Well-Intentioned, But Misguided Policy on Women
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I didn’t realize the good fortune in being assigned to Carver Hall upon my arrival at Howard University in 1982. It was one of two all-male dormitories (the other was for lowly freshmen; I was a transfer), and I soon discovered that it was the only dorm with a 24-hour visitation policy. We enjoyed the privilege of having company anytime we wanted, even overnight.
At some point in time those privileges must have been rescinded, because Howard was in the news last week for once again allowing upperclassmen in one residence hall 24-hour visitation. Residents at every other dorm must continue to escort their guests out by midnight during the week, or 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. But a 2 a.m. curfew must seem like unbridled freedom to members of the University of Kansas football team, who are saddled with archaic restrictions under first-year coach Turner Gill.
One of five black coaches at college football’s highest level — the Bowl Championship Series leagues — Gill has instituted at least two rules that will test his young players’ discipline, if not break their will. The first isn’t too bad: Players must hand over their cell phones the day before a game and go without until the game is over. But the second is downright puritanical, an edict that challenges common sense as much as common decency.
Gill has forbidden his players from being in the company of women past 10 p.m.
