Introduction by John Alex Bird ’16
In the spring 1976 edition of The Mulberry Tree Papers, a small feature in the magazine’s alumni notes highlighted what life was like at St. Mary’s College in the mid-1960s. Written by alumna Phyllis Shue ’65, the article was titled “What Student Life Was Like Here Eleven Years Ago.” Shue’s personal recollection is an account of the immense change that occurred at the college in the ’60s: the transition from an all-female junior college to a four-year co-ed institution.
Campus life spilled across Route 5 into Queen Anne and Dorchester Halls, curfews were abolished and the college took on the feel of a full-fledged four-year collegiate institution. Despite these dramatic shifts in school culture and landscape, there is still something familiar about Shue’s St. Mary’s. Her article is a glimpse into the final days of the old St. Mary’s that not only tells us how far we’ve come, but how much has stayed the same.
“What Life Was Like Here Eleven Years Ago”
By Phyllis Shue ’65
If you were a St. Mary’s College student in 1965 you began your year struggling with luggage up dormitory stairs. The only dorm on campus was what are now classroom and administrative offices, Calvert Hall. And the only residents were female. Mrs. Tredwell, the house mother, met the young ladies as they arrived. There were no resident directors and wing assistants.
The cafeteria was in the basement, only it was a ‘dining hall’ then. The student at the two-year seminary junior college went to her assigned table and was waited upon.
The student body was fewer than 500, with 75 percent living on campus. The male students were commuters and each day everyone met in what is now Anne Arundel Hall, which housed the library, classrooms and bookstore.
Before starting classes, the students registered in the gymnasium, much like today’s students. But the gym was Kent Hall. St. Mary’s offered an associate of the arts degree in fields such as art, home economics, business administration, marine biology, theatre arts, music, elementary education, and physical education. Sailing was a big thing then as it is now.
Kent Hall was more than a gym, however. It housed the recreation room where the students watched television, shot pool or played cards. There was also a smoking room, since smoking was not allowed in the dorm or the classroom, and a snack bar, consisting of food vending machines.
In 1965, a student didn’t stop her hunger pains by zipping into Lexington Park at night for a snack, so the vending machines did a good business. First of all, the resident wasn’t allowed to have a car and, secondly, the rules stated she had to be in her room by 11 p.m. weekdays and 12 p.m. weekends. So, much of the leisure time was spent in Kent Hall.
The school provided a bus that made one round trip into town each Saturday. It was primarily for the ladies to secure personal necessities. St. Mary’s Hall was an auditorium then, as now. It was primarily for drama and modern dance. There were no movies and very few social dances; so many students went home weekends. There was no infirmary. The nurse was located on the first floor of the dorm. The students also signed in and out on the first floor as well as met their dates there, since dates weren’t allowed past the lobby.
You’ve come a long way, too, St. Mary’s College!