During the Woolley period students were able to gradually gain more freedom from the strict rules and regulations that others past had to face. The student body began to have a voice and a role in the decisions that were made about the rules they had to adhere to. A form of democracy was established so that students could always have a voice in decisions of campus life. There was also a switch from self-governance to an honor system during the time of President Woolley. It was a way to demonstrate to students that following the rules was not just something to be honest about but something to have integrity towards.

A Cry for Independence: Mary Woolley holds the record for longest presidential term at Mount Holyoke. She provided higher salaries for faculty as well as expanding the campus grounds with new academic buildings and dormitories. The policies toward student activities were set out by President Mead with the term of self-governance. However, by 1902 the students began to speak up with voices in unison asking for more independence in their affairs on campus and within the residential halls(38).

The Voice of Students: Back in 1898 the Students’ League was established to “supply a positive force which would replace the then abandoned disciplinary restrictions of an earlier day”(39). However the league had no legislative authority and was mainly used as a puppet by the President’s office for the interaction and compliance of students. The league merely followed the faculty regulations regarding “church and chapel attendance, quiet hours, and the lights-out-at-ten-o’clock rule”(40).

With Student Enforcers: To assist the league with authoritative power were “proctors” who “could asses no penalties except their own reproof”(41). However, in 1902 under the presidency of Mary Woolley, the Students League was granted supervision of rules pertaining to absences. The protocol for students who wanted to leave the campus’ grounds had to obtain permission from the house Matron.

Students Gained More Ground: But by 1910, the league had totally jurisdiction over the matter. The Students’ League had also gained further power in 1907 over “the maintenance of quiet and order in the halls of residence, lecture halls, and on the campus, and, in matters not academic, the settlement of all questions concerning the conduct and decorum of students in South Hadley that do not fall under the jurisdiction of the superintendents of the college houses”(42). This was a huge step toward allowing students to truly govern themselves on the college grounds.

The Corrupt Side of Student Governance: However, by 1921 most students on campus viewed the student government as “a machine of repression whose sole function it was to deal out penalties”(43). The ideal of democracy was spreading like wild fire among the student body and revolt was inevitable. Another example of the lack of democracy on campus was “a Students’ Handbook of Faculty Legislation called attention to a long list of rules, laws, and regulations emanating from above about which there could be no quibbling or argument”(44). The campaign of “Rules, Regulations, and Revolution”(45), began and the administration finally sat down with students.

The New Democracy: The college administration and students wrote the constitution for a new organization called The Mount Holyoke College Community(46). This organization consisted of five parts of a “democratic community meeting of all as citizens, with referendum power; an executive council, representing all college organizations; a judicial board; a set of supplementary house committees; a representative legislative assembly; and a conference committee made up faculty and student members, to discuss and settle points of debatable legislation”(47). Finally, students were written into how the college regulated their actions. This was another great victory for students in the way they controlled their non-academic activities.

The Outcomes of the Struggle: Throughout the rest of Woolley’s presidency other student activities issues would arise, whether it was permitting dancing on campus with men, to secret sororities, or even absences from campus grounds. With students firmly in a place to make conscious choices over how they would be ruled gave them more power over their non-academic lives at the college. This movement of democracy on campus was a classic sign of the times that women in the world were becoming gradually more independent. The ground gained from students raising their voices really attributes to their active participation in correcting the system that was not allowing them to truly be the independent women that Mount Holyoke was trying to foster.

The Honor System: With democracy thriving on campus, the idea of self-governance started to take on the shape of an honor system among the students. This is another step in the evolution of regulations toward student activities that is continuing today. Students on campus during the idea and implementation of an honor system would continuously be tested on their integrity and truthfulness. The college surveyed students in 1925 asking questions pertaining to the reliability of the honor system, as well as outsiders who may have thought this too progressive for the times. But under President Woolley it went along with a theme of growing independence in student’s non-academic activities.

Click here to see the similarities and differences between the rules of Mead and Woolley and Lyon and Woolley

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