“How many pages is your student handbook?
Damn, that’s a lot of rules! We only have one rule at Wabash.”

I remember my first winter break after the Fall semester of my freshmen year well. After a few days resting and getting my feet back under myself following a grueling finals week, I went out to eat with some of my hometown friends, and everyone asked each other about how the semester had been, what we had done and how we enjoyed our new endeavors.

When they asked about my experiences at that “all-boys school out in the middle of Indiana” we all made jokes about how weird Wabash seemed to outsiders. But as strange as Wabash was, I had learned to appreciate and be proud of the traditions that define the halls at our institution.

Pridefully, I recounted my incredible experience at this strange place in Crawfordsville. I talked about my experience as a pledge for the Psi Chapter of my fraternity (“No dude, it’s not a frat”), getting my ‘W’ at Chapel Sing and the heartbreaking defeat at the 128th Monon Bell Classic. But what I was perhaps most proud of was the Gentleman’s Rule – the link between the enormous freedoms we enjoy as students with the responsibility that allows such freedoms. While other schools have detailed student handbooks, a Wabash man is “…expected to conduct himself at all times, both on and off campus, as a gentleman and a responsible citizen.”

I thought it was admirable to be attending a college in which administrators fade into the background as responsible student leaders guide the student body through traditions – and even today I still think this is admirable. There is a reason that the Gentleman’s Rule is one of the oldest traditions at our great institution.

But all too often a small minority of students on campus violate this sacred ideal. In my four years at Wabash, I have witnessed vandalization of property and acts of physical violence that have sent fellow Wabash men to the hospital. I’ve seen Wabash men shout the heinous things that they would do to a visiting basketball player’s mother, sister or girlfriend – by name, no less. I’ve seen Rainbow Road trashed enough times to where it’s been expected that The Bachelor will have at least one hot-button topic to write about in October.

Acts like these by just a few Wabash “men” give the College’s administration the justification they would need to permanently suspend the Gentleman’s Rule, install cameras and rule with an iron fist. The loss of the Gentleman’s Rule would destroy the very fabric of what makes Wabash a special place – it would remove the freedom and responsibility entrusted to us by the administration that enables us to prepare ourselves for the real world.

Now I would argue that it is an exaggeration to even think that today our administration might just think of changing the Gentleman’s Rule…why would they? Most of our school’s administration has deep ties to Wabash – many were students or have been long-time faculty members. They have the experience to know that the Gentleman’s Rule works in the long run, so they have no reason to doubt it will continue to work.

But if we sit passively and allow these incidents to continue on our campus without stepping up, we will have demonstrated that we don’t have the responsibility that earns our freedom. Someday a line may be crossed, and students’ abilities to control their own freedoms may be suspended. Why should we wait for someone to unravel the very fabric of our campus when instead we can step up and take action as students?

Take the vandalization that occurred at Phi Kappa Psi this past week as an example. I think healthy and fun rivalries between fraternities are a great part of our campus culture. I like going head-to-head with fellow fraternity men at events such as PanHel, but putting down the gloves to unite against our common enemy down south when they visit our campus.

But in what world is it gentlemanly to vandalize and trash someone else’s home? It doesn’t matter whether or not this was a targeted attack, and I don’t know the extenuating circumstances of why this happened, but I know it is a clear violation of acting as a responsible citizen and a gentleman.

Imagine how it looks for a high school senior, in the process of selecting where he will live for the next four years, to visit a campus in which there is seemingly no respect between the men of this institution.

Now what would have happened if the offenders had asked themselves a critical question just before they took decisive action: Is what I am about to do representative of how my parents raised me, a good and responsible citizen and a gentleman of Wabash? I likely wouldn’t be writing this article.

This is not unique to just this recent situation. I’m a fan of making memories, doing some dumb things and making a few questionable decisions (in a responsible way, of course). There is no better time to do so than before you get a job and start a family. But I’ve seen enough “men” act in ungentlemanly ways – enough that every semester it seems like a few students cause a stir.

So I leave my fellow Wabash men with a charge: Instead of letting this pattern of continual violations occur, hold yourself and each other more accountable to the Gentleman’s Rule. Ask yourself if your mother would be proud of what you are about to do. Ask yourself if the actions you plan to take may affect your career in 20 years. And of course, ask yourself if you are being a gentleman.