Part 8: Student Life in the Revolutionary Era
“Laws Without Morals are in Vain” is the current Penn motto. Glimpses of student behavior during the first half-century of the school suggest that the institution may have struggled with both behavior and morality. On at least four recorded occasions before 1801, the Trustees attempt to impose new and stricter codes of student conduct.
“Rules & Ordinances for the Discipline & good Government of the Students & Scholars, belonging to the College, Academy and Charity Schools of Philadelphia.” Minutes of the Trustees of the College, Academy and Charitable Schools: vol. I, 1749 to 1768, vol. 1, 131–132 (March 10, 1761) Penn Libraries, Univ. Archives & Records Center. Available Online.
“As to the Discipline of the College & Schools, several Things are wanting”
By the 1780s, the university began to print its behavior guidelines for posting and public distribution. Older students were expected to surveil and even discipline younger ones (“with a ferula,” a metal ruler). Students in the yard prohibited from engaging in “tumults, dissensions, or quarrels.” The broadside even includes a special prohibition against defacing or tearing down the document.