{"id":93,"date":"2011-02-10T18:44:10","date_gmt":"2011-02-10T18:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/researchbdev.wpengine.com\/forty-years-the-history-of-women-at-bowdoin\/?p=93"},"modified":"2012-08-08T20:30:13","modified_gmt":"2012-08-08T20:30:13","slug":"the-pierce-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/forty-years-the-history-of-women-at-bowdoin\/prehistory-of-coeducation\/the-pierce-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Report To the President and Trustees and to the Overseers of Bowdoin College (The Pierce Report)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Pierce<\/a>
Pierce Report (PDF)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This document (Document SB, 10<\/a>) is a report of the Study Committee on Underclass Campus Environment, presented in May of 1969. The committee consisted of members of the governing boards, faculty, alums and undergraduates. The document recommends the remodeling of fraternities, the growth of Bowdoin, and the admission of women undergraduates. Pages 26-50 of The Pierce Report are devoted to the positives of admitting women. The Committee saw no positive value in continuing the tradition of an entirely male campus.<\/p>\n

The Pierce Report is thought to be the document or even the event that seriously began Bowdoin\u2019s shift towards coeducation. It deems the admission of women \u201cone of the most pressing needs of the College\u201d for a number of reasons. Many comparable New England colleges were going coed at the time and the authors noted that \u201calmost all of [its\u2019] principal competitors will have admitted women\u201d within five years. They feared that Bowdoin\u2019s \u201cability to continue to attract male students of high quality\u201d would be affected because male students would be more likely to apply to the more progressive coed colleges. The Pierce Report authors suggest that women would improve student-faculty relationships because of women\u2019s \u201cgenerally superior ability to handle social situations.\u201d Whether or not this was true, the Pierce Report received a great deal of support from the campus.<\/p>\n

On September 25, 1970, the Governing Board voted to implement the Pierce Report. This decision was a catalyst for many changes across the campus. Female dorms were created and along with them, the first women\u2019s restrooms. Bowdoin has become what it is today in part because of The Pierce Report.<\/p>\n

Report To the President and Trustees and to the Overseers of Bowdoin College (The Pierce Report) (sb-10) PDF<\/a><\/p>\n

SB 10
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