1977 – Forty Years: The History of Women at Bowdoin

Letter from Sally LaPointe to President Howell

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 athletics annually, or bi-annually. She alludes to the impact of equal rights and Title IX—implemented in 1972, just after coeducation started at Bowdoin—on women’s athletics (see http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/interath.html for more information). That is, Title IX resulted in more women participating in sports before college, which, in turn, meant more women wanted to be athletes at the College.

LaPointe comments on fall, winter, and spring teams, and praises the athletes for their efforts. However, she notes the necessity for more female coaches and assistant coaches because of the large number of participants, which had increased drastically since the President’s Commission of 1972. LaPointe concludes by applauding the women for their contribution to the College, for their hard work, and for their spirit during their respective seasons.

President Howell responds to LaPointe (document available in Special Collections at Bowdoin) thanking her for the report, but offers no evidence or promises of immediate action to be taken to fulfill her requests.

JH58 Page 1 - Letter from Sally LaPointe to President Howell — JH58 Page 1 – Letter from Sally LaPointe to President Howell

JH58 Page 2 - Letter from Sally LaPointe to President Howell — JH58 Page 2 – Letter from Sally LaPointe to President Howell

Bowdoin Film Society Flyer, Awards and Kaster’s Film History Class

The implementation of coeducation at Bowdoin College undoubtedly changed the social scene at the time, challenging long held fraternity traditions and practices. Coeducation also changed Bowdoin academically. The presence of women faculty at Bowdoin created new possibilities for academic pursuits. Professor Barbara Kaster came to Bowdoin with a position in the English Department. She accepted the position on the condition that she be allowed to teach Film as well. Kaster taught Film History and made filmmaking a mandatory part of the course. The Bowdoin Film Society (BFS), founded in 1974, grew out of Kaster’s Film History class.

Student films were screened in the spring during the Annual Student Film Awards Night. The BFS co-sponsored the event and awarded an Oscar-replica statue to the Best Film. The event was by no means small. Some students dressed to the nines, some even renting a limo for the event. In a phone interview, Kaster recalls that tickets would be made available at a given hour and would sell out within fifteen minutes. The campus support for student filmmakers was substantial.

The flyer [DocumentAG, 42.1] announces the Fourth Annual Student Film Awards Night held in 1977. Current filmmaker, Liza McElaney ’77, made her first film, Pattern Grace, in Kaster’s Film History course and won Best Film at the student film festival her senior year [DocumentAG, 42.2]. In 1978 and 1979 the Best Film award again went to groups with women on them [DocumentAG, 42.3 and DocumentAG, 42.4]

AG42.2 - Bowdoin Film Society Awards 1977

AG42.3 - Bowdoin Film Society Awards 1978

AG42.4 - Bowdoin Film Society Awards 1979

The BFS allowed women to claim a space on campus where male membership did not predate their own. Kaster encouraged students, male and female, to take what they learned in the classroom and engage with the material in an interactive manner. Also, as one of the few female faculty members at Bowdoin in the early 1970’s, Kaster served as a mentor and role model for female students. She and the BFS celebrated student achievements in a positive way, encouraging some women to pursue film as a career. [DocumentAG, 42.5]

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.