A Wink and a Nod: How Do We Sell the Gentlemen’s Rule
Wabash College has an admissions brochure that is famous among prospective and current students. “It won’t be easy,” it says of the Wabash experience, “but it will be worth it.” The mailing, received by hundreds upon hundreds of prospective students each year, is brilliant in its salesmanship. Like explorer Ernest Shakleton’s legendary call for men to take a “hazardous journey” for the rewards of “honour and recognition in case of success,” the Wabash brochure summons men to sacrifice their comfort for the sake of something higher. It is a rugged and effective pitch, but is it how we sell other aspects of our college, particularly the Gentleman’s Rule?
On paper, the answer to that question may be yes. Admissions brochures practically dare young men to live in a community with only one rule, the subtle implication being that responsibilities increase as a result of the freedom they acquire. But a number of students have somehow received the opposite message. They have come to believe that the Gentleman’s Rule represents unlimited freedom to act without regard to any restrictions whatsoever—legal, moral, or otherwise. And it would seem that many students received this impression from their early visits to campus.
This is evidenced by the discontent of last semester. Much of the anger that Wabash students directed at their college administration last semester can be traced to a sense that the administrators were being disingenuous. The phrase “a gentleman always follows the law” was repeated often in the wake of Johnny Smith’s death, and we were assured by the Deans that it was in fact repeated often before his death as well. But many students sensed that the College was changing the rules mid-game. They felt that the sudden calls from the Administration for Wabash men to follow drinking laws amounted to self-righteous hypocrisy, and that Wabash always allowed underage drinking, at least implicitly.
That was certainly the impression I received from my first tour of the campus three years ago. I remember attending a question and answer session with college representatives, and the question of alcohol inevitably arose. I do not remember anyone saying, “a gentleman always follows the law.” If it was said, the fact that I do not remember it testifies to its relative insignificance in the conversation. What I do remember is something along the lines of, “we’re not going to come looking for you.” The emphasis was on what the College was not going to do, rather than on what the students were expected to do.
For the second part of the event, the administrators left the room and allowed current and prospective students to talk amongst themselves. Blunt questions were asked, and honest answers were given. It was clear from these talks that underage drinking occurred often at Wabash, and, from the perspective of the students, the College did not care. Violence and plagiarism would get you in trouble, we were told. Nothing else.
I tell this story to demonstrate how easy it is for prospective Wabash students to get the impression that the school permits underage drinking. And my story, of course, is not unique. Since the disbandment of Delta Tau, it has become clear that the student view of the Gentleman’s Rule with regard to underage drinking, and the Administration’s view as articulated since the death of Johnny Smith, are very much contradictory.
President White has dubbed the phenomenon of students believing Wabash College endorses underage consumption of alcohol “the winking effect.” The actions of Wabash’s representatives during student visit days, whether intentional or not, can lead prospective students to the belief that the school gives a pass to lawbreaking. This is a significant problem. The division between Wabash students and the Administration last semester was not healthy for our college environment, and as long as we continue to send prospective students contradictory messages, that division will not go away.
So how do we address this problem?
First, the Administration should acknowledge its fallibility. Last fall, when “a gentleman always follows the law” suddenly became the defining corollary of the Gentleman’s Rule, the Administration chose to feign shock that underage drinking was taking place. In President White’s mandatory Chapel Talk, he announced with disappointment that investigations had uncovered underage drinking in Johnny Smith’s pledge class, and he proclaimed that such actions “cannot stand.” Unfortunately, this was probably the first time that the Wabash community had heard such a clear and definitive statement on the issue.
The effect of this was to make the Administration seem self-righteous in its response—especially after the disbandment of Delta Tau Delta. It was a very painful semester, and all the blame for that pain was shifted onto the students. It was students who were being lectured, and students who were being punished. It would go a long way toward healing our old wounds if the Administration would admit that they are imperfect too—that the expectations for drinking at Wabash were not always made clear, and that they too have made mistakes in the course of the past year.
For our part, we students need to understand the responsibilities inherent in the Gentleman’s Rule. Freedom and responsibilities have a positive correlation: the more you have of one, the more you get of the other. If and when we drink, we need to do so responsibly—or else invite more rules and regulations from the Administration. And if and when our friends drink, we need to make sure that they do so responsibly as well. We have a responsibility to govern ourselves and look out for each other.
These ideas must be implemented in the Admissions Department. Their message on the Gentleman’s Rule must be unified, both in their mailings and their personal contacts with students. Last semester—and every year, for that matter—our student tour guides faced inevitable questions about alcohol. Some were put in the uncomfortable position of not knowing the correct answers. When the Administration and the students were so divided, how could they know? It is important that we as a college work out a shared understanding of gentlemanly behavior with regards to such important issues, and it is important that every tour guide understands those expectations.
Most importantly, we need to sell the Gentleman’s Rule with a strong emphasis on responsibility. This goes for all of us—students, Administration, and Admissions. We all come into contact with prospective students, and we all have an obligation to explain what the Gentleman’s Rule really means. Too often, students come away from visits to Wabash with the impression that the Gentleman’s Rule means, “you can do whatever you want.” If we sell the rule like this, we are selling the College as easy.
It is not difficult to run into troubles once in a while trying to sell a college as unique as ours. We lack certain superficially attractive features that other colleges have. How do you sell a college without women to a bunch of teenaged high school prospects? There are two common answers: either lie to them about weekend buses full of women, or promote Wabash’s unique level of freedom. The latter being the more honest, it is probably the wiser argument to make. But true freedom can never be unchecked. In an autocratic society, or an autocratic school, the people are kept in line through the power of an imperious authority. In a free society, as Wabash seeks to be, the people must keep themselves in line. They cannot use their freedom to do anything and everything they want, and push the boundaries too far. If they do, then they will inevitably face the increasing power of the government, or in our case, the College administration. Free societies cannot be maintained without responsible citizens.
Responsible citizenship should be a prerequisite for admittance to Wabash College, and prospective students need to understand that. They need to understand the concept of personal responsibility, and they need to be good at exercising it. They need to understand their responsibilities to their friends, and they need to be willing to act on them. Without students who understand and demonstrate these values, our traditional idea of Wabash will quickly fall apart.
This is not the easiest sell for a college. You are not telling prospects that they will have unlimited freedom to do whatever they wish. You are telling them that they will have to govern themselves. They will have to make tough decisions about responsible actions. They will have to look after their friends to do the same. You are telling them that no one will be there to make tough decisions for them. No one will be there to keep their behavior in check. You are telling them that the freedom they will experience at Wabash will not be easy. But it will be worth it.
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