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Miss Virginia Remembers
by Ryan Wright
Miss Virginia as Student ('43), Coach ('57), and Omelet Maker
According to the 1943 Laurel, dancing may have been more chaste....
...but relationships did survive.
The Six Inch Rule didn't. (Hilltop Reporter Ryan Wright and Miss Virginia - 2006)
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It was a world of extreme rules and control, where people were not allowed physical contact in public, where even adults were forced to abide by a bedtime, and there was segregation based on gender. No, it wasn't an episode of the Twilight Zone about some tyrannical future Earth; no, this was just how Mars Hill was back in the old days.
Thanks to Virginia Hart, who has been a student, teacher, coach, cook, and influential figure at Mars Hill for more than sixty years, we know how this school differed from how it is today. "Miss Virginia," best known to students today as the omelet maker in the cafeteria, came to Mars Hill from South Carolina as a student in 1941 and really never left.
She describes a place where students, as they do today, played sports and joined clubs so that they would have something to take up their free time. Pranksters played tricks on their fellow students for kicks -- like throwing cold water on people while they were taking showers, or stealing clothes from people before they were able to get out of the shower. Just like today, students back then needed money, so they worked on campus in places like the dining hall.
However, those were also the days of the "Six Inch Rule." Men and women had to sit or walk at least six inches apart. That meant no holding hands or physical contact, period (you had to save something for marriage). They also had "lights out" at 11'clock every night. This was enforced by a night watchman who checked every room by looking at the dorm windows to see who didn't turn off their light in time. Those people then got reported. However, Miss Virginia recalls that there were ways around this rule, like putting a blanket over a lamp or using a flashlight under the covers.
All of the men lived on Men's Hill on the south side of the campus and all of the women lived on Women's Hill to the north. Female students were never allowed on Men's Hill, and male students were only allowed on Women's Hill with prior permission to ask a girl out.
According to Miss Virginia, the way that we dress now would have never been accepted. A strict dress code was enforced, which required male students to cover up at all times with sleeved shirts and long pants. Even though gym allowed women to wear shorts and a short-sleeved shirt, you were forced to put on a rain coat if you decided to walk out in your gym attire.
Church was mandatory, so every student had to attend Sunday school and Sunday service. There would even be room inspections. Someone would come into your room and check in your closets and under your beds to make sure that you were attending church. Men and women had to sit on opposite sides of the church.
There were no dances at Mars Hill College. In 1945, Miss Virginia had to go to a faculty meeting to get even folk dancing accepted for the May Day activities she was planning. Before that, there were no dances at MHC at all.
She disagreed with the no smoking policy on campus, but not because she condoned smoking. She thought having designated smoking areas would be more beneficial and safer. So, smokers of MHC, you have our own omelet lady to thank for not having to hide out to smoke.
If school bores you now, it's easy to escape to Asheville or Johnson City, but then no one was allowed to have a car on campus. Almost everyone ate in the cafeteria. There, everyone sat down at big tables and ate family-style. Miss Virginia explained that when she was a student, the only choice was to eat what was in the bowls on the table -meat, potatoes, greens, or whatever was available at that time, unless you could afford the café on Main Street. There, a chaperone was required except from 3-5 p.m. in the afternoon.
If you think about it, though, maybe the only reason that we feel those rules are so extreme is that we are not used to them, and the only reason people were more disciplined was because of the rules they had.
Summing up the differences between then and now, Miss Virginia says, "A place is made up of people. People basically are the same. We had a few pranksters when I was here. I'm sure there are a few pranksters here now… You are permitted to do things that we were not permitted to do. Had we been, we probably would have done the same thing…Everybody spoke to everybody. That's less true now. .. The campus is not made up of buildings. It's made up of people, and basically I think people are the same.
Reader Comment
Jennifer Gilchrist, class of '98, 3/10/2006, 2:04 p.m.
Dr. Hart was my landlady all of 1998. I lived in her little cottage that had the most wonderful view of the mountains. She gave me my first cat, that I had for six years. She was and is a wonderful, caring woman with an amazing life story.
Colby Cochran - 3/13/2006, 4:14:39 p.m.
I am the Executive Director of the North Carolina Associaton of Student Councils. This group has had its summer leadership workshop at Mars Hill for 47 years. I have attended as a student, adviser, and staff member. I've known Virginia Hart for 37 years and look forward to seeing her the third week in July each year. Virginia is a very caring person who has high standards that she doesn't compromise...and that's so refreshing in today's world. She's the best friend a student at Mars Hill can have. See you in July, Miss Virginia!
Matthew Baldwin, faculty, 4/4/2006, 6:02 a.m.
Thanks for sharing your story, Miss Virginia! While nobody wants rules like these anymore (I certainly wouldn't want them for myself), one can imagine how having those rules helped to create a common campus culture and experience for those who lived here then. Do we have the same kind of common culture today? (Plus, I'm willing to bet you that back in those days, students skipped class and ignored homework far less frequently.)
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