Orient – Page 2 – Forty Years: The History of Women at Bowdoin

Proposal for a Women’s Resource Center

In February 1980, Lois Egasti, Bowdoin’s Dean of Students, sent this proposal to the Student Life Committee requesting that a “long overdue” Women’s Resource Center be established at 24 College St (Document CS, 61.1). At the time there were 10 women living at 24 College St. The space was to remain a dormitory in addition to a space designated for Bowdoin women. That the space was meant for Bowdoin women is evidenced by the name, Women’s Resource Center, and by the proposal’s suggested purposes for the center. The Women’s Resource Center was to be a “comfortable social setting” and serve as the official headquarters for the Bowdoin Women’s Association. The proposal held that “any groups, Bowdoin or local, concerned with women’s issues” could meet in the center.

According to the feminist issue of To the Root published in March 1980, the regular library did not have any periodicals related to women but did have a subscription to Playboy. One main purposes of founding a Women’s Resource Center was to create a space for a library of material by and about women.

The letter to the editor of the college newspaper on February 22, 1980 announces the acceptance of the proposal and invites people to participate in the Women’s Resource Center (Document CS, 61.2). From the beginning, the members of the Women’s Resource Center Collective attempted to raise awareness and build community. The opening of the center marked an important transition for women at Bowdoin. Women’s presence on campus would be claimed and emphasized on a whole new level, in the form of a small, brown house on College St.

CS61.1 Page 1 - Proposal for Women's Resource Center

CS61.1 Page 2 - Proposal for Women's Resource Center

CS61.2 Page 1 - Orient: Women's Resource Center

CS61.2 Page 2 - Orient: Women's Resource Center

Holly Near at Bowdoin

In March 1981, the Bowdoin Women’s Association brought singer, activist, and out- lesbian Holly Near to perform on campus (Document CS, 65).

“In 1972, Holly Near was one of the first women to create an independent record company… Near’s vision was to promote and produce music by politically conscious artists from around the world… Often cited as one of the founders of the “women’s music” movement, Holly not only led the way for outspoken women into the music world, but also worked for peace and multicultural consciousness.” ( http://www.hollynear.com/bio.html)

This concert provided an opportunity for women to come together, enjoy music and claim their space in the world and at Bowdoin. At this point, Bowdoin women officially had claimed Women’s Resource Center and were continuing to create more spaces for themselves on campus.

The women active in the Bowdoin Women’s Association and at the Women’s Resource Center were politically conscious, many of them were lesbians, and they fought for women’s rights at Bowdoin. Bringing Holly Near to campus was a way of claiming space, breaking down barriers, and demonstrating the strength on the feminist community.

Working with larger women’s organizations, such as the National Organization of Women, Bowdoin women were able to bring Holly Near to campus and to create a larger community and support network for themselves. Provision of sign language interpretation and wheelchair accessibility suggests that the organizers envisioned a truly inclusive community at the college.

Today numerous avenues exist through which to secure money to bring performers and lecturers to campus. A few years ago, Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues came to Bowdoin, and this fall singer and activist, Angelique Kidjo, brought to campus a vision of peace and justice through music. Guest performances continue to raise awareness and create new conversations around women’s issues at the college.

CS65.1 Orient 1981 february 6 - Holly Near at Bowdoin

CS65.2 Orient 1981 february 6 - Holly Near at Bowdoin

Orient: Bear Broads Bow

Bowdoin’s student newspaper, the Orient published this article by Debbie Robertson on November 5, 1971 (Document JH, 55), regarding the first game of the first women’s athletic team at Bowdoin—the field hockey team. Bowdoin played Bates at Pickard Field on October 30, 1971. Although Coach Sally LaPointe did not know how many student-athletes would show up to the game beforehand, thirteen hard-working women came to participate. Despite the Polar Bears’ 7-0 loss, LaPointe demonstrated her knowledge as a coach and made halftime changes that benefitted, as Bates did not score during the second half. This example shows that the perseverance of Bowdoin’s women’s athletic teams has, by now, been carried on for decades.

Orient Article: Women’s Sports Expand to Seven

In this December, 1973 article (Document JH, 57), Debbie Swiss discusses the growth of women’s athletics at Bowdoin since their introduction in 1971. She demonstrates the initial small number of women participating in some athletics at the College, explaining for example, that the women’s swimming program was under scrutiny because of a lack of participation. One interesting problem women athletes faced was a lack of competitions; women’s teams played against the Brunswick Women’s Recreation Center and Brunswick High School, rather than against other colleges. Coaches also faced high demands, as they were often responsible for scheduling games that were to be played with little practice time beforehand. Even so, a willingness on the part of the coaches and players rings clear throughout the article.

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.