University of Virginia Library

Distant Travel Required To Meet Virginia Belles

By Fred Dehlich
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

In the first year of a young man's career at the
University - better known as where the girls ain't - he
will discover all the joys involved in participating in the
Virginia Gentleman's favorite sport: courting members
of the fairer sex.

But courting them is only half the game; finding
them is where the real fun begins.

Despite the efforts of the Board of Visitors to
investigate the possibilities of making the University
coeducational through such devices as the Woody
Report (Dean Woody and his committee came out
strongly in favor of ladies at the University), the
first-year man will find that infiltrating elements of
coeducation are present on the Grounds in the form of
more than 1,000 Virginia Gentlewomen, comprised of
third and fourth-year transfer students, nurses, graduate
students, and those who are partners in the holy bond
of matrimony.

Sorry, Hands Off

The first-year man can quickly dispel any ideas he
might entertain concerning the above-mentioned categories.
If he is observant, he may notice a large number
of young ladies in the vicinity of Route 250 west.

He can forget them also, as they are students of St.
Anne's, a private secondary school where the girls who
have reached puberty aren't quite aware of it yet. The
administration, however, is quite aware of such
developments and it has taken a number of precautions
in the best interest of Southern Womanhood. The best
precaution, the matron's of St. Anne's have found, is to
keep the girls away from undesirable elements such as
yourselves, first-year men.

But there is hope, for as anyone knows, the
University certainly does not have a reputation for
monasticism.

Scattered throughout the state within a 70 mile
radius, are numerous institutions filled with young
women, whose sole reason for a four-year education is
to attach themselves to a Cavalier or some less noble
type until death do them part.

For this reason, passers-by on most roads in the area
will soon find them dotted with young men in coats and
ties and flasks on their way to any one of the many
surrounding girl's schools.

Unbalanced Mixers

The best, and sometimes the worst, way to make
contact with girls in the area is at a mixer: A mixer is a
meeting of several hundred girls with several thousand
males at a school. At such a time the two groups are
expected to mix, usually to the tunes of a bad soul band
which no one notices anyway.

If nothing else, the first-year man will usually
develop a deeper friendship with persons he has
ceremoniously "gone down the road" with and suffered
all the hardships of waiting two hours for a ride in
Crozet, getting violently drunk and ill, and watching his
ego slowly melt beneath his orange-striped tie.

The first mixer to kick off the fall social season will
be held at Madison College. Madison is a state teachers
college located in downtown Harrisonburg, some 65
miles from the first-year dorms.

Madison can be reached by going north on Route 29
and turning west on Route 33 at Ruckersville, or going
west on Route 250 and then north at Staunton on
either Route 81 or Route 11.

The Madison Freshwomen begin school on September
15 and number almost 900. Altogether there are
2800 girls at Madison. There are some men there too,
and sometimes, they get very uptight when alien males
are found on campus.

KLM by Wright

Madison is a good place to start the year as most Madison girls are down to
earth, and for years Madison girls have had a reputation, well deserved, of
having no qualms about getting right down to earth.

The following night, September 20, features an extravaganza of mixers
at no less than six female institutions. are mixers at
Randolph-Macon Women's College in Southern Seminary in
Buena Vista; our sister school, Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg;
the home of the county fair queens. Longwood College in Farmville,
Virginia Intermont in Bristol; and finally the home of Melanie Wilkes,
Sweet Briar College, in Sweet Briar, near Lynchburg.

On September 13, some 250 Freshwomen will matriculate at
Randolph-Macon, or Randy-Mack, as called by non-residents. This will
push the female enrollment to an "all-time high" of 850 women scholars.
The girls of Randolph-Macon are known for their academic prowess, but
are also generally sociable. At least they won't spend the night telling you
about Daddy's plantation and riding stables (that will happen at Sweet
Briar).

Since the flooding this summer, the road to Randolph-Macon has been
drastically changed for at least three months. To get there, go south on
Route 20 to Scottsville, go west on Route 60, and turn south onto Route
29.

The above-mentioned route will also take you to, or
past, Sweet Briar College. The incoming class of girls
will arrive 250-strong (or dainty as they would have it)
on September 16. This will result in a total
enrollment of 725 belles, Sweet Briar girls must be
handled with care, and it's quite possible their fathers
just might own a plantation or two. The big news there
is that these gentle girls may now remain out until 6 in
the morning, giving their school the most liberal social
rules in the state (that still doesn't solve the problem of
what to do with a Sweet Briar lass until 6 a.m.).

Liberal Mary Wash

Mary Washington features a freshman class of 800
and a total enrollment of 2200, making it one of the
largest all-girls school in the nation. The girls there are
socially just a step behind Madison. Their curfews are
relatively liberal, and they can sign out overnight almost
any time for any type of accommodation.

To get to Fredericksburg go west on Route 250, turn
north on Route 20, north on Route 15, and east on
Route 3.

Longwood girls come from places like Appomattox,
Virginia, and Duck, North Carolina. The biggest
periodical on campus is the Farmer's Almanac, and all
the radio stations go to bed with the chickens. Most
students are simple and friendly, but the restrictions on
them are quite strict. For something to do while in
Farmville, the truck stop features the best selection of
country music this side of the Smokey Mountains.

To get to the freshman class of 600, arriving on
September 17, go west on Route 250 to Zion's
Crossroads, and turn south on Route 15.

Southern Seminary is one school that not many
Cavaliers can claim to have visited, probably because of
its proximity to VMI. Southern Sem is a small, private,
two year girl's school, complete with riding stable and
Victorian regulations. Rebelling against the regulations
though, seems to be a favorite sport of Southern Sem
girls. Take Route 81 north and follow the signs to
Buena Vista. When you get there, if anyone is still
awake, he'll tell you where the school is.

The school closest to the University is Mary Baldwin
College. The freshmen class of 225 will arrive on
September 17. Baldwin girls are cast in the same mold as
those at Sweet Briar, adding some Presbyterian
influence, but their rules for fraternizing are fairly
conservative. The date of their mixer hasn't been set
yet either. Mary Baldwin is in Staunton, a short 40 miles
on Route 250.

Bringing up the rear, no pun, is Hollins College in
Roanoke. Hollins has a very finishing school
atmosphere, but is not overly intellectual, although it is
rather artsy. Most of the girls are rather friendly, even if
they are the Avis to Sweet Briar's Hertz.

This year 300 girls are entering the school, bringing
the total enrollment to 1,000. The first girls arrived
Sunday, making Hollins the first school in session in the
area. The dates of any mixers at Hollins haven't been set
yet. Hollins can be reached by travelling south on Route
81.

University Mixers

After the gala weekend of September 19-20, there is
a mixer scheduled for September 26 at the University.
This is the first of two mixers sponsored by the
University Union. The second will be hold on October
11. Both will be in the Newcomb Hall Ballroom.

There will also be a mixer at Mary Washington on
October 4, and one at Longwood on October 18.

The University Union sponsors buses to most of the
mixers at these schools to spare first-yearmen from the
hazards of thumbing to and from distant towns. But
unless you have an illegal car, thumbing is how you will
make a great many of your first year "road trips." Good
luck gentlemen.