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Magill’s 100 Rules: East Wing

Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.

This is part 7 in a 9 part series on Magill’s rules.

Swarthmore College has a long and deep history. Daily, we are reminded of this in small ways: by the names and dates on memorial plaques; the wear and architecture of buildings; the stature and grandeur of trees, and so much more. At The Daily Gazette, we aim to be a forum for relevant news and discourse. No less important though, is our role (and the role of all campus publications) in preserving institutional memory. In that spirit, we present to you the part 7 in the series “Magill’s 100 Rules,” courtesy of the sesquicentennial website.

East Wing
  1. Students should at all times move quietly about the house. An exercise room in the basement is provided. No promenading or running on the halls is permitted.
  2. Students will not be permitted to paint in their rooms, but may use the drawing room for that purpose.
  3. Students having eatables in the rooms are requested to keep them in locked boxes provided by themselves for that purpose.
  4. No cooking or cooking utensils of any kind will be permitted in the rooms.
  5. Students should at all times have their rooms neatly arranged; beds must not be made before breakfast, but immediately after, unless the nurse gives permission to make them at recess.
  6. No nails can be driven into walls or woodwork except in the strips provided for the purpose. On account of danger of fire, no curtains or other hangings are permitted in any of the rooms. Nothing should be thrown from the windows or placed in the gutters on the roof. Papers, etc., should be placed in the waste boxes.
  7. Bathing may begin at 6 a.m. No bathing is permitted during study hours, nor after evening collection.
  8. At the close of evening collection students are required to go directly to their rooms by the iron staircase, unless permission be granted by the Matron to go to the nursery. Students must obtain permission to visit from the teacher in charge of their hall.
  9. Students of the Preparatory School must have their lights out and be in bed by 9 p.m., after which no loud conversation is permitted.
  10. Students must not go the study room before breakfast, but may go to the girls’ parlor.
  11. Students must not go downstairs for water after evening collection.
  12. Students must take an hour’s exercise daily in the open air during the 9th, 10th, 4th, 5th, and 6th months; during the remaining months one-half hour’s exercise is required, and they will report to the Matron on Fourth days.
  13. Clothes are to be ready for wash on Seventh day by 3 o’clock, and placed by the elevators. Sixteen pieces are allowed. No white dresses nor light chintz dresses will be washed in the College laundry from 9th month 30th to 4th month 30th inclusive. No white skirts will be washed from the last of 9th month to the last of 4th month inclusive. Extra washing is charged for at the rate of 75 cents per dozen.
  14. The housekeeper will not give food to students except [if] they bring a note from the Matron requesting that they shall give it. No cooking is to be done in the rooms.
  15. Earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and bright sashes are forbidden.
  16. Except sisters, members of the Preparatory School will not be permitted to room with College students.
  17. Rooms chosen at the close of the year by students who do not return will be filled by new students or others at the discretion of the person in charge of the chambers. The choice of a room confers no right to transmit it to another student.
  18. When students are more than two days late in returning after the summer vacation, and have given no notice of the cause of their lateness, their rooms may be assigned by those in charge of the chambers.

Featured image courtesy of swarthmore.edu.

Edward Magill

As a young man, Edward Hicks Magill joined Swarthmore's faculty when it opened in 1869 and continued to hold teaching positions while president, including professor of mental and moral philosophy.

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