courses at the University. Gradtiates of the institution are eligible for niembership in the American Asso ciation of University Women, an organ ization <levoted to the wtork of securing for women increased opportut'ities for higher editcation. As a protectili to the out of townl students they arc required to live in boardiig h1(iluses approved by the Dean of the University. h'lle erectimn. at a C(Ist of $100,000. of the w"Ianl's buil( ing will priotvide dormitory space for 100 students. It tiis buildin-, will reside a matron a.Id a Dealn of \\.vmen. who he sidts serving as an ilviser 1f tile wo mien will be a regular timber of the faculty, teaching several cla.s in lg lish. Day pupils have access to Melton Tall. a residencc which i set aside foi the social litcrarv and religi'lius activ ities of the woimen Ntdilnt .\ matrn lives i"I tis buihdling. The health of tile students is safe. guar ded bY anuial icdiica I examina tions, bY phIIysic.il <t'(lcatiolin couirses given v XI iss Sara Gwdhlu. and lby courses offered by I )r. Sciayetr :ml I) r. Guig Ilard. The infirmary. under the direct supervision iof Dr. 1. .1. \Vats(t, Is in charge of Mrs. Addie Maddenl. The gyIImInasittm is set aside for women o i alternate days of ie week so that they have equal facilities witi the men for physical education. Tlenlis cirts pro vide an attractive fiorImi of outdoor ex ercise. Adequate provision for the social life (if the studeits is nade tltt the V. i. C. A., the V. \V. C. A., and the crgat ization of Faculty \Vives. A series of teas, open to Iimenl and w\omiiei, was most success fully' carried out (luring the past winter by the Y. M. C.iA.ian the Fac tilty wvives. in additioni to the large ie cept ions given bly Pres.ident andt MIrs. Meclton,i many niembiers oif thie faucuilty enitertamit smnail groups duintg thie year. While it wvill lie the (ificial pleastire ofi the D)eani (if Womeni to advise the womiieni studteiits, there is a helpful feel ing of cooiperationi cn the camipus which causes the studeneuts to feel free to dhis cuss with their various professors anty probilems wvhich may arise ini conniect ion with their studies. Women studtenits (d0 good work at the Uiiiversity, frequenitly leading their classes but never losing sight of (lie fact that iiental ability has beeni given to both sexes. Solving the samie problems in the class room, corn petinig wvith the mn for the honors he (Contined t age, Si-)