{"id":5564,"date":"2011-03-07T15:02:59","date_gmt":"2011-03-07T19:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/?p=5564"},"modified":"2011-03-07T15:04:45","modified_gmt":"2011-03-07T19:04:45","slug":"committees-of-vigilance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/2011\/03\/committees-of-vigilance\/","title":{"rendered":"Committees of Vigilance"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lilia Walsh<\/em><\/p>\n

An earlier article on the ARB blog on a \u201cMick and Mack\u201d cartoon <\/a>in University News <\/em>referenced an intriguing entity: the Committees of Vigilance. These were official school clubs of upperclassmen, whose main purpose was to keep the freshman “in line” and enforce school spirit. They did this by paddling freshman at the start of the New Year, publicly humiliating them, and enforcing rules throughout campus during the year. To the current observer, this seems like school-sponsored hazing, and it was, more or less, though it is clear that this was a different time and a much different campus culture.<\/p>\n

The issue of University News<\/em> in which the \u201cMick and Mack\u201d cartoon is included features no less than three articles on abusing freshman: \u201cPaddling: And Terpsichorean Exhibitions Divert Crowd \u2013 Freshman Come in Contact with the Committee of Vigilance and White Pine,\u201d \u201cFrosh: To Be Inflicted with New Kind of Mental Torture \u2013 Chairman of Committees are Making Elaborate Plans for Trying Erring Youth,\u201d and \u201cVigilantes: Take Inhuman Joy in Prosecuting Ignorant, Helpless Fresh women \u2013 Reception Given Freshman Girls \u2013 Unique Method Used for Getting Acquainted \u2013 Successful Year is Assured.\u201d<\/p>\n

Certainly a disturbing collection, these articles detail the tactics taken by the two “Committees of Vigilance” at UC, one for the male freshman and one for the women. They seem to dramatize, rather than minimize the \u2018torture\u2019 inflicted.<\/p>\n

“Paddling and Terpsichorean Exhibitions” describes the events of the day: \u201cThat very important body known as the Men\u2019s Vigilance Committee has started on its colossal task of suppressing the childish chatter of one of the largest freshman classes in the history of UC.\u201d Largely, this was done in the traditional way: with paddling, \u201cSeveral unruly neophytes came into contact with white pine.\u201d However, some of the treatments were more forgiving: \u201cSome were given an opportunity to torment the dignified onlookers with vocal selections, while others gave classic terpsichorean interpretations.\u201d Terpsichorean refers to dancing, and it seems that freshman were made to dance for the crowd that had gathered to watch.<\/p>\n

The \u201cnew kind of mental torture\u201d in the title of the second article referred to the committee\u2019s plan to employ more public humiliation, and less pinewood paddling with the new class of freshman: \u201cMental agony will be substituted for physical violence.\u201d The article on the women\u2019s committee details the \u2018torture-fest\u2019 the committee staged, but ultimately stresses that the women\u2019s aim was to \u201ceducate the frosh rather than humiliate them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The committees saw their work as a very important part of the high school to college transition, they argued: \u201cThe change from high school to college life is a bigger step than most freshmen realize. We have a real school, and want every freshman to get the proper spirit as quickly as possible.\u201d They continue, stating: \u201cDespite backsets, and reverses, the Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s Vigilance Committees are going strong, and doing a good business\u201d, though they do not explain what those \u2018backsets\u2019 and \u2018reverses\u2019 were.<\/p>\n

Times have certainly changed.\u00a0 Now more that 40 states have anti-hazing laws, though this hardly means that the tradition has disappeared. In February of 2000, the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority at UC was disciplined after complaints about hazing incidents, including forcing their new members to crawl up the steps of a fraternity house.<\/p>\n

\n

One page from the 1919 edition of The Cincinnatian<\/em>, titled “Men\u2019s Trial” depicts a number of hazing traditions, including two men boxing with blindfolds on, paddling, and what appears to be covering the heads of freshman with soap or shaving cream.<\/p>\n

\"Men's<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

<\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n

Additionally, the yearbook features a two page spread for both the Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s Vigilance Committees.<\/p>\n

\"Committees<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Surprisingly, the short article, which accompanies the group photo of the Men\u2019s Vigilance Committee, stresses the unusual mercy and kindness the committee had exhibited this year.<\/p>\n

\"Committees<\/a><\/p>\n

The yearbook also lists Dorothy E. Cone, vice-president of the senior class, as a member of the Vigilance Committee, in addition to \u2018Glee Club\u2019 and \u2018Junior Prom Committee\u2019. Several seniors are shown posing with the Mick and Mack sculptures. The spread for the Women\u2019s Vigilance includes the rules which freshman must follow, including: wearing a green ribbon in your hair on Wednesdays, sitting only at the side tables in dinning areas, \u201creverence your elders \u2013 do not sit at ease while they stand\u201d and \u201cespecially avoid all communication with men in military attire.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Committees<\/a>

Click on image to view larger version<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Women's<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lilia Walsh An earlier article on the ARB blog on a \u201cMick and Mack\u201d cartoon in University News referenced an intriguing entity: the Committees of Vigilance. These were official school clubs of upperclassmen, whose main purpose was to keep … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,13],"tags":[52,66],"class_list":["post-5564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arb","category-uclibraries","tag-uc-history","tag-university-archives"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5564\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}