This Week in Vanderbilt History

This Week
In Vanderbilt History ...

A deeply divided faculty voted 8-7 on Jan. 19, 1912, to allow upperclassmen to discipline disobedient freshmen. A desire to reign in the increasingly rowdy fraternity members was among the reasons leading to this decision. For two years, all freshman were required to wear green hats to signify their lower status, so that they could be punished if found in "a saloon, a gambling house or bawdy house, or [imbibing] at any place." Older students were expected to carry paddles, which were to be used to carry out discipline "within reasonable limits" short of "permanent injury."

Source: Gone With the Ivy by Paul Conkin
-- Meghan Codd

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