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

Alumni Magazine Excerpt

This excerpt from the article “Seven from ’Seventy-Five” (Document EN, 29) from the spring 1975 edition of The Bowdoin Alumnus (Bowdoin’s alumni magazine, which is now known simply as Bowdoin) includes the introduction and one of seven short profiles of women graduating in 1975 after having been “members of the first Bowdoin freshman class to which women were admitted as degree candidates.” The introduction is noteworthy because it not only anoints these women and the other women from their class “pioneers,” but it also posits that “the major aggravations [regarding issues with coeducation] have diminished, it seems, if not disappeared.” This is perhaps a generous view with which some might disagree, but it is clear from the sentiments of the women in the article that the initial issues with coeducation certainly did abate during their four years at Bowdoin.

Patricia “Barney” Geller describes her class as “‘a pretty unique group of women—we could take the heat of being the first class of coeds, although we were overwhelmed at first.’”

Her profile draws attention to the fact that she was the first woman to be elected president of the Psi Upsilon fraternity, during her first year at Bowdoin. While it is certainly impressive that a woman was elected president of a fraternity during the first year of full coeducation at Bowdoin, Geller notes that even in 1975 there was still work to be done for women, which she hoped the Bowdoin Women’s Association could address. Given the founding of the Women’s Resource Center at Bowdoin in 1980, it seems that the College did eventually take seriously the idea of “consciousness-raising for women.” Geller had considered transferring, but she decided to stay because of the ties students developed with the college. “‘I can’t really put my finger on why this is the case,’” she stated. Geller expresses a sentiment that alumni continue to voice to this day.

 

EN29.1  - Alumni Magazine Excerpt
EN29.1 - Alumni Magazine Excerpt
EN29.2  - Alumni Magazine Excerpt
EN29.2 - Alumni Magazine Excerpt

Filed Under: Documents, Process Tagged With: 1975, Alumni, Barney Geller, EN29, Magazine, Patricia Geller, Psi U, Psi Upsilon

Trustees Focus Group

Several women from the first coeducational classes at Bowdoin now serve on the Board of Trustees. In a focus group, trustees Michele Cyr ’76, Ellen Shuman ’76, Ann Kenyon ’79, and Debbie Barker ’80 discussed their experiences as students in the early years of coeducation at the College, and as alumnae with strong attachments to the school. Click the audio link below to hear their reflections on their triumphs and struggles as undergraduates; the changes that took place in the campus’s academic and social life; and why Bowdoin inspires such fierce loyalty in its alumni.

Audio: click title below to begin listening

https://learn.bowdoin.edu/gender-women/audio/trustees-trustees-focus-group.mp3
Trustees Focus Group - Shelley Cyr '76, Ann Kenyon '79, Ellen Schuman '76, and Debbie Barker '80
Trustees Focus Group - Shelley Cyr '76, Ann Kenyon '79, Ellen Schuman '76, and Debbie Barker '80

Filed Under: Focus Group, Focus Group, Process, Social Life & Fraternities Tagged With: Alumni, Ann Kenyon, Debbie Barker, Ellen Shuman, Focus Group, Michele Cyr, Trustees

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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