Commencement Address – Forty Years: The History of Women at Bowdoin

First Female Graduate Delivers Commencement Address

In her bold and eloquent 1971 commencement address, Bowdoin’s first female graduate, Susan Jacobson, assuages some common concerns about coeducation at Bowdoin and proposes insightful recommendations for the future of the college as a successfully coeducational institution (Document AK, 22).

Making a point to contextualize Bowdoin’s efforts not only in the contemporary world but also within history, Jacobson points to Bowdoin’s responsibility to seek out an international student body. Noting that other nations had long ago realized their “woman power,” Jacobson hopes that the United States – and hopefully Bowdoin itself – will “[…] someday be able to boast of having educated an Indira Ghandi or a Golda Meir.” Jacobson adds that allowing women to study at Bowdoin serves as a meaningful way to honor the many women who worked for and committed themselves to Bowdoin in non-academic ways in the past.

Jacobson is careful to note that the admission of women poses no threat to the preexisting academic and administrative features that make Bowdoin so effective and well respected. With what may be a hint of sarcasm she writes, “So firmly established are these areas that they need not fear any injury by the “weaker sex.”” On the contrary, she says, the presence of women serves to enhance already prestigious academic departments while helping to develop and improve the arts and humanities. She further asserts that, “Many wild speculations as to what the co-eds will be like and much needless worrying stem from a failure to realize that these girls have wants, interests, and aims similar to the male contingent. Instead of viewing these women as invaders from another galaxy, one should and must accept them as a complement to the male student body.”

Jacobson mentions but does not dwell on the adversity that many of these first Bowdoin women faced. She concludes with the hopeful sentence, “From now on [the alma mater] should read “Bowdoin from birth the nurturer of men, and now of women.” Little could she have imagined that in 1994, Anthony Antolini ’63, director of the Bowdoin Chorus, would honor Bowdoin’s bicentennial by officially altering the lyrics of the song to be more gender-inclusive, changing the words “nurturer of men” to “nurturer and friend.”

We were unable to reprint this speech in its entirety. If you would like to read the entire speech, please visit the George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections and Archives, Bowdoin College

Jacobson, Susan. “Commencement Address,” Class Records, Class of 1971 [1.6.166], Bowdoin College Archives, Brunswick, Maine.

Deborah Mann’s 1975 commencement address offers a unique insight into the day-to-day experience of a Bowdoin woman in the first full graduating class (Document AK, 30). Mann describes some of the more flagrant misogyny remaining on the formerly all-male campus as well as the remarkable tenacity and courage with which this prejudice was met by these early Bowdoin women.

Mann includes an intriguing anecdote that demonstrates some of this discrimination: “An upperclassman, somewhat put out, once told me that he hoped I didn’t misunderstand – he didn’t hate me personally, he simply hated me as a co-ed.” As disturbing as this comment may seem, Mann’s real message is that, “The courage of those first cheerleaders, actresses and champions of the cause of women’s liberation cannot be overestimated.” She laments the “fish bowl” nature of the still male-controlled community at Bowdoin, claiming that “Visibility was something to be avoided […] but notoriety invited instant and universal derision, fame or whatever was deemed warranted by the male student body.” Mann also discusses the tremendous party and alcohol scene – so often cited as a partial impetus behind coeducation in the first place – plus the tenuous dynamic between Bowdoin women and women attending nearby Westbrook College who arrived on weekends to participate in social events, only to leave again each Sunday.

Gratefully, Mann eventually writes, “[…] the female portion of the student body was becoming too large to be teased and taunted with such nonchalance.” With this shift came a lessening of some female solidarity, as the common male enemy, as it were, was no longer behaving quite so terribly. Interestingly, many of the men with whom we have spoken for this project have indicated that while coeducation was important, many other issues eclipsed coeducation as the issue of the day, such as social unrest, the Vietnam war, and the growing drug culture. Mann, however, puts it differently: “Those of us who had had no serious concern with women’s liberation were forced into having no other preoccupation in that first year.”

AK30a - Deborah Mann Speaks at 1975 Commencement Ceremony

AK30b - Deborah Mann Speaks at 1975 Commencement Ceremony

AK30c - Deborah Mann Speaks at 1975 Commencement Ceremony

AK30d - Deborah Mann Speaks at 1975 Commencement Ceremony

AK30e - Deborah Mann Speaks at 1975 Commencement Ceremony