NORTHWESTERN STORY—DECORUM

NORTHWESTERN STORY—DECORUM. Kids, when I was at Northwestern over forty years ago, it was a dry campus in a dry town. Women were permitted to wear slacks only on very cold days. Willard Hall was a women’s dorm named after Frances Willard, who was known as an important figure in the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). When we were at Northwestern, my brother Elmer became curious about Frances Willard, who was often mentioned in connection with Northwestern history and with the temperance movement, and he read up on her. Willard left the university in 1874 over differences of opinion between her and University President Charles Fowler on her authority over Northwestern’s female students. Apparently the dispute was over whether women students would be allowed to walk with men after midweek chapel. Willard was opposed to it. She later reflected on the change in her life resulting from her resignation. She had gone from a life on a college campus to a life in hotels, saloons and railroad stations. She devoted the rest of her life to the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).