Welcome to the autumn Colgate Magazine<\/em>. This is a noteworthy issue for several reasons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As Volume L Number 1, it is the publication\u2019s 50th volume \u2014 albeit by a different name (the Colgate Scene <\/em>Vol I Issue 1 published in July 1972). It\u2019s a fun coincidence to have the 50th volume celebrate the 50th anniversary of Colgate\u2019s first official coeducational class. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The focus of this edition is special to me, having majored in women\u2019s studies and magazine journalism in college. (No, I\u2019m not a Colgate alumna; I attended Syracuse University \u2014 for which I\u2019ve taken some ribbing from good-natured Colgate alumni over the years.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n When working on the articles about coeducation, I\nwas fortunate to interview many remarkable women,\nsuch as Covette Rooney \u201974, who is the first woman and\nonly African American chief administrative law judge\nfor the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Review\nCommission. She and others I spoke to opened up about\ntheir experiences \u2014 the good and the bad \u2014 as some of\nthe first women at Colgate.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s important to note that \u201cthere were women at\nColgate before there were women at Colgate,\u201d to quote\nProfessor Emerita Wanda Warren Berry. In addition to\nfemale faculty members and administrators, a number\nof female transfer students arrived before the first\ncoeducational class came in 1970. Their experiences\nwere perhaps even more varied.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elaine Matczak \u201969 transferred to Colgate her senior year from Beaver College (now Arcadia University). She\u2019d met Colgate professors and students during a joint orientation for a 1967 London study program. One of those students was Barnet Kellman \u201969, whom she\u2019d join in Hamilton and marry. Enrolling at Colgate in the fall of \u201968, Matczak didn\u2019t have a typical undergrad experience, being a married woman and living in a cottage in Earlville. \u201cProfessors were really open,\u201d she says of her integrated academic and social life. \u201cWe had dinners at people\u2019s houses and learned so much of how to live your intellect, your creativity, and your political orientation in dialogue with adults.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Leta Caplan Smith \u201972, who transferred from\nSkidmore in the fall of \u201969, remembers male students\u2019\ncuriosity about the opposite sex. \u201cAs much as a lot of\nguys wanted to go out, they also just wanted to speak\nwith a woman,\u201d she says. \u201cThey\u2019d be willing to go for a\nwalk \u2014 a whole bunch of them at a time \u2014 just to talk\nand laugh and be with a female.\u201d Smith filled a void in the\nclassroom as well. \u201cI felt my voice was heard and needed\nas another opinion, [because] most of the classes I took\nwere taught by men with [only] guys in the classroom.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, not all men \u2014 professors and students\nincluded \u2014 were accepting of women\u2019s presence on\ncampus. Some of the Black female students, especially,\nfaced discrimination. They spoke of the difficulty of\nthese times, but they supported each other and became\neven stronger.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n What many women from these early years share was\na genuine excitement to be on campus \u2014 to learn and\nenjoy the beauty of the Chenango Valley. They joined\nstudent clubs and started new ones, created their own\nmajors, excelled academically, and fought for equality.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n These women had grit. Former President Thomas Bartlett fondly describes seeing female students on their way to class, trudging through the snow in their army boots. (Bartlett himself should be commended for his progressive attitude, the time he spent persuading alumni who were against coeducation, and his push to enroll more women than the limited number recommended by the board.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n As we all know, the value of examining the past is that\nwe then evaluate the present and look to the future. At\nthe time of this writing, Wall Street welcomed its first\nmajor female CEO, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg became\nthe first woman to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol, and the\nPantone Color Institute unveiled a new shade inspired\nby the color of women\u2019s periods.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking of destigmatizing menstruation, female\nColgate students started a new group called Progress\nPeriod. In this issue, you can read about this organization\nand others that are being furthered by current female\nstudents who are working toward social justice.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n I hope you find inspiration in all of the women\nhighlighted in this issue.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Until next time, stay safe and please be kind to each\nother.\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Managing editor Aleta Mayne introduces the stories of Colgate’s early woman scholars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":5204,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,15],"tags":[492],"coauthors":[388],"class_list":["post-5203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-editors-letter","category-letters","tag-coeducation"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-1lV","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/10\/A1009_b018_f010_001_SMALL.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5203"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5627,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5203\/revisions\/5627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5203"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}