"MARSHALL AND GOODWIN SPEAK ON SOCIAL EVIL" -- that's the headline of the Sept. 30, 1914 edition of College Topics, the former name of the newspaper you're reading right now. "Marshall and Goodwin Speak on Social Evil." Wondering what exactly the social evil is? We'll get to that in a second.
But first, you might be wondering where on earth I found a 1914 edition of College Topics. I'd love to tell you a story about how I went sleuthing around the Special Collections Library, bent on uncovering long-buried nuggets of historical information under piles of dusty papers, or perhaps how I stumbled upon a stack of 100-year-old newspapers in a dark corner in the Brown College tunnels.
That would at least be a little bit Indiana Jones.
Who am I kidding? Hardy Boys, maybe.
But, truth is, I found the Sept. 30, 1914 edition of College Topics in our very own Alderman Library -- and not even in the stacks, either. They're sitting right on the first floor, off to the right in the room with the black and white floor tiles. Just walk to the back and there they are -- books and books of them in the back left corner, from 1908 through 2001. You can pull them right off the shelf, plunk them down on a big table and leaf through them to see what life was like here on Grounds almost 100 years ago.
So back to our headline: "Marshall and Goodwin Speak on Social Evil." What "social evil" could be plaguing the University in 1914? Do you have a guess?
Could it be a soaring crime rate?
Could it be a rise in poverty?
Nope. Better.
Venereal disease.
Seriously. You read that correctly. I'm staring at the article as I type this.
"Dr. Marshall and Dr. Goodwin, of the Madison Faculty, met the new students at Madison Hall on Tuesday night and delivered addresses on 'The Social Evil.' The talks were given at the special request of Dr. Alderman (Yep -- you read that one right too), who inaugurated these lectures several years ago, wishing to protect to the utmost the men at this University from the tragedies befalling victims of (wait for it ...) venereal disease."
I couldn't make this up if I wanted to. Maybe we should reinstitute this system -- or just incorporate it into the first-year Convocation ceremony.
John "Triple Sticks" Casteen: "You'll find a nickel on all of your chairs. And, beware of the 'social evil.' And by 'social evil,' I mean venereal disease."
It gets better, though.
"The speakers emphasized that illicit intercourse is not necessary for full and abundant health, and that continence in men is compatible with the greatest strength and manliness."
Put that on a bumper sticker.
In other news, on Sept. 30, 1914:
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