Forty Years: The History of Women at Bowdoin
A Class Project of GWS 280 - Fall 2011
This document is an excerpt from the June 1, 1972 Report of the President’s Commission on Athletics (Document JH, 56), written by President Roger Howell, Jr., directly after the end of the first full year of coeducation at Bowdoin. The President notes the importance of investigating women’s athletics in order to for the report to [...]
The first women’s coach at Bowdoin, and supervisor of the women’s athletic program, Sally LaPointe, wrote this letter regarding the condition of women’s sports in May of 1977, about six years after the College first admitted women (Document JH, 58). It seemed to be LaPointe’s responsibility to update the president on the status of women’s [...]
In considering the transition to coeducation, colleges and universities around the United States began to reflect on the many changes that would occur or be required in admitting the “opposite sex”. Prospective changes included those to living facilities and dormitories, dining halls, infirmary and athletic buildings, and notably, college curricula. Bowdoin addressed the anticipation of [...]
This editorial, Pierce and Progress, from the October 3, 1969 issue of the student newspaper The Orient responds to the release of a Bowdoin student life report known as the Pierce Report. The writers of the Pierce Report recommended changes to the campus that included both coeducation and the continued presence of fraternities. While the [...]
Susan Jacobson, Bowdoin’s first college graduate, is pictured sitting next to President Dr. Roger Howell peering at her father’s signature in Bowdoin’s famous matriculation book (Document 18, GB). Jacobson, who recently passed away on October 4, 2011 graduated magna cum laude with a degree in English, then pursued a masters in library science at Simmons. [...]
