"Coeds Speak Out On Law Students' Capers" announced the headline across the front page of the May 24, 1962
Kentucky Kernel.
University of Kentucky law students had, over the years since moving into Lafferty Hall in 1936, become well-known for their sexist behavior towards women students. Located on a busy walkway in central campus, it was nearly impossible for women students to avoid Lafferty Hall and the future lawyers. One UK student told reporters Bob Baugh and Kyra Hackley that she would "feel safer if they were in a cage."
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| Law students outside Lafferty Hall, 1957 |
The reporters noted that, "Regardless of the pleasure the parade of coeds gives the law students, the females have other ideas. Many freshmen coeds admit they are flustered by the thought of passing in review." Women students had become tired of what the
Kernel labeled as "Law Students' Capers," with capers generally defined as
a frivolous, carefree episode or activity. To many women students the behavior of the law students was far from frivolous or carefree. "I feel like a factory part rolling past the assembly line inspector," said student Lynda Hanson.
Women students reported going "out of their way to avoid the jeers," with one student admitting that she "always cut through the Botanical Gardens to avoid the whistles of the law students." Another student proposed "an overpass be built over the law school to prevent embarrassment."
In one of the harshest critiques, a woman student remarked that, "They look like a bunch of lounge lizards and lolligaggers [and] you would think they would have better things to do than squawk and gawk." I suppose anticipating that many of the young legal minds would one day be in the Kentucky General Assembly it was suggested that "If they have so many pennies to pitch, why don't 'they go to Frankfort and pitch them into...the floral clock."
Some of the women students apparently appreciated the attention they received and noted that "not all of the comments are derogatory." Nancy Clay McClure added that, "Yelling at coeds is here to stay," while Joy Mason simply noted, "I love it." Betty Groger concluded that, "I think it just shows those boys are really normal after all. I'll start worrying when they're not perched like a flock of chattering birds on the steps."
Fortunately, today's women students at the University of Kentucky do not have to endure such blatant sexism on campus. But that progress should not distract from the necessity of assuring that UK is a diverse and inclusive environment for everyone where discrimination in any form is unacceptable.
