Prehistory – Page 3 – Forty Years: The History of Women at Bowdoin

Pierce and Progress; Orient Article on the Pierce Report

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 authors of Pierce and Progress were completely dismissive of the Pierce Report’s evaluation of fraternities, they were supportive of coeducation but questioned what they considered prejudice in the report.

Pierce and Progress argues that the committee who wrote the Pierce Report did not represent all sides of the coeducation discussion fairly. They wonder if the committee was purposefully “ignorant about women” in order to prove Bowdoin’s need for coeducation (Document SB, 11). The Pierce Report, they argue, uses common female generalizations to present ways in which women would improve the campus. Interestingly, Pierce and Progress notes that “women often drop their fields after marriage,” which is a negative generalization the committee did not consider.

Pierce and Progress stresses the importance of continued discussion between Bowdoin students and staff about coeducation. At the time of the editorial, there was, they argue, “still a strong demand for all men schools.” Many of the male students who applied to Bowdoin while it was an all male school expected it to remain single-sex. After the admission of women, those were the men that were openly unwelcoming to their new classmates. Although the authors of this editorial seem to favor coeducation, the degree of criticism they launch against the Pierce report gives pause.

SB 11

“Coeducation Plan is Proposed” The Bowdoin Orient February 13, 1970

The Pierce Report attempted to anticipate many changes that coeducation would usher in at the college. The committee’s general plan included considerations of admissions, housing, facilities, and curriculum (Document GB, 12). One major decision by the committee was to admit transfers as well as first year students in an attempt to spread the women among the classes. In the first year, Bowdoin admitted 29 junior transfers and 39 exchange women to supplement the 66 members of the first year class of 1975.

This committee attempted to consider nearly every area of the college that would be impacted by coeducation. By publishing this excerpt in the student newspaper, the committee attempted to share its findings with the entire student body. Oral histories of women from the early years clearly reveal that even with this input, however, Bowdoin’s understanding of what coeducation would really mean. As women arrived, Bowdoin learned that additional changes were needed to make women feel more at home in this environment. For example, one demand by the early classes of women was to have working locks on every door of their residence. Other demands would follow.

GB12 - "Coeducation Plan is Proposed" The Bowdoin Orient February 13, 1970

Orient: Geary Says We Could Do It

The Bowdoin Orient – Committee on Coeducation Report

The Bowdoin Committee on Coeducation launched the first draft of its report in the spring of 1970, presenting its goals for admitting women to Bowdoin over the subsequent years (Document SC, 13). Bowdoin became coeducational in 1971, as proposed by the Committee. Not everyone agreed this was the best time to pursue coeducation, however. For example, Dick Moll, Director of Admissions, thought it would be better for the college if women were admitted in 1972. The Committee decided that the advantages of coeducation overshadowed delaying the decision for a year.

The Committee acknowledged the changes that would have to be made at the College. They laid out a plan for the ideal number of women to be enrolled each year. In 1971, they planned on thirty “freshmen” (Bowdoin now calls all incoming students “first-years”) and thirty transfer students. They would do the same in 1972, effectively doubling the enrollment of women. They proposed to admit sixty first-years and thirty transfer students for the following year. By 1976, the goal was to enroll three men for every woman.

The Committee also took into consideration the potential majors women might claim. They predicted an increase in the number of humanities majors. They also anticipated the creation of Spanish as a major and classes offered in sociology, anthropology, and child psychology. These are all offered at the College today. They noted that with an increase of classes and students there would be a higher teacher to student ratio, but also that the faculty would eventually increase. Today Bowdoin has a nine to one student to teacher ratio and a student body that is forty- seven percent male and fifty three percent female. Bowdoin has more than reached gender parity in its admissions process.

SC13

Orient: Exchange Isn’t Coeducation

The administration at Bowdoin College believed that participation in the Twelve College Exchange would enable members of the college community to determine the viability of coeducation at Bowdoin. This article (Document 14, GB) from the student newspaper reveals that the program had significant limitations. One of the most significant problems with the Twelve College Exchange was the number of women who came to Bowdoin. In the first year, only 12 women came and there were 900 men already on the campus. Most men did not even attempt to make contact with the women. The placement of women in housed on Federal Street isolated them from everyday flow of the college.

Today, forty years later, not only are all dorms home to both males and females but each floor of first-year dorms are half female and half male as well. The ratio of men to women has also changed from the first years of coeducation and is now 47% male and 53% female. In 2010, Bowdoin made yet another housing accommodation: students can now choose to live with the opposite gender in gender-blind or gender-neutral housing.

GB14.1 - Orient: Exchange Isn't Coeducation

GB14.2 - Orient: Exchange Isn't Coeducation

Student Twelve College Exchange Questionnaire Evaluation and Questionnaire Evaluations Summary of the first year of the Twelve College Exchange (1969-1970) – Sept. 1970

The Twelve-College Exchange was a program through which students from Amherst, Bowdoin, Connecticut College, Dartmouth, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Trinity, Vassar, Welleseley, Wesleyan, Wheaton and Williams could apply to spend a semester or year at one of the other institutions listed. It began as the “Ten-College Exchange” but was expanded within months when Trinity, then Wellesley, expressed interest in joining. The Twelve-College Exchange arose as a response to the push towards coeducation; each school was single-sex at the time and wished to experiment with coeducation without completely committing to the process.

The academic year 1969-70 marked the first year of the Exchange and the first year of women students at Bowdoin. This document (Document SB, 15.1) is a student evaluation of the program. According to the Questionnaire Evaluation document (Document SB, 15.2) that summarizes the returned evaluations, approximately 26% of the students who participated the first year returned an evaluation and most of those evaluations were “overwhelmingly affirmative.” Many of the evaluations, like the selected evaluation (Document SB, 15.1), suggested the expansion of the program. This evaluation specifically described Bowdoin’s social atmosphere as “abnormal” because the nearest women were 2½ hours away. Expanding the Twelve College Exchange would increase the number of women at Bowdoin and perhaps improve this “abnormal” social atmosphere.

The student evaluations express the difference in social environment between colleges. On average, female students reported that male institutions had more “relaxed” and “friendlier” communities. Both sexes reported that one of the most significant parts of the Exchange was getting to know the opposite sex. Based on these evaluations, students from these institutions were ready and excited for coeducation. At Bowdoin, there sentiments reinforced the general feeling of staff and students that Bowdoin was ready to make the commitment.

Student Twelve College Exchange Questionnaire Evaluation - sb-15.1

Questionnaire Evaluations Summary of the first year of the Twelve College Exchange(1969-1970) - Sept. 1970 -sb-15.2-page-1

Questionnaire Evaluations Summary of the first year of the Twelve College Exchange(1969-1970) - Sept. 1970 -sb-15.2-page-2

Questionnaire Evaluations Summary of the first year of the Twelve College Exchange(1969-1970) - Sept. 1970 -sb-15.2-page-3

Questionnaire Evaluations Summary of the first year of the Twelve College Exchange(1969-1970) - Sept. 1970 -sb-15.2-page-4