Alumni Movement

Loyal Daughters

TWO DECADES INTO DARTmouth's coeducation era, women seem to rank among the College's most loyal alumni (sorry: alumnae). A good example is Emily Bafeemeier '82, who last summer became the first female president of the Alumni Council.

Bakemeier was volunteering for Dartmouth long before she graduated: varsity soccer co-captain, class agent, intern at the Sports Information Office, undergraduate advisor, student represen tative on many College search committees. So her activism in the alumni movement shouldn't come as a shock: class secretary, class representative to the Alumni Council, chair of the Alumni Council committees on Young Alumni and Academic Affairs.

But she is no exception to the rule. Women constitute 40 percent of the coed classes' secretaries, and seven of the most recent 12 classes' presidents are female. Women are presidents of such bigcity alumni clubs as Eastern Massachusetts (encompassing Boston), San Francisco, Chicago, and Minneapolis/ St. Paul. The Young Alumni Distinguished Service Award, granted to two or three alumni each year for outstanding contributions to the College, has gone to only one male in the three years since its inauguration.

"When thinking of the most active younger volunteers to the College, they often tend to be women," says Bakemeier.

"They give much energy and take their positions very seriously as an important commitment."

Do they give anything besides energy? One of the major fears about coeducation was that the Alumni Fund would decline. Donations from women seem in line with those of mall classmates both in value and number, according to officials, who note that the fund has moved from $3 million to $13 million since women came.

Bakemeier