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1920s State Supreme Court Praises Major University For Expelling Female Student Who Smoked A Cigarette
Even though no official rule was broken, a young woman was kicked out of college for smoking, while men weren’t held to the same standard
Women have long faced an uphill battle in society in dealing with uneven playing fields and expectations. A prime example of this was a young 1920s woman who was expelled from a major university for smoking a cigarette even though she broke no rule or law. After suing and seeing her case make its way to the state Supreme Court, she was shocked to have the institution’s decision upheld, while the court praised them for having taken such a drastic measure.
In 1922, 18-year-old Alice Tanton was attending Michigan State Normal School (later Eastern Michigan University) in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Cigarettes were found in the trash receptacle in her dormitory room. She claimed that she was using the butts to char the edges of posters in her room, while the school contended that she was smoking. Despite there being no rule against smoking at the college, she was told she was not welcome back by Bessie Leach Priddy, the Dean of Women. The decision was made on the grounds that the young lady had violated her standards of lady-like behavior.
At trial, the attorneys for the university tried to show that Tanton was addicted to smoking, having not only been seen smoking cigarettes around Ypsilanti, but also on one occasion while sitting in the lap of a young man in his vehicle while she had a smoke dangling from her lips.
Furthermore, most of the women attending Michigan State Normal were there to become licensed as teachers. Upon being admitted, they had to sign a pledge of sorts that indicated their primary focus was their dedication to becoming good teachers. The college was determined to be within their rights to broadly interpret and enforce such a pledge as they saw fit, despite nothing being specifically documented as such.
Tanton was shocked and took her case to a lawyer. The crux of their argument was not only was no rule at the school violated, there were plenty of male students who openly smoked without similar problems and…
