Ex-Church of Christ Support Board

I knew Freed Hardeman was strict but upon reading Greg Massey's book on the history of FHC (now FHU) I didn't realize how bad the place was. I believe it has liberalized somewhat in recent years as evidenced by the dress code changes. Here are some examples of the draconian perverted rules concerning PDA's. In its early years (1920 and before) there was to be no association between ladies and gentlemen outside of the classroom except there were several times of the year when they had an evening guest speaker or musical performance where men could escort the ladies from their residence to the chapel hall where the event was held. Also intercollegiate athletics were not authorized. later on they liberalized to allow some interaction between males and females under the strict supervision of dorm moms or female teachers. In at the late forties they initiated some mixer events where males and females were allowed to take a walk together "within prescribed limits". No riding in cars was allowed but males could escort females to church services and on Sunday night under strict supervision trips were taken to the City Drug store or cafe where fraternizations was allowed for 20 minutes, but no hand holding or touching. In the 50's one night a couple was seen walking back from a football game with their arms around each other, the President of the University gave them a ride and they were called in next day by the disciplinary board and given a punishment of no contact for two weeks.

Sounds cultish. No wonder there is so much sexual obsession in churches that practice this kind of control.

I knew a man who swore he was expelled from Freed in the early 1950s for holding hands with his future wife.

zeek wrote: ↑Tue Jun 11, 2024 8:58 pm I knew a man who swore he was expelled from Freed in the early 1950s for holding hands with his future wife.

Hopefully he then enrolled in a better, state university where adult students were treated like adults. Did he say?

zeek wrote: ↑Tue Jun 11, 2024 8:58 pm I knew a man who swore he was expelled from Freed in the early 1950s for holding hands with his future wife.

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I am sure it is true. In fact they were pretty strict about that kind of thing until very recently. Pensacola Christian College is the worst of all, it has separate stairways and parking lots for males and females, and also separate beaches (there are only two beaches students are allowed to go to). They also have prescribed areas of the campus you can walk through at certain hours. I remember in the 70's somebody told me a person was expelled for having his hand on a girls leg while they were sitting. Also I talked with someone who changed clothes in the dorm and ran to the gym in shorts, they were called before the disciplinary board.

Ivy wrote: ↑Wed Jun 12, 2024 5:21 pm

zeek wrote: ↑Tue Jun 11, 2024 8:58 pm I knew a man who swore he was expelled from Freed in the early 1950s for holding hands with his future wife.

Hopefully he then enrolled in a better, state university where adult students were treated like adults. Did he say?

He finished his education at Lipscomb and was a respected gospel preacher for his entire life. He and the woman he so shamelessly held hands with raised five children together managing to send all five to college. They remained married some 55 years until he dropped dead mid sermon one Sunday night from a coronary.

In my opinion, Freedies are a bit cultish. In my experience every Freed grad I've met thought they were just a little better than the average church member even those who had degrees from other coC schools.

As much as I am loathe to defend them the legal adult age back then was 21. I can understand why the administration and parents felt they had the right to have such rules.

It's weird. An 18 year old could go to war and kill but if he came home his father still had the legal right to hit him with a belt. Laws are just wack.

B.H. wrote: ↑Wed Jun 12, 2024 10:18 pm As much as I am loathe to defend them the legal adult age back then was 21. I can understand why the administration and parents felt they had the right to have such rules.

I get what you're saying, BH, but I bet they were still figuring out how to get together somehow. Nature always finds a way.

Ivy wrote: ↑Thu Jun 13, 2024 12:04 pm

B.H. wrote: ↑Wed Jun 12, 2024 10:18 pm As much as I am loathe to defend them the legal adult age back then was 21. I can understand why the administration and parents felt they had the right to have such rules.

I get what you're saying, BH, but I bet they were still figuring out how to get together somehow. Nature always finds a way.

I knew many people who went there and they found all kinds of ways to circumvent the rules. One person said in the sixties they wold go every weekend to clubs in Savannah TN, they had found a fencepost that wasn't anchored well and they could pick it up and get in the campus to go back to their rooms, sounds kinda like some of the WW2 POW stories in Germany.

I'm glad I went to state college and State University. I didn't go around getting drunk at parties, having sex, and doing other stuff. But I'm glad to know I was free to do so if I had wanted