Last week, I had the wonderful surprise of meeting one of the first women to graduate from Kenyon. It was a chance encounter: while on tour with the Chamber Singers, I (along with two other girls) stayed at this woman’s house in Boulder, Colorado for a night. We were talking in the car and found out that she was not only a Kenyon alumna, but also was among the first class of graduating Kenyon women.
First, a little bit of Kenyon history: In the late 1960’s, the college was facing bankruptcy, and as a solution to this problem, the administration decided to admit women. From 1969 to 1972, the women were kept somewhat separate from the men; technically, the women attended the Coordinate College for Women at Kenyon College. They had separate housing and dining (Mather, McBride, and Gund Commons), but still had access to the academic opportunities at Kenyon. In 1973, women were officially allowed to attend Kenyon College.
The integration of women at Kenyon was not particularly pleasant. The men of the college did not want women to be there, and even after they arrived they were very vocal in their opposition. They would discourage women from joining clubs, and even excluded them from parties. They claimed that the women were a distraction from their studies, and that they couldn’t be expected to work as hard with women around.
My host told a story about one evening when she went to a science study room to do some work. (Context: She majored in Chemistry, so not only was she one of a small group of women at Kenyon, but she was a woman in science. So cool!) There was one male student already in the room studying. When she entered the room, he began cursing at her and told her to leave. She said that she remembers looking behind her because she couldn’t fathom why this guy, whom she had never met, would say the things he did to someone he didn’t know. Silently, she sat down and began studying anyway.
It’s so difficult for me to imagine a Kenyon in which something like this happens. I mean, Kenyon has been ranked as one of the most feminist colleges in the United States, so it’s strange to think that women weren’t exactly given a warm welcome when they first enrolled. Talking with my host and hearing about her experience at Kenyon made me incredibly thankful for the progress our school, and our society, has made. Though we still have work to do until sexism is entirely a thing of the past, the immense change that has taken place in the past 40 years makes me hopeful for what will happen during the next 40.