Status markers

From USAFA Folklore

Status markers were used on cadet rooms at various times to indicate what a cadet "status" was at a given time. The original status marker were used between 1955 to 1958 when the Academy was located at Lowry Air Force Base. Each room had a status card on which cadets indicated where they were by means of a wooden peg. The status card was later replaced at the permanent site by the authorized/other metal flipper.

According the "new" status markers, if you went OTF, you were supposed to flip the marker over your nameplate to "Other" indicating that you were not in a place you were authorized to be. That way, you would not (technically speaking) be lying about being OTF and therefore not violating the Honor Code.

[edit] Personal Accounts

I recall that when you flipped the marker to "authorized" it meant that you would observe the so called "five points," i.e., limits, drinking, drugs, hazing, and gambling. Maybe one of the early grads can elaborate on this issue.
--Hector Negroni, Class of 1961

When my class ('76) entered, the metal flippers were not in use as any indicator of status/location. That changed to the interpretation presented here circa 1974, after Hoyt Vandenberg, Jr., became Commandant. Quatermass '76