Winning the War of the Sexes (1963)

I am strong... I am invincible... I am woman Helen Reddy

I had a room in East Residence in the final year (1963-64) that it was the women’s quarters. True to tradition, the annual raid on our dormitory was carefully choreographed; both Residence Directors knew when the raid was going to happen, and it had their sort-of blessing. The Women’s Residence custodian unlocked the door between the two wings, and since they were connected via the Auditorium, the horde from West Res didn’t even have to go outside in the weather to get at us.

I remember over 20 women raided the men one night when I was in my 3rd year. This was in 1965-66. It wasn’t so much a raid in the usual sense as it was a clandestine hit-and-run operation under the cover of darkness. By this time the women were housed in Mary Speechly Hall. The custodian of the men’s dorm let us into the building (now renamed Taché Hall) to do our dastardly deeds. We knotted nylon stockings end-to-end and then tied the doorknobs of facing doors to each other. The doors opened into the rooms, and since we strung the nylons from a doorknob on one side of the hall to the doorknob directly opposite, the guys couldn't get their doors open.

One guy woke up and was headed to the washroom when we were doing this, but I told him to just go back to bed...and he did!!!! He was so sleepy he didn’t even twig to what was happening or question why there were women in his residence. Since we thwarted his trip to the facilities, did he end up wetting the bed?! Was he in deep doodoo with the rest of the guys the next morning for not raising the roof while we were there???!!! I seem to remember something about syrup on the toilet seats, and Saran Wrap stretched over the tops of the toilet bowls. It all went without a hitch, and we made our getaway as clean as a whistle.

Oh my, what good times we had!