University of Virginia Library

Charles Weir

But What's Out Of Hand?

Not living in the dorms here has
certain advantages. The most
important, of course, is not living in
the dorms. It does have certain
disadvantages. Mainly there's little
reason to visit them and find out
what life is like there. The recent
attacks by State Senator Bateman
led me to think that I had been
missing something.

Being active in many facets of
student life, I didn't want to be
missing out on the fun. Last week I
found myself faced with an entire
afternoon free. Donning a tie and
combing my hair, I headed up to
Alderman Road to get in on the
"out of hand sex."

Obvious

The obvious starting point was
the coeducated dorms. So, Watson
House became the target of my
attack. The fourth floor seemed as
good a starting place as any. When I
burst through the door into the
first suite, much to my surprise a
young man was sitting there alone
reading the liberal Washington Post.
Something was definitely up. The
first year man had obviously been
affected to be caught reading such a
controversial piece of literature.

Nothing "out of hand" was
going on so I sat down to rest for
just a moment. No sooner had I
done that than a girl walked out of
her room in a bathrobe. Let me
repeat that, a bathrobe! And in
broad daylight. What the hell was
going on? A quick interrogation
revealed that the girl lived there.
She invited me into her room when
I asked her if I could get her
opinion on some aspects of life at
Virginia. Imagine that, there I was
alone in a room with a very
attractive coed from Virginia. I was
just waiting for it to get out of
hand. Ah, but alas, we spoke on
topics such as housing, the
Mary-Munford - Gwathmey
situation and life here at college.
Time was moving on and I got the
feeling that maybe the next suite
was "out of hand." Politely
excusing myself, I moved on.

Empty

When I entered the next suite,
no one was there and there were no
sounds emanating from the rooms.
Recalling what Senator Bateman
had said, I felt inspired again and
moved on. The next suite had
several girls sitting in the lounge.
Nothing of interest was going on, so
I asked if I could ask them some
questions. Hopefully they would
reveal where it was at.

None of them seemed to know.
Well, what about Senator
Bateman's charges? The general
consensus showed that he must be
talking about some other school.
Nothing was out of hand here. But,
couldn't they have a different
opinion of morals than the
Senator? They said that no matter
what morals were involved, there
just wasn't that much good of bad
going on.

How much dating went on
between the first year coeds and
the first year men? Not all that
much was the general reply there
and in other suites. The roll and the
out-of-town date were their big
complaints. They seemed to be
especially sore in light of the recent
Midwinters weekend. Complaints
were aired that the coeds here had
to sit around while girls were
brought in from down the road.

Dateless

Why weren't they being asked
out? No reason in particular came
out. The boys were around and
there were plenty of opportunities
to meet them, still they sat around.
In the coed dorm, the boys were
appreciated for just being around
and the help that they gave. If they
didn't do anything other than just
be there, it was better than being
isolated over in Mary Munford.

Tours of other suites in Webb,
Maupin, and Lile showed the same
general feelings expressed by the
other girls. They enjoyed being here
and the good aspects of life far
outweighed the bad. Certain
complaints were aired that
appeared quite reasonable. The girls
thought that since they could cook,
there should be some place for
them to carry on their culinary
talents. A small refrigerator and a
two burner range was the common
request.

Dobie

Well, if the coed dorms and the
girls dorms weren't bawdy houses,
it must have been going on in the
first year boys' dorms. Dobie was
closest, so my now wearied legs
trekked up still another flights of
stairs. Nowhere in sight was the fair
skin of a young damsel. Why not?

The boys said that in the
beginning of the year the girls were
dating upperclassmen and had a
stuck-up attitude. Sure, there were
guys in the suite who dated them
and there was nothing wrong or
unusual about them. Just, at the
beginning of the year while they
weren't dating girls here they were
rolling and now knew plenty of
girls down the road. Why go out of
their way to meet the girls here?

A common feeling towards the
coeds was take them of leave them,
they neither added nor detracted
from the surroundings. If anything
they hindered.

The feeling expressed by Senator
Bateman and evidently echoed by
his colleagues in light of their
unanimous passage of his resolution
were not found in the first year
dorms. Students there felt that the
sex that did go on was discreet and
not out in the open. The girls were
not being picked up for one night
thrills. What did go on, and most
claimed not to know of much, was
none of their business they
thought. If parents had sent them
away to college, they should be
trusted to regulate their own sex
life. As long as it did not hurt
anyone or interfere with anyone
else's life, the State legislature
shouldn't be sticking its nose in
their private lives. That was
something between the parents and
students involved.

It was now 5:30 and I had spent
almost five hours roaming the halls
of the first year Alderman Road
dorms. My great hopes and
expectations aroused by Senator
Bateman had been dashed against
the rocks. Virginia, I was sorry to
find, carried on its life in the
dormitories as if the students
resisted temptation and showed
signs of maturity.