Forty Years: The History of Women at Bowdoin

A Class Project of GWS 280 - Fall 2011

  • Prehistory
  • Process
  • Curriculum
  • Athletics
  • Extracurriculars
  • Social Life & Fraternities
  • Women’s Resource Center
  • Timeline

Orient: Greason Attacks

In 1969, two years prior to the admission of women to the College, Bowdoin decided to drop its distribution requirements. After that decision, and then in light of the transition to coeducation, Bowdoin’s curriculum underwent significant scrutiny in the early 1970s. In this Orient article, (Document SW, 34), the author documents Dean of the College, A. LeRoy Greason’s argument that the “faculty are to blame for the [at the time] present abuses of Bowdoin’s free curriculum,” a curriculum he felt had no “coherent policy acceptable to both faculty and students.”

The author notes that Greason’s argument concerning the curriculum is particularly relevant to, if not rooted in, Bowdoin’s recent transition to coeducation. The author writes that “Greason’s strongest criticism” concerned the faculty’s inability to confront the “implications of the College’s decisions to admit a more diversified student body and to drop distribution requirements.” Greason asserts that the combination of these two decisions is responsible for the “growing number of students who concentrate heavily in music and the arts” and avoid “other areas of the curriculum.” Consequently, Greason contends that in failing to develop a “coherent curriculum,” or a curriculum that mandates taking classes in a variety of disciplines, the faculty is essentially preventing the student body from receiving the true breadth of focus a liberal arts education should warrant.

In general, Greason’s argument that the faculty has failed to address the curricular effects of dropping the distribution requirements and recently admitting women demonstrates one of the ways Bowdoin’s shift to coeducation complicated the College’s understanding of how to best and appropriately provide a diverse liberal arts education. Although Bowdoin did not reverse its move toward coeducation, it did retract its decision to drop distribution requirements. Currently, however, male and female students at Bowdoin must take courses in five different distribution areas in order to graduate.

SW34 - Orient: Greason Attacks
SW34 - Orient: Greason Attacks

Filed Under: Curriculum, Documents Tagged With: 1974, A. LeRoy Greason, Greason, Orient, SW34

Distribution Tables, Number of Freshmen and Courses Taken by Majors

Three years after the official announcement of Bowdoin’s transition to coeducation, specifically in August 1974, a committee entitled the Special Committee on the Curriculum began its operation. Although initially comprised of ten members and a consultant, by the time the data part of the report presented here was released, that is, on March 10, 1976, it was comprised of only seven regular members, three of whom were often absent. As a result of its dwindling numbers, the Special Committee was unable to make specific recommendations in every area of the curriculum in this report but still asserted its belief that the curriculum needs to “remain the object of on-going study and of periodic adjustments.”

Within this thirty-page report, the Special Committee on the Curriculum addresses and makes recommendations on topics such as the “Liberal Arts Curriculum,” “Distribution and Requirements,” and a “Freshman-Sophomore Program” and provides various data tables pertaining to these subjects areas at the end of the report, including the two presented here. The first distribution table entitled, “Number of Freshmen…” (Document SW, 36.1), reveals that after the admission of women in 1971, in almost every single course area, except for French, German, Russian, and Biology, enrollment increased, if not substantially so, by 1974. The second distribution table entitled, “Courses taken by majors…” (Document SW, 36.2), reveals that, after three years of women’s admission to Bowdoin, the dominant majors were Government, History, Psychology, Biology and English, and that students were still taking a relatively equal amount of courses outside their majors.

Thus, although Bowdoin anticipated many curricular modifications occurring as a result of women’s admission to the College, as these distribution tables expose, very few changes actually took place besides a general increase in class enrollments.

SW36.1 Distribution Table, Number of Freshmen
SW36.1 Distribution Table, Number of Freshmen

 

SW36.2 - Distribution Table, Number of Freshmen
SW36.2 - Distribution Table, Number of Freshmen
SW36.2 -  Distribution Table, Courses Taken by Majors
SW36.2 - Distribution Table, Courses Taken by Majors

Filed Under: Curriculum, Documents Tagged With: 1971, 1974, 1976, Distribution Table, Freshmen, Majors, SW36.1, SW36.2

Women’s Healthcare and Birth Control

Represented here are four interesting documents that all have to do with the issue of women’s health, in particular access to birth control and gynecological exams. First, a memorandum from the Ad Hoc Committee of Coeducation in 1972 addressed the fact that Bowdoin’s infirmary and counseling facilities were not equipped to deal with women’s issues (Document AK, 26.1). Moreover, the college had at this point failed to fulfill promises that women could obtain gynecological exams from the health center.

Following this discussion, the “Bowdoin Women’s Proposal on Gynecological Service” in May 1974 noted how surprising it was that Bowdoin did not have a more comprehensive health policy designed for women (Document AK, 26.2). These women claimed first that the few available health services were inadequate and male-oriented, and second, that the services were actually negligent, resulting in the misdiagnosis and failure to treat numerous gynecological problems. The women sensed a general reluctance from the infirmary staff to deal with the issue of birth control “because of their own traditional or moral values.” This “hesitancy,” they declared, was dangerous and unacceptable, and they demanded more and better health services for women. A letter from “Concerned Black Women” threw support behind this initial women’s claim, stating, “As black women, we would like to give our support to the womens group seeking to secure adequate health care for women on campus” (Document AK, 26.3).

Furthermore, a 1971 Orient article written by Jo Dondis exposed the fact that the college had no policy whatsoever with regard to birth control (Document AK, 26.4). Although in all of these cases the infirmary seemed willing to accommodate women on paper, in practice they did not deal effectively with the admission of women to the college and the special health needs this would bring. As a result, many women sought out or were referred to local clinics and gynecologists unaffiliated with Bowdoin. While this may have been adequate for some and even sanctioned by the college for others, it put an unfair strain on local clinics, as these women pointed out, and contributed to an overall sense that women did not exercise full citizenship in the Bowdoin community.

AK26.1a -  Ad Hoc Committee on Women's Health Services
AK26.1a - Ad Hoc Committee on Women's Health Services
AK26.1b -  Ad Hoc Committee on Women's Health Services
AK26.1b - Ad Hoc Committee on Women's Health Services
AK26.2a - Bowdoin Women’s Proposal on Gynecological Service
AK26.2a - Bowdoin Women’s Proposal on Gynecological Service
AK26.2b - Bowdoin Women’s Proposal on Gynecological Service
AK26.2b - Bowdoin Women’s Proposal on Gynecological Service
AK26.3 - Concerned Black Women
AK26.3 - Concerned Black Women
AK26.4 - Jo Dondis Orient Article
AK26.4 - Jo Dondis Orient Article

Filed Under: Documents, Process Tagged With: 1972, 1974, AK26.1, AK26.2, AK26.3, AK26.4, Article, Birth Control, Healthcare, Jo Dondis, Orient

Categories

  • Athletics (9)
    • Documents (6)
    • Focus Group (1)
    • Oral History Interview (2)
  • Curriculum (8)
    • Documents (6)
    • Focus Group (1)
    • Oral History Interview (1)
  • Extracurriculars (10)
    • Documents (6)
    • Oral History Interview (3)
  • Prehistory (20)
    • Documents (18)
    • Oral History Interview (2)
  • Process (22)
    • Documents (12)
    • Focus Group (3)
    • Oral History Interview (7)
  • Social Life & Fraternities (20)
    • Documents (12)
    • Focus Group (3)
    • Oral History Interview (5)
  • Women’s Resource Center (8)
    • Documents (6)
    • Focus Group (1)
    • Oral History Interview (1)
  • Sources
  • Acknowledgments

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