Taking steps: There will definitely be dancing at the 50th reunion party next weekend for North Central College’s Class of 1946. That’s as it should be, because these graduates held a protest over the ban of dancing that was in effect when they were in school.
In December 1945, the Student Council formed a committee to study the 85-year-old ban. While the Board of Trustees met on campus to elect a new president for the college on April 4, 1946, 400 students left their afternoon classes to protest outside the oldest building on campus, Old Main. They jitterbugged to music played by a live jazz trio.
The dancers didn’t convince the trustees that year, but the restriction was finally lifted in 1957.
Wheaton College, meanwhile, is still discussing changing its 136-year-old prohibition. No dancing at reunion parties there this year, it seems.
