The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 49, July 1945 - April, 1946 Page: 58
717 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
Texas, and to qualify ... students to become the highest orna-
ments and firmest pillars of this great and growing common-
wealth."26 The period was one of increasing sectional bitterness,
and Baylor, in common with the prevailing Southern opinion,
feared the dangers to the Southern "way of life" from Northern
education. "It is a source of regret," said the catalogue of 1857,
"to see Texians patronizing Northern or distant colleges, where
our youth will imbibe sentiments, habits and tastes antagonistic
or alien to ours."27
When a young man sought admission to Baylor ninety years
ago, he was brought before the faculty, and the "laws" of the
school were "laid down and explained by the President." The
prospective student was told that he must not use profane or
obscene language about the campus, use "ardent spirits" or
visit "drinking houses," carry or keep in his room "pistols, dirks
or any such weapons," gamble, be absent from his room after
9:00 P.M. or "engage in any noctural disorders or revelings,"
interfere in any way with the discipline of the school, or leave
Baylor without the permission of the faculty. If he promised
to observe these rules and to "pursue diligently" the prescribed
course of study, he was admitted "and his name registered."28
Students were required to attend daily religious services in
the college chapel. Baylor claimed with pride, however, that
"nothing peculiarly denominational" was taught, either in these
exercises or in the classrooms, for the university was "strictly
a Literary Institution, where instruction in distinctive religious
tenets can have no place." Boarding students were required to
attend the Sunday services of one of the churches of Inde-
pendence.29
Men students lived in private homes in Independence. There
were dormitories for women, but women students were per-
mitted to reside in private homes. Parents who allowed their
daughters to live off the campus, however, were advised that
they did so at their "own risk and responsibility," for the faculty
assumed none "either in regard to their deportment out of
26Catalogue of ... Baylor University for 1854 and '55, pp. 12-13.
27Fifth Annual Catalogue of the Trustees, Officers, and Students of
Baylor University, 1857, p. 19.
28Minutes of the Board of Trustees, December 17, 1853.
29Seventh Annual Catalogue of the Trustees, Professors and Students
of Baylor University, Male Department, 1858, p. 18; Catalogue of . ..
Baylor University, Female Department . . . 1857, p. 13.58
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 49, July 1945 - April, 1946, periodical, 1946; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146056/m1/67/?rotate=270: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.