Curfews, 'Star Trek', and Bonding

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Posted on January 8, 2026 by Alumni

Alumni

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Former Residents Recall South's First Dorms.

Half of South’s 1966-vintage first dormitory complex, Alpha Hall East and South, made way for the new Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine. A USA Center for Archaeological Studies report on the dorm’s history includes some fascinating reminiscences.

 

Women, but not, Men, Originally Had a Curfew.

Women initially had to be in the dorm by 7 p.m. The deadline was later extended to midnight on weekdays and 1:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. The curfew “was broadly unpopular.” Enforcement seems to have been “less than stringent.” By 1982, the curfew had disappeared.

Students Shared Bathroom/ Shower Spaces (One per Hallway) and pay phones (one per wing).

The first floor of each building had a common area with a television. “If it was ‘Star Trek’ night,” remembered one former resident, “you had to be really quiet if you were going out, entering or leaving. You constantly heard people saying, ‘Shh!’”

Former Residents Recalled a Sense of Community.

One man said that despite — or because of — the small, utilitarian two-person rooms, “We would play practical jokes on each other in the dorms, and we got to know each other pretty well.” A woman fondly described her first day of college life: “I remember getting shown to my room, which was like a prison cell now that I look back on it! But to me, I thought I was in paradise.”

Listen to Audio of some of Alpha Hall’s early residents in a report by the USA Center for Archaeological Studies.

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