6 Cardinal Sins

July 1, 2016

Reading time min

Cardinal Sins - skateboarding

Skateboarding

These days Stanford is dotted with handy racks for locking up skateboards, but in the early 1990s, the school cracked down on all sidewalk surfing. President Donald Kennedy regretted the cost to those simply gliding to class but said an avalanche of complaints about noise, damage to property, and risk to life and limb had made a ban “one of the easiest decisions we ever made.” 

Cardinal Sins - smoking on quad

Smoking on the Quad 

For much of Stanford’s early history, until the 1930s, men could light up wherever they liked, even during exams. But there was one haven from foul air—the Inner Quad, which was protected by an unwritten but widely observed rule. “Stories are told of distinguished visitors who unwittingly disregarded this custom and had cigars removed from their mouths by students,” the Daily Palo Alto wrote in 1918.

Cardinal Sins - smoking while female

Smoking While Female

Women, meanwhile, had their lungs protected by double standards, which were copious in the first half of the 20th century. In 1927, the Daily published the “Women’s Regulations of Stanford University,” sternly reminding female students not to smoke in public places on campus or in Palo Alto. In 1931, it was further ruled that women should not smoke at football games.

Cardinal Sins - rushing

Rushing While Female

When Stanford President Donald Tresidder announced in 1944 to a packed auditorium of women that sororities were to be abolished, he was greeted by a standing ovation and a spontaneous rendition of the Stanford hymn. Their joy was in part rooted in a demographic crunch—a big increase in female enrollment in the ’30s had not been matched by an increase in sororities, making rushing a highly competitive process, and leading to charges of elitism and exclusion. Stanford would not recognize a sorority again until 1981. 

Cardinal Sins - shaving

Evening Shaves

The advent of electric razors in the 1930s led to some questionable hygienic decisions. The Daily ran a story of one student interrupting his work on the bubonic plague to whip out a razor in the lab to prepare for an evening date. The gadget’s popularity led to a clash with another key technology of the day —the radio. In 1937, freshmen banned the use of electric razors after 7 p.m. so as not to interfere with their wireless entertainment.

Cardinal Sins - football

Football, American-style

Alarmed by rising professionalism in college football, as well as deadly levels of violence, both Stanford and the University of California abolished the sport after the 1905 season and replaced it with rugby, an English import thought to be purer and less brutal. “Without opportunity for defense, the American game was sentenced, executed and thrust into its grave,” the Daily lamented. Other West Coast schools—including Nevada, USC and Santa Clara—followed suit, but the rest of the nation simply shrugged. Football returned to Stanford in 1919.

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