Oral History Interview – Forty Years: The History of Women at Bowdoin

Interview with Rosalyne Spindel Bernstein, Bowdoin Overeer, by Anna Wright ’12

In the fall of 1973, Roz Bernstein was elected to Bowdoin’s Board of Overseers—the first woman to serve in that capacity in the history of the College. Her election was motivated, in part, by the College’s 1971 move to coeducation. She served on the Board for over twenty years, where she was instrumental in the decision to eliminate fraternities. Today, she remains a Board member emerita. Click the audio link below to hear Bernstein’s reflections on her time on the Board—particularly its approach to coeducation, and the questions that she expects it to confront in the future.

Audio: click below to begin listening

Time: 4:18

AW49-1 - Orient: Golden Age for Bowdoin Greeks

On the Board’s reaction to her appointment: “When I went to my first meeting, you know, everyone was most cordial, but one guy said to me, ‘I’m very glad to meet you, but you know, I still think women don’t belong at Bowdoin,’ and I said, ‘Well, you know, that may be your opinion, but obviously, you’re in the minority.’ ”

Time: 31:09

On alumni backlash against some of the Board’s decisions: “People have this passion about their college, which is wonderful and has to be maintained, but you know, I don’t pay much attention to the grumbling. There will always be grumblers. But that fades away over time.”

Time: 31:33

On coeducation: “It’s the best thing that ever happened to Bowdoin College…It transformed attitudes on campus; it transformed campus life; it transformed the classroom.”

Citation: I, Anna Wright, interviewed Roz Bernstein on Sunday, October 30, 2011, at her home in Portland, Maine. We discussed her experience as the first woman on the Bowdoin College Board of Overseers, particularly as it related to the College’s change from an all-male institution to a coeducational one.

Interview with Saddie Smith ’75, by Stephanie Bond ’13

An African American Female Student Perspective on Coeducation at Bowdoin: A Discussion with Saddie Smith

As a member of Bowdoin’s first class of admitted women, Saddie Smith had to balance being both a female and an African American student. Failure at Bowdoin was not an option for Smith, a first-generation college student, so she put her nose to the books. Smith credits Bowdoin for the confidence that led her to impressive heights, from a Sewall Latin Prize at Bowdoin, to a degree at Columbia Law School, to the influential VP position she now holds at Consolidated Edison Co. of New York, Inc. To hear Smith tell her story about how she established herself as an African American woman in the first class of women at Bowdoin, listen to the audio links below. You will see how she uses humor to her advantage.

Audio: click tracks(s) below to begin listening

Intriguing Pieces:
Section 1-

Time: 00:21:56

Quotation: [In reference to the practice of bussing women from other schools to Bowdoin for parties] “It was a carryover, cause I was a freshman, so that’s kind of what they did. That was part of the whole social thing is bringing, I guess, busloads of women to campus and they kind of, like, forgot about—well I guess it’s kind of good because they saw us as, like, just one of the guys.”

Section 3-

Time: 00:11:32

Quotation: [In reference to difference between HBC and Bowdoin]“I think it was easier for me to fit in at Bowdoin than it would have been for me to fit in at say, Spellman, because at Bowdoin it was obvious that I was different; a woman, a minority. But in a Historically Black College I think I would have, there would have been more pressure to try to fit because I was one of them.”

Time: 00:16:00

Quotation: [In reference to being both an African American and female]“Black women, we kinda get rolled up into one or the other. Either black or either woman and we never get our little, like, standalone kind of thing and I think it’s a very different dynamic, and a dual personality, and you’re always balancing the African American verses the woman.”

Citation: I, Stephanie Bond, interviewed Saddie Smith ‘75 on Sunday, November, 20 2011, in New York, New York. We discussed how Saddie Smith’s experience as a member of the first admitted class of women at Bowdoin College was shaped by her status as both an African American and female student.

Interview with Professor Helen Cafferty by K. Skyler Walley ’12

Finding Her Way Through the Bowdoin Professorial Ranks: A Discussion with Helen Cafferty

As one of the first female professors hired at Bowdoin during its transition to coeducation, and the first female professor to pass through all the ranks, from assistant to associate to full professor, Helen Cafferty has had a remarkable experience as a Bowdoin faculty member. To hear about how she established herself in the German Department, introduced unofficial women’s studies courses, and navigated the still predominantly male Bowdoin campus, listen to the audio below.

Audio: click below to begin listening

Intriguing Pieces:

Time: 00:02:20

Quotation: [In reference to applying to be a professor] “So when it came to Bowdoin, I had a long series of hour interviews with everyone on the faculty committee and they were very cavalier and gracious, and perhaps just a touch patronizing, but with the best motivation I think…”

Time: 00:22:45

Quotation: [In reference to recounting memorable early experiences as a professor] “One time, I think this was in the third year of German language class, I did something differently, I basically lectured in German and wrote on the board a lot…And so I talked about existentialism in German literature in German…and one of the students came up afterwards and said, “Finally you are getting the hang of what it means to be a teacher at Bowdoin!”

Time: 00:39:26

Quotation: [In reference to providing classes, although unofficial at the time, concentrating on women] “I did teach, co-teach, a course on literature and women. And this was a representation of women as well as the cultural status of women, sociological status of women, as in the context of the literature…and then a course on history of German literature with a focus on women…that was very satisfying, these early attempts to have a presence…”

Citation: I, Skyler Walley, interviewed Professor Helen Cafferty on Friday, October 21, 2011, in room 403 of Adams Hall at Bowdoin College. We discussed Professor Cafferty’s experience at Bowdoin as a faculty member, and in particular, as one of the first female faculty members present during Bowdoin’s transition to coeducation.

Interview with Lisa McElaney ’77, Trustee, by Emma Nathaniel ’12

Improving over Time: Lisa McElaney’s Thoughts about Bowdoin since Coeducation

A graduate of the third fully coeducational class at Bowdoin, in 1977, Lisa McElaney is not afraid to admit that her relationship with the College has not always been exclusively positive. However, Lisa returned as a visiting faculty member for a year in the 1980s, was granted the Common Good Award in 1996, and served on the Board of Trustees for ten years in the 2000s. After a not-so-perfect beginning at Bowdoin, what brought Lisa back over the years? Click here to find out!

Audio: click below to begin listening

Intriguing Pieces:

Time: 6:11

Quote: [In reference to her first years at Bowdoin] “In retrospect I think of myself having lost my voice for a while in that first period of time at Bowdoin, a lot of my student experience there the first two years I flailed more than I ever had in life up until then. Things had gone pretty smoothly for me. I’d done well, I’d fallen into the right relationships, and I think it was a question of timing, but when I arrived at Bowdoin, that pattern went in another direction….”

Time: 36:27

Quote: [Describing her junior year as an exchange student at Wellesley] “[My roommate from Bowdoin and I] have come to Wellesley with ten other Bowdoin students as part of the Twelve College Exchange- all of them are male. We are these weird two girls who want to go to a women’s college, and the Wellesley students think we’re weird, too. You know, ‘what are you doing here?’ And I get into this dorm where I have a single, so this is also really exciting…My dorm is comprised of mostly African American, Latina, Native American women, and I am on a floor where I am in a minority…”

Time: 52:20

Quote: [Discussing the Board of Trustees] “My sense is that really great organizations like Bowdoin, and I think the leadership of Bowdoin is really terrific, is cognizant of building a board that is diverse, and I mean diverse in a lot of different ways…”

Citation: I, Emma Nathaniel, interviewed Lisa McElaney ’77 at her office in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Friday, October 21, 2011. We discussed her time at Bowdoin both as a student and later as a visiting professor and trustee.

Interview with William Eccleston ’74, by Genevieve Barlow ’13

This interview attempts to get one perspective of the men who called Bowdoin home during the early years of coeducation. Bill Eccleston class of 1974 shares his stories of what life was like for women here at Bowdoin but from a perspective of a man. He adds an interesting view on every day life at Bowdoin that ranges from fraternities, to athletics, to curriculum. Bill provides a positive view on how Bowdoin changed with the implementation of women.

Audio: click tracks(s) below to begin listening