Did you know there was a full-out student strike on Mississippi State University’s campus 100 years ago?
   According to a 1993 report by Cathryn Goree, a former MSU student, in 1912 a cadet was seen speaking with a female student in the library around noon.  Vice President Magruder took the matter to relatively new President George Hightower, which led to a new order that banned contact between men and women outside of class.
   The cadets responded by skipping classes the next day and even signed a resolution demanding Hightower apologize to the ladies for insulting their honor.  The administration answered by expelling dozens  of students and calling in the governor to help resolve the matter. The women signed a resolution stating they did not object to an order, although several would later recant and claim they signed it only because their fathers made them. The situation settled after about a week, but most women had been transferred out, and the school took a policy that excluded women from future admissions.
  Take a moment and really wrap your mind around this.  On this campus at MSU, such a massive confrontation between students and faculty was all caused by a (possibly) innocent conversation held in daylight at the library.  There was no formal rule against such things.  But then again, this was a century ago, when men went to football games in three-piece suits and women’s suffrage was still seven years off.  So, who was wrong?
   I began to try to answer this by polling a few female students in the Colvard Student Union.  None knew of the strike until I told them, and when asked if the campus administration still owed women some type of apology, about half said yes, while the other half dismissed the idea and said it didn’t matter. Undergraduate student Sarah Margaret Hewes, a senior majoring in history, said, “It is very telling of the time, how they thought. The whole thing was pointless.”
   Naturally, a matter of this sensitivity needs to be addressed from all sides.  President Mark Keenum’s office referred me to chief communications officer Sid Salter on it. He knew of the history, as you’d expect, and when asked if Hightower overreacted, he pointed out that “through the prism of history and hindsight, it is easy to pass judgment on what was obviously backward thinking, which ignored the legitimate rights of women.”
   Salter then pointed out the comprehensive progress made by MSU over the years.  The campus became co-ed again in 1930.  In the ‘60s, President Kennedy’s Commission on the Status of Women led to the formation of the Faculty and Professional Women’s Association, as well as the gender studies program in COAS.  
    “The Keenums are very keenly aware of the important leadership role women play in our modern society,” Salter said.
     I think the administration did overreact to the mid-day scandal, but does the school still owe anyone an apology?  I agree with Salter and the female students I interviewed: there are much more prominent issues that need our attention.  The women I questioned were in the middle of promoting Breast Cancer Awareness.  After a century, and now with the help of the school, the students still protect the honor of women.