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Considering the Past: Topics in M.C. History

An ongoing research project

Social Dancing on Campus

Meredith College was founded by the NC Baptist Convention, and the school’s policies, as established by the Board of Trustees, aligned with the Convention’s attitudes and beliefs. Regarding social dancing, the 1937 North Carolina Baptist State Convention issued a report that opined, “We disapprove and condemn modern dance as a means of social amusement. We recognize that it is demoralizing and that it tends toward immorality.” Ultimately, the NC Baptist Convention left had final policies to the individual schools. So on the Meredith College campus, while interpretive dancing, exhibition dancing, square dancing or folk dancing was acceptable, coupled social dancing (with male partners) did not exist. Eventually, students were able to travel to other venues to dance, albeit with curfews in place.
 
When under a different cultural era the issue of allowing dances on campus arose in 1957, a student editorial in The Twig noted that the arguments against dancing on campus had been based on the Convention’s disapproval – and the Convention provided much of the college’s financial backing. But there was also the concern by officials that the school’s social life would become centered on dancing – and thereby excluding the students who did not dance. The writer’s rather cynical retort was that Meredith College did not HAVE a social life, and certainly not one that might include dates – and so the students went elsewhere.

In early 1957, the Board of Trustees, in response to a request by students, and following the action of the Board of Wake Forest College, lifted the bans on social dancing on campus. This allowed Meredith students the opportunity for “informal and unorganized dancing” in “the Hut” – a casual gathering place for students and their dates – and, for the first time, a dance as part of the annual Junior-Senior Banquet.  On April 13, the dining hall was transformed into a “Spring Fantasy” with blue streamers and white picket fences decorated with roses and ivy. According to the TWIG, Meredith had “taken a huge step forward.”

Then in the fall that same year, prior to the meeting of the Baptist State Convention, the Board of Trustees at both Wake Forest and Meredith agreed to suspend campus dances as a compromise until the Convention could update or confirm their 1937 opinion. On November 20th, with a contingent of Meredith college students looking on, the Convention voted to reaffirm the 1937 condemnation of dancing as a form of entertainment. Furthermore, delegates to the convention, (referred to a “messengers”) approved the appointment of a committee to look into “attitudes, activities or organizations” that “might be hindering the development of a generally spiritual atmosphere” on Baptist college campuses. 

And with that, social dancing on the Meredith College campus disappears for several years. While no direct mention is made of the convention’s decision in the Twig, brief asides appear in passing. Students had apparently decided to bow to the inevitable: the Sophomore Dances and the Junior-Senior Dances continued, but now were held at various off-campus venues. And according to a 1976 article in The Twig recounting this recent history and quoting the handbook, students in 1964-65 were allowed to attend dances within a 35 mile range, but only from "approved organizations or institutions" and not those admitting the "general public."

The restriction on dancing on campus was removed from the handbook in 1969-70. 
 

Social Dancing on Campus

In January 1957, this Twig editorial asked, "Is Meredith College Ready for Dancing?" The consensus among students seemed to be that it was.

In January 1957, this Twig editorial asked,

In this December 1957 editorial, "It's Our Move," that appeared in the Twig, the writer expresses concern that the publicity regarding dancing on Bapist campuses and the larger issue of trustee control had shed negative light on their denomination, and by extension, the college. She suggests that students returning to their homes for the holiday break remind their communities of the integrity of the campus and of their trust in the trustees. 

A photograph of the dining hall decorated according to the theme, "Spring Fantasy," complete with blue streamers and rose-covered picket fences.

A photograph of the dining hall transformed for the dance. 

Despite, or perhaps of the controversy, the April Junior-Senior dance was deemed a success with the transformation of the dining hall, the help of the little sister class, the music of the Duke Ambassadors - and with a blessing of President Carlyle Campbell. 

An article in the Twig recounting  the success of the dance, accompanied by a photograph of students  getting ready.