Beginning in 1930, Appalachian State Teachers College (now Appalachian State University) published a “Students Information Book” containing rules and guidelines for conduct and dress for women attending the university. A version of this handbook was published through the 1990s. Though in the 1970s it shifted into more of a guidebook for students about academics, university services, and student activities rather than the more strict conduct rules that were in place through the 1960s. Looking at these student handbooks from the not so distant past can provide insight into what college life was once like for women and how it has evolved over the years. 

Holding strong religious convictions and coming into a Boone that is very different from the one we know today, with families that could be hesitant to send women off for higher education, founders D.D. Dougherty and B.B. Dougherty felt it necessary to put these restrictions in place to accomplish their goals of educating and providing teacher training. Though concerns over the protection of women and monitoring of their behavior was far from unique to App State at this time. 

When women’s dorms were being constructed in the 1930s, the layout was even intentionally designed differently from the men’s dorms in some cases to have a larger courtyard and fewer points of entry and long corridors, with the idea that women needed increased protection and surveillance. Like at App State, it was also typical for women to not be allowed to go inside the men’s dorms and dates were meant to be chaperoned and held inside the parlor in the women’s dorm.