The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 49, July 1945 - April, 1946 Page: 59
717 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Baylor University, 1851-1861
school hours, the employment of their time, their associations,
correspondence, finances or progress in study." And mothers
and fathers were told that if they knew "the half that we could
tell them of misspent time, improper associations and extrava-
gant expenditures," they would hesitate to allow their daughters
to live off the campus.30
Extravagance seems to have been the besetting sin of this
generation of Baylor students. No other transgression gave the
faculty greater concern. A section of the catalogue of 1854-1855
was devoted to the subject, and patrons were informed that
the president and faculty made "every effort . . . to prevent
extravagance and induce habits of economy," for, the catalogue
read, "long experience proves clearly that the Student who
spends most learns least." Parents were requested not to "allow
unlimited accounts" to be opened by students in the stores of
Independence, and each student was required "by the laws of
the University to transmit to his parents or guardian a monthly
account of all expenses.""31 But in spite of the efforts of the
faculty, the appeal to parents, and the rules of the university,
there was money (or at least credit) and there were merchants,
and the twain would and did meet. "Needless Expenses" was
the subject of a section of the catalogue of 1857, and it was
admitted that in spite of the institution's attitude "needless
extravagance had occurred." Some parents had allowed sons
to spend money freely, had withdrawn them from Baylor to send
them to other schools, and had "abused" Baylor for their own
"folly." No faculty could control the matter of student expendi-
tures, it was confessed, since the "tastes and habits of parents
vary so widely." Therefore, said the faculty, parents and sons
must accept the "blame and responsibility." Hereafter, no non-
resident male student would be "fully matriculated" until his
parent furnished the president of the university with the name
of the merchant with whom the student was to trade and with
a statement of the amount of money the student might spend.
Parents were urged to conform "rigidly" to this rule. Women
students were not permitted to open accounts with merchants
"except by the express direction of their parents or guardians,"
and even then purchases had to be made "under the direction
3OFifteenth Annual Report of the Female Department of Baylor Uni-
versity, 1859-60, pp. 30-31.
alCatalogue of ... Baylor University for 1854 and '55, p. 14.59
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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/m1/68/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.