Finding Aid
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Records of the Committee on Student Life Access and Restrictions: This collection is open for research. Digital Surrogates: Except where indicated, this document describes but does not reproduce the actual text, images and objects which make up this collection. Materials are available only in the Special Collections Department. Copyright: Please read The University of Iowa Libraries' statement on Property Rights, Copyright Law, and Permissions to Use Unpublished Materials. Use of Collections: The University of Iowa Libraries supports access to the materials, published and unpublished, in its collections. Nonetheless, access to some items may be restricted by their fragile condition or by contractual agreement with donors, and it may not be possible at all times to provide appropriate machinery for reading, viewing or accessing non-paper-based materials. Please read our Use of Manuscripts Statement. Acquisition and Processing Information: These materials were transferred to the University Archives at various times. Finding aid created by Denise Anderson, July 2002. Guide revised December 2006. Photographs: None |
April 1947 correspondence |
Scope and Contents
The papers of the Committee on Student Life are comprised of meeting minutes, correspondence, drafts and revisions of policies, in addition to newspaper clippings, reports, and occasional member lists. Documents are arranged in chronological order, with the date or date range listed for each folder. Folders are numbered within each box. Highlights of folder contents are noted in the box list below.
The beginnings of these records are dated 1934, pre-dating the formal organization on March 1, 1946. These records presently end in 1970. While the collection spans 1934-1970, the 1960s are most heavily documented.
From its inception in 1946 with the union of the Committee on Student Affairs and the Committee on Social Affairs, the Committee on Student Life officially addressed every subject affecting students except those handled by the Board in Control of Athletics, and by the Board of Trustees of Student Publications. The Committee addressed issues generated by the Student Senate, and then drafted recommendations to be reviewed by Faculty Senate. Examples of subjects addressed are student housing and student regulations. Fraternities and sororities are well represented, with documentation of their budgets, membership issues, chapter formation, and sanctions for violations.
The documents reveal social changes that span more than three decades. Of particular note is the long-awaited relaxing of curfew for female students, and the slow acceptance of African American membership in fraternities. Well-documented is the outrage of students and faculty alike in the fall of 1968 over President Bowen’s forced revisions to the Code of Student Life. Among the earliest records are documents illustrating how the Depression affected fraternity membership.
At some point after 1970, the Committee on Student Life was named Office of Campus Programs and Student Activities, and by 1998 was called the Office of Student Life. This collection does not presently include records under the two latter names.
[D Anderson; 7/2002]
Related Materials
Related materials at the University Archives include Code of Student Life booklets and the records of the Faculty Senate and Council. The Organizations and Clubs Vertical Files contain files on fraternities and sororities, and the Subject Vertical Files contain student protest folders filed under the category of Miscellaneous. See our Web page on the subject of student protest for other collections on this subject. The papers of Philip G. Hubbard address housing discrimination in Iowa City.
Box Contents List
Box 1
1934-1955
1. Clippings, 1946-1969
2. State Board of Education meeting, 1934
3. Patton correspondence to Gilmore about fraternities, 1936
4. Document represents the standard for university/fraternity relations,1938
5. Committee of Student Affairs meeting minutes; automobile regulations, 1943
6. Dean Thompson memo to fraternities, 1944
7. Correspondence; Committee reports and minutes; Iowa Memorial Union, 1945
8. Correspondence; meeting minutes; guidelines/regulations; calendar of parties; petition for student representation on committee, 1946
9. Correspondence; fraternity expansion; sorority statistics; fraternity grade points; room use regulations; constitution of Iowa Men’s Inter fraternity Association; University Women’s Association, 1947
10. Correspondence; meeting minutes; fraternity investigation; fraternity budget; housing and student aid pamphlets; petition. Date span of folder contents is January-February 1948.
11. Correspondence; meeting minutes; Central Party Committee plan; fraternity expansion; Code of Student Life. Date span of folder contents is March-December 1948.
12. Correspondence; meeting minutes; New Student Week Handbook; fraternity expansion; Student Council constitution; social calendar, 1949
13. Correspondence; meeting minutes; guidelines for new fraternity petitions; Code of Student Life revisions; questionnaire; petition; survey; fraternity membership statistics, 1950
14. Correspondence; meeting minutes; fraternity suspension for drinking; New Student Week Handbook; Interfraternity Court; 28th General Assembly addressed drinking problem, 1951
15. Correspondence; meeting minutes; amendments to the constitution of the Student Council; Student Personnel Services Committee meeting minutes, 1952
16. Correspondence; meeting minutes, 1953
17. Correspondence; meeting minutes; address by President Hancher, 1954
18. Correspondence; meeting minutes; requirements for new fraternities; chart of regulations of other universities, 1955
Box 2
1956-1961
1. Correspondence; meeting minutes; Student Board of Iowa Union; nationwide policy comparison, 1956
2. Information for Judiciary Chairmen and House Directors, 1956-1957
3. Correspondence; meeting minutes; discrimination study by Ohio State; sorority house remodeling; Iowa Acacians budget; Old Gold Days; Governor’s veto, 1957
4. Correspondence; meeting minutes; policy on use of buildings; student I.D. cards; Old Gold Days; calendar of social functions; policy on discrimination; fraternities nationwide, 1958
5. Correspondence; meeting minutes; sorority and fraternity statistics; M. Gladys Scott letter; history of the Committee on Student Life, and the Iowa Memorial Union; women’s hours; fraternity grade point averages; Interfraternity Council, 1959
6. Correspondence; meeting minutes; off-campus housing; discrimination against Negro and foreign students; sorority statistics. Date span of folder contents is January-May 1960.
7. Correspondence; meeting minutes; M. Gladys Scott letter; women’s regulations; housing discrimination; student representation on the Committee on Student Life. Date span of folder contents is June-December 1960.
8. Correspondence; meeting minutes; constitution and code revisions; student representation on the Committee on Student Life; entertainment. Date span of folder contents is January-May 1961.
9. Correspondence; meeting minutes; code and constitution revisions; regulations for female students; sorority chapter approved; student representation on the Committee on Student Life. Date span of folder contents is June-December 1961.
Box 3
1962-1964
1. Correspondence; meeting minutes; resolutions 8, 26, and 27; fraternity discrimination; committee business from 1958-1962. Date span of folder contents is January-April 1962.
2. Correspondence; meeting minutes; discrimination policy; resolutions 8 and 20; Associated Women Students by-laws. Date span of folder contents is May-December 1962.
3. Correspondence; meeting minutes; human rights added to Code of Student Life; housing discrimination; women’s hours; positions in student office. Date span of folder contents is January-March 1963.
4. Correspondence; meeting minutes; human rights policy; women’s hours; sorority membership numbers; Senate Judiciary Committee; unfinished business for the year. Date span of folder contents is April-December 1963.
5. Committee on Student Life report on fraternities and sororities, November 22, 1963
6. Reports and memoranda including Guidelines on Fraternities and Sororities, Financial Operations, and Physical Facilities, ca. 1963
7. Student Senate trip to Europe, 1963-1964
8. Correspondence; meeting minutes; Committee membership lists; two publications; resolution 21: trip to Europe; Student Senate festival, 1964
Box 4
1965-1970
1. Correspondence; meeting minutes; membership discrimination; fraternity publications; student housing coop; women’s hours; new sorority, 1965
2. Correspondence; meeting minutes; Committee membership list; The Colorado Alumnus: law suit over a Negro pledge, 1966
3. Correspondence; meeting minutes; financing student organizations; visitation rules relaxed; Associated Women Students survey; organizations must recruit minorities, 1967
4. Correspondence; meeting minutes; visitation policy; President Bowen’s version of the Code of Student Life, and Daily Iowan’s refusal to print it, 1968
5. Correspondence; press releases; student bill of rights; women’s hours; Students for a Democratic Society, charges; Student Guide 1969-1970
6. Correspondence; Senate meeting; press releases; student handbook, 1970
