The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 43, No. 3 - 40

Katherine B. Boone * Denise L. Davidson * Mark Bauman

learning outside classrooms, and "deans, proctors or bedels" (Cowley, 1934, p. 709) provided
control and discipline.
In America, Colonial founders followed
this Oxford model with one major exception:
Faculty were also proctors, serving as educators and disciplinarians in the halls (Cowley,
1934). However, the residential college model
failed to take permanent root in America
because "the faculty member living in the dormitory became the student's natural enemy"
(Cowley, 1934, p. 709). Students revolted
against the faculty in the halls, and the proctor
role was given to younger, more inexperienced
faculty; and soon no faculty members wanted
these responsibilities. Further, in the early
1800s, the conflict between faculty serving as
disciplinarians and then shifting to classroom
teachers laid the groundwork for declining interest in the residential college model (Cowley,
1934). An alternative viewpoint suggests that
the decline of this living-learning model was
precipitated by attention to the German educational approach in the late 1880s, when faculty
focused on research and dissemination of
knowledge at the expense of holistic education
(Winston & Fitch, 1993).
These altered faculty roles in residences,
combined with the Morrill Act of 1862-which
established 69 state colleges and encouraged
the development of secular education in the
United States-contributed to a lesser focus
on the control previously demanded in the
residential colleges/residence halls (Blimling
& Miltenberger, 1990). This caused several
college presidents to revive student housing
in different formats (Blimling & Miltenberger,
1990) in the late 1880s to early 1890s (Dunn &
Dean, 2013). The addition of campus housing
40

was stimulated by the establishment of
women's colleges in the late 19th century. Blimling and Miltenberger (1990) pointed out that
there was significant hesitancy to have women
"fend for themselves" (p. 19) and live on their
own; thus, residence halls served the purpose
of providing structure and security for new
populations of women students. Determining
how to manage students in this climate contributed to the creation of the student personnel field and, subsequently, the RA position
(Rentz, 1994).

FROM IN LOCO PARENTIS TO
DIXON V. ALABAMA STATE BOARD
OF EDUCATION AND FERPA
Throughout this period, institutions and staff
functioned in loco parentis-that is, the college
served in place of parents (Melear, 2003). In
loco parentis has its legal origins in a dispute
over college regulations. In the 1913 case Gott
v. Berea College, several students were expelled
for entering a local eatery in violation of rules
limiting students to places approved by the
college (Melear, 2003). The court found in
favor of the college.
College authorities stand in loco parentis
concerning the physical and moral welfare
and mental training of the pupils, and we
are unable to see why, to that end, they
may not make any rule or regulation for the
government or betterment of their pupils that
a parent could for the same purpose. (Melear,
2003, p. 206)
In lieu of faculty, colleges hired retired military officers, elderly housemothers, and others
to enforce policies and maintain control and
order (Upcraft & Pilato, 1982). As an adjunct to
adult staff, students were hired to help super-

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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 43, No. 3

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