I see that I misunderstood your meaning that “the universites were never like that” with regard to making the girls go home early, when you meant race relations.
I may never know if race played any part in the lateness. But I did see continuing segregation not only of the races but also of social classes when I lived in the deep south in 1969. The janitor at my place of business was black and had a college degree. One day I talked to him in the lunchroom as he swept the floor. He was astonished that I took any interest in learning about him and his family and soon began looking around furtively so he wouldn’t get in trouble.
One of the weirder classist manifestations was when I tried to get opera tickets for myself and my husband, and the man selling them detected a northern accent, so he began interviewing me, and ultimately said we would not be able to purchase tickets because my husband was military but not an officer. I said he was an Ivy League graduate but had been drafted—but nope!
Oh right. The colleges here were very Victorian too. We could only have men in our rooms on Sunday with the door open. That’s kind of a funny rule when you think about it. It doesn’t say anything about what could go on with the door open.
Skirts required in the dining room (i.e., no slacks or shorts).
There was a bar nearby that was a great place to meet IBM guys (no men’s colleges nearby), but then they made a rule that we couldn’t go there.