In the 20th century, the outbreak of world war and the emergence of national social movements both challenged and reinforced gender norms across the country. For Macalester in particular, World War II was a watershed moment. Women now vastly outnumbered men on campus, as college-aged men were needed on the battlefront, and some administrators worried that the chaos and fear that came with war would lead to sexual immorality and the degradation of norms.¹ Perhaps they were right— after all, when army air corps trainees moved into Kirk Hall, displacing their former male residents, male and female Macalester students dined together for the first time in Wallace Hall.² Later, in 1944, female students had to move into Kirk Hall, despite the fact that the building was designed to house men only. ³

However, although traditional practices around gender were challenged in some ways, they were reinforced in others. The Home Management House was established in 1943 and offered women students interested in home economics to practice the principles they had learned while living together under one roof.⁴ Residents worked together to plan meals, cook, and clean while overseen by a professor, who served as the house’s advisor.⁵ At the time, Macalester had a Home Economics department that offered majors and minors, with a curriculum that emphasized traditionally feminine household roles.⁶ Marriages in the student body picked up speed, and the Mac Weekly began publishing a new section of the paper called “Rings from the Bell Tower,” which announced engagements and weddings between students.⁷ Although war disrupted the normal flow of college life, it also led to a strengthening of gender norms in response to the chaos and fear that war generated.