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The dean mandates bloomers for women
By Rose McIlveen
A large pair of stuffed bloomers suddenly adorned the facade of "one of
(Indiana) University's leading organization houses," along with the
placard: "Lest We Forget." What had prompted the impromptu decoration
made interesting reading in the Jan. 13, 1928, issue of the Bloomington
Evening World.
In a last-ditch effort to save the modesty of 1920s co-eds on the Bloomington campus, IU Dean of Women Agnes Wells had decreed that the women would be obliged to wear bloomers. Never mind that the Roaring 20s had (to a modest extent) "liberated" the co-eds beyond the Victorian reach of the dean.
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Indianapolis school officials felt compelled to declare themselves opposed to the dean's version of modesty. Added the World, "Some say other school officials over the state are criticizing Indiana University's dean of women for her decree because of jealousy that exists among the schools and colleges, but others deny this."
Wells, who was still trying to stem the tide of flapper dresses, co-ed smoking and a whole host of unmentionable liberties, was not without allies. The Indiana Daily Student primly asserted in its editorial column that the publicity caused by the dean's decree was unwanted, unnecessary and unkind. The editorial went on to say that Wells' effort was for decency's sake, and the controversy should be dropped.
But the World suspected that some of the co-eds were not exactly thrilled with the dean's Victorian paternalism. Continued the newspaper, "...an interview by the writer with a number of coeds proves that the rule is unpopular for a number of reasons."
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