Student Life (1820s)
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Student Life: 1820s
"The schedule of fees to be paid, in the light of present costs, seems unbelievably modest. There was a $10 fee for admission, a fee of $30 for the first session, and $20 for the second session. All students were required to board in unless special permission was given by the Superintending Committee. The charges were $10 in advance for board, washing, fuel, and candles, and $5 every third Wednesday, with balance due, if any, at the end of the session. An estimate by the steward, submitted to the Board, fixed the cost of food per student on the basis of the West Point bill of fare, at something less than 25 cents per day. Each student was supplied with bed and bedding at $3 for the first session and $2 for the second; room and furniture, $5 for the first session and $3 for the second. The library fee was $1 per term. For the steward's salary, $2 was charged for the first session and $1 for the second, and a like charge was made for servants' hire. For personal laundry the charge was 37.5 cents per dozen pieces. Detailed regulations governing the conduct of students were laid down."
"At the beginning of every term, each student was required publicly, immediately after morning or evening prayers, to sign a declaration that he had read the laws of the College and solemnly promised to obey them under 'the penalty of private admonition, public admonition, suspension, or expulsion." Students were required to attend 'punctually and respectfully' morning and evening prayers, all other services directed by the president or faculty, and public worship on the Lord's Day in the College Hall or in an approved congregation. A record of attendance was kept in the Merit Book. On the Sabbath, students could not leave the College premises or use any musical instrument."
"Honorable and gentlemanly deportment was to be maintained in all respects. Association with vicious company or with a person suspended or expelled from the College, playing with dice or at cards, billiards, backgammon ('or any such games'), contention, falsehood, intemperance, injustice, profaneness, immodesty, uncleanness, or any kind of immorality would be punished. Students could not throw stones or anything else within a hundred yards of any building."
"Students were not permitted to keep a servant, firearms or any other deadly weapon, gunpowder, or horses or dogs. No student could be absent from his room after nine o'clock from October 1 to March 1, or after ten during the remainder of the year, 'at which hours the doors shall be closed'. They were admonished to pay strict attention to cleanliness in their persons and in their rooms, not to spit on the floor or drive nails in any part of the building. They were required to wash themselves and clean their shoes in the place appointed for the purpose, and they were not to throw water or anything else from the windows."
"Students were not permitted, in or near any building, to smoke a pipe or Cigar. Likewise, students were not allowed to keep any ardent spirits or intoxicating liquors of any kind, unless prescribed as medicine."
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Author or Source: Bricks Without Straw, Elmer Louis Kayser
Document Location: University Archives
Date Added to Encyclopedia: December 21, 2006
Prepared by: G. David Anderson, University Archivist and Historian
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