Women's Smoking and Dress Code Policies

Double standards in the regulation of student conduct at Concordia College placed the liberties of women below those of men.  Dress codes and smoking policies in particular explicitly treated female students differently than male students.  A combination of student action as well as changing social views brought an end to these sexist differences in regulation over the course of the 1960s and 1970s.

The area of dress code policy in which sexism was the most obvious involved men and women wearing the same article of clothing:  slacks.  Initially, neither men nor women could wear slacks (untailored, casual garments) in class or the library.  Slacks were considered too informal compared to proper trousers, or dress pants, for men and skirts for women.  In the 1940s and 1950s, there was some controversy at Concordia about how women should dress in general.  A 1942 survey by the Concordian displayed the differing sentiments Cobbers had about women wearing slacks at all, even outside of class.  Most respondents agreed that slacks were acceptable in athletics, but the classroom was a different matter.  One respondent was fine with women wearing slacks but warned that women wearing trousers would be the "last straw."  Another said he would start wearing skirts if women wore slacks. [1]

 By 1959, the student handbook changed to allow male students to wear slacks to class and in the library.  However, women were still prohibited from wearing slacks in these locations. The proper apparel of students was a concern to both campus administration and faculty.  Professors could deny students entry to class if they arrived in an inappropriate outfit. [2] Then college president Joseph Knutson wrote in a newsletter that, while not constituting gross misbehavior, he was bothered by girls who did not wear Sunday hats to church.  In 1962, the student senate submitted a proposal to allow female students to wear slacks to class on cold days.  The administration refused the proposal on the grounds that it would damage the image of the college.  The 1964 student handbook included a revised dress code which reiterated that slacks were only acceptable for males.  According to this handbook, women could wear slacks in the library on Saturdays, and casual clothing could be worn by anyone in the Normandy building.  A "blacklist" of prohibited attire remained, including “[hair] rollers, short shorts, and bare feet.” [3]

Social views on what women could wear were changing in the sixties.  Other Lutheran institutions, such as St. Olaf College, began abolishing their dress codes. [4]  Concordia revised its dress code in 1969.  The new policy stated that instructors could determine appropriate attire for their classrooms. Students were expected to dress well for occasions such as concerts and Sunday dinners. [5] By the 1970-1971 school year, the only mention of a dress code in the handbook stated that it was "under review by the Student Affairs Committee." [6] Since the autumn of 1972, all references to a dress code were dropped from Concordia's student handbooks. [7]

The history of smoking regulation at Concordia followed a somewhat different path.  Smoking was banned for both sexes starting in 1912. [8] Perhaps influenced by social norms during WWII, the college's policy changed  in 1943 to allow men to smoke. [9] Employing a policy of in loco parentis, college administrators assumed a paternalistic attitude about women smoking.  They believed they were protecting women, and their images, with a ban on smoking. [10] A 1945 list of rules given to female students stated that, "[A Concordia girl] will not dance, drink, or smoke, not because she knows that her first offense will result in suspension and her second offense in expulsion, but because she believes she should abstain from 'all appearance of evil.'" [11] However, smoking, even by women, was increasing in popularity.  By 1960 smoking rates for Americans over the age of 15 reached 58% of men and 36% of women. [12]

Many Concordia students opposed the smoking rules because they included a double standard.  In a 1968 article Concordian news editor Wendy Ward argued for a change in the smoking policy.  She noted that it was a double standard for the administration to apparently be concerned about the health of only female students. Despite the administration’s policies, women did smoke, often doing so in secret or off campus. Ward argued that smoking “should be the personal choice of the individual.” [13] At similar institutions, such as Luther College, women were also smoking in undisclosed locations. [14]

On the night of October 31, 1968, Concordia students and outside sympathizers marched through campus to protest College policies.  Among their demands were less restrictive dorm hours for women and the right for women to smoke. [15] The demonstration had the desired effect, though it was not until 1970 that women gained the right to smoke at Concordia.  It may have been that the administrators saw the protest of five hundred or so people as being worse for the College's image than allowing women to smoke on campus. [16] The text regarding smoking in the 1970-1971 student handbook was more egalitarian, and reflected the growing knowledge of the adverse health effects of smoking.  The new policy read, "The college strongly discourages all students from smoking because of the evidenced health hazard." [17] In the following decades, Concordia restricted smoking for all.  In 2003, smoking was banned from residence halls.  Since 2014, the use of any tobacco product on campus is prohibited. [18]

Author: Hans Frank

Footnotes
[1] "Rules and Regulations," 1945, Women's Movement, Topical Files Collection, Concordia College Archives and Anne Haugrud, "'To Wear 'em Or Not To Wear 'em': Reporter Finds Many Conflicting Opinions On Slacks' Wearing," Concordian (Moorhead, MN), Dec. 17, 1942, 6.
[2] 1959-1960 Student Handbook (Moorhead: Concordia College, 1959), 18 and 1960-1961 Student Handbook (Moorhead: Concordia College, 1960), 6.
[3] Joseph Knutson, "Hats For Church," Dress Code, Topical Files Collection, Concordia College Archives; Carroll Engelhardt, On Firm Foundation Grounded: The First Century of Concordia College (1891-1991) (Moorhead, MN: Concordia College, 1991), 229; 1964-1965 Student Handbook (Moorhead: Concordia College, 1964), 8.
[4] Joseph M. Shaw, History of St. Olaf College: 1874-1974 (Northfield: St. Olaf College Press, 1974), 569.
[5] 1969-1970 Student Handbook (Moorhead: Concordia College, 1969), 42.
[6] 1970-1971 Student Handbook (Moorhead: Concordia College, 1970), 32.
[7] 1972-1973 Student Handbook (Moorhead: Concordia College, 1972).
[8] Carroll Engelhardt, On Firm Foundation Grounded: The First Century of Concordia College (1891-1991) (Moorhead, MN: Concordia College, 1991), 63.
[9] "Concordia's Smoking Policy," 1991, Smoking Policy at Concordia, Topical Files Collection, Concordia College Archives.
[10] Leigh D. Jordahl and Harris E. Kaasa, Stability and Change: Luther College in its Second Century (Decorah: Luther College Press, 1986), 180.
[11] "A Concordia Girl," 1945, Women's Movement, Topical Files Collection, Concordia College Archives.
[12] Kerry Segrave, Women and Smoking in America, 1880-1950 (Jefferson: McFarland & Company, 2005), 166. 
[13] Wendy Ward, "On Women's Right to Smoke," Concordian (Moorhead, MN), January 12, 1968, 6.
[14] Leigh D. Jordahl and Harris E. Kaasa, Stability and Change: Luther College in Its Second Century (Decorah: Luther College Press, 1986), 174.
[15] Nancy Edmonds, "Concordia Coeds March For Equal Social Rights," Fargo Forum (Fargo, ND), November 1, 1968.
[16] Roger Gruss, "Concordia Coeds Stage Protest," APEX. November 5, 1968, Women's Movement, Topical Files Collection, Concordia College Archives.
[17] 1970-1971 Student Handbook (Moorhead: Concordia College, 1970), 148.
[18] "Reminder Tobacco-Free Campus," August 18, 2014, Smoking Policy at Concordia College, Topical Files Collection, Concordia College Archives.