1980

I am woman, hear me roar. Actually, I am not woman, and I have not roared in a very long time, although I still raise my voice from time to time. This issue, however, is devoted to the women of Dartmouth, in celebration of 25 years of coeducation. Quite frankly, as an employment lawyer, I wonder about the propriety of devoting a magazine to a gender that is the opposite of mine. All God's children got wings, but I suppose some of us will have to keep them folded for now.

I am glad that we can celebrate women and coeducation at Dartmouth. Younger alums and current students may wonder what all the fuss is about. After all, who would want a Dartmouth without women and coeducation, and what would Dartmouth be without either? (The Citadel?)

Years ago, I wondered if I would want a daughter of mine to go Dartmouth. Now, I would be proud for Kathleen to go, dress up in green, coach the freshman team, or do anything else she wanted to do.

Our class, of course, never knew a Dartmouth without women and coeducation, although those early 3-1 ratio days could be very strange. During our freshman week and later, upperclassmen frequently led songs filled with disparaging, scatological references to women. Dartmouth men and women were not supposed to become "an item." (I don't think the word "date" or the expression "romantically involved" accurately describe any male-female relationship at Dartmouth, at least from 1976-1980.)

We men, everyone of us the sons and grandsons of women, the brothers of women, the future husbands and fathers of women, gave in all too easily and frequently to the weird peer pressure we found in Hanover at the time.

After the class of '78 graduated, some of the weirdness diminished in intensity. I suppose the '78s had been influenced by earlier classes still trying to hang on to the "old" Dartmouth. Still, as much as I loved Dartmouth then and now, living through the early days of coeducation was not always very much fun for anyone, especially women (or so I assume).

What does not kill us, however, makes us stronger. Not coincidentally, most of our class leaders since we graduated more than 16 years ago have been women. Women have been among the strongest and most loyal supporters of Dartmouth from our class. (No one has pressured me to write these words, but the next class officer's meeting, where I will be the only male, will certainly go a lot smoother for me because of this column.) People talk about the confidence that a single-sex school can offer women. Give me a school struggling with coeducation every time to produce tough women who will lead the way.

I did not intend for this column to become a personal essay. Nevertheless, individual women from our class cannot be singled out for special recognition for fear of leaving someone out. Everybody's beautiful, everyone is special, in her own way. Thank you women, for who you are and what you do. Until next time, with more words of positive affirmation...

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