Editorial

Back to Table of Contents | Back to Main Index Previous Editorials | Send mail to The Voice Look beyond the rules Students at Multnomah waste too much time complaining about the school's rules and engaging in pity parties over the institution's restrictions. Over the years, Multnomah has relaxed more rules and regulations than most students realize. Last year, wedding invitations crowded the engagement board; students in Memorial dorm stopped counting the number of times women announced engagements by stampeding through Memorial's halls while banging pots. The 1940-1941 student handbook prohibited residents from banging pots in the halls. The issue must have rarely come up, however, because students could only "participate in pleasures held in public places" twice a month -- and only with faculty permission and a chaperone. First-year students weren't allowed to date at all. And if students somehow navigated these rules and found "the one," they needed the board of administration's approval before they bought an engagement ring or walked the aisle. Some students balk at Multnomah's requirements, and yet they don't know the meaning of structure until they consider a typical day in 1940: Students had to get up by 6:30 a.m., prepare their dorm room for an inspection at 8:30, fulfill an hour of volunteer work to maintain the campus, attend classes and meals, return to their rooms by 7:30 p.m. and turn out their lights at 10:30. Knowing the rules and regulations of yesterday will not convince students to love today's rules. However, reviewing the past rules may cause students to realize they can survive living under the current rules after all. Moreover, they can obey the rules and enjoy life. Back to Table of Contents | Back to Main Index Previous Editorials | Top Of Page Send mail to The Voice| Journalism department website © 2002 The Voice. No part of this publication may be reproduced in written or electronic form without prior written consent from the journalism adviser of Multnomah Bible College. All rights reserved.