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In addition to the noting of two male exchange students, the 1935 edition of the Microcosm documents Janine Morillot’s enrollment in the junior class at Dickinson College.  Morillot was a “valuable addition” to the student body and was “eager to learn everything she possibly could about this country and more especially about [the] College.”  The issue of the Microcosm also documents the date of her unfortunate passing, April 26, 1935, shortly after graduating from Lycee Fenelon.

In her essay on the "Women at Dickinson College," Dean of Women Josephine Meredith included the following section titled "Why Women Come Here," listing motivating factors/reasons why students chose to attend Dickinson. Her account illustrates the minimal role Dickinson played in proactively seeking to attract even more 'superior' women students; yet she concludes that this could be remedied by being more selective and insisting on personal interviews.

Trends of reasons for attending Dickinson:

In her essay "Women at Dickinson College", Dean Meredith discussed dating, dances, and chaperonage at Dickinson College. She explained, "The college is sometimes criticized because boys and girls are together socially so much. Other criticism is not just but it is somewhat merited. About 8 couples can be so conspicuous that they give the college an unenviable reputation." Meredith argued that it is easier to control the relationships if the woman lived in Metzger, however, it was much more difficult to control commuters.

In her report "Women at Dickinson College," Dean Meredith has a section titled "Women's Scholarship." In this section she discussed the ways in which women are strong students at Dickinson. However, it is difficult for female students. She explained that, "Co-education as we have it here is hardly fair to girls. There are not enough women teachers nor is there enough competition among the girls because girls are too few. Girls here are not “students” they are “Co-eds,” curiosities. A girl in a high school is just a student.

In this portion of her essay, Dean Meredith described her position. In the section, she listed her daily activities, holiday activities, long holiday activities, and her unclassified jobs. She explained that she does not have enough time in the day to complete everything.

Meredith's historical account of women's experiences at Dickinson College is further developed in her exploration of womens' interests and roles within student organizations. She dedicates several pages in her essay to explore specific organizations such as: Woman's Student Government; Y. W. C. A. and Religious life; Sunday Services; Literary Societies; Music; Dramatics; Girls Fraternities and Co-educational Organizations.

Woman's Student Government

In her essay, "Women at Dickinson," Dean of Women Josephine Meredith included a section entitled: "Value of Types." In it Meredith defines three types of students that attended Dickinson College. The description of each type briefly accounts for the value each group brought to the campus.

 

Types of Students:

In the subsection entitled "Women's Quarters at Denny Hall," Meredith gives us an insight to how rooms on the college grounds enabled day students (town students ?), commuters, and boarders to take advantage of the time spent on campus.

 

Located in the basement, the women's quarters at Denny Hall consisted of: a small washing room, a toilet, a small kichenette, and a rest room. Although she mentions that the rooms were clearly makeshift, she also says that they were comfortable and in good condition.

The subsection entitled "Metzger Hall," in Dean Meredith's historical account of women at Dickinson,  gives a general overview of the physical layout of the building. This subsection is followed by  another, more detailed account of specific rooms, their inadecuacies, shortcomings and some scattered suggestions for improvement.

 

Shown here in the alumni gymnasium is one of the many formal dances that took place on campus.  From the looks of the decor and garb, the photo is most likely from one of the spring formals, and perhaps circa 1935.

Photograph circa 1935 of women's archery practice.

The Dickinsonian, "never a friendly critic" chastises the Student Senate for their inactivity and once again calls for a "senate with powers and constructive energy, a senate which both students and faculty will respect, a senate which will do more than spend most of its time discussing the Tribunal and all of its money buying keys." In hopes of finally enacting the proposal of an all-College Senate , these remarks from the Dickinsonian, students, and faculty continued to circulate around the college community.

The January 17, 1935 issue of the Dickinsonian reports that Omicron
Delta Kappa "national honorary society has drafted the general outlines
of the constitution of an all-College Student governing body." The
article reports that O.D.K.'s plan for the senate calls for a strong
central governing body which would weld the functions of all the
present student government activities into a unified control. The new
senate would be comprised of members of the current Men's and Women's
Senates, Interfraternity Council, the Pan-Hellenic Council, the

The Dickinsonian documents the finalization of Omicron Delta Kappa's plans for an all-College Senate. The plan is published in its completed form in this particualr issue of the Dickinsonian, allowing for "ample time for discussion of its provisions before the plan is formally prsented to the student body as a whole for ratification or rejection." The different articles that the plan addresses are as follows: Name, Objects, Membership, Senate (which contained the most detailed and specific description in O.D.K.'s plan), Student Assembly, Veto, and By-Laws and Amendments.

On Monday March 29, 316 votes were cast by the student body in a response to Omicron Delta Kappa's plan for a reorganized student government association. In favor of the plan were 259 votes, while those opposed only numbered 51 people in the student body. The Dickinsonian reports that "the new plan will go into operation in May at the time of the expiration of the terms of the present senators" and would be able to operate "in full swing with the opening of school next fall."

Representatives from various groups on campus met on Thursday, May 15, at 7:30 in Old West to organize the all-College Senate. The President of Omicron Delta Kappa Whitfield J. Bell spoke at length, explaining the purpose and structure of the new Senate. Copies of the constitution were also distributed among those present and voting for the positions of chairman, secretary, faculty member and the committee on committees of the new Senate took place at the meeting.

In her speech delivered during a 1937 Commencementt Week Dinner, Zatae Longsdorff Straw remembers her time at Dickinson College. In the beginning of the speech, Straw admits that this was her first time back to Dickinson since she graduated in 1887. Thus, her mind flooded with memories of Dickinson during her 1937 visit. As the first female graduate, Straw described the harassment she received from her male counterparts. She described many of the faculty including Dr. Rittenhouse whose "eyes filled with tears" when male students treated her unkindly. Dr.

Pictured here are the ladies of the Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority in 1937.

The Microcosm's 1937 edition documents the addition of the first co-ed addition to the cheerleading group.  Floyde Williams' addition to the group was said to have created a “well-balanced team” that “publicly earned recognition as a most desirable cheerleading unit.”

Freshman, Ruth Porter, lands the lead role in Dickinson’s production of Ibsen’s classic, “A Doll’s House.”  She is praised in the ‘37 Microcosm; her “outstanding character interpretation” was “unanimously declared unapproachable.”

Fifty years following her graduation from Dickinson College as the first female student, Zatae Longsdorff Straw received an honorary degree from her alma mater. The award was bestowed upon Zatae due to her position as "the first woman graduate of Dickinson College, a pioneer among women in the field of medicine, combining with a professional career the duties of motherhood and the demands of public service..."

 

 

Elizabeth Carter, Virginia Heisey, and Jane Housman earned the prestigious honor of the Junior Blazer for the ‘38 academic year.  The Junior Blazer was the highest award given for participation in women’s athletics and only three are awarded each year to junior girls who possess the greatest “ability, interest and sportsmanship in their athletic activities.”

This Saturday event was sponsored by the Department of Physical Education for the Women and Athletic Council.  The program included photo opportunities and three games of an identified sport in the morning, followed by a luncheon at the Argonne Hotel, a Round Table Discussion of some type in the Alumni Gymnasium, a swimming event, and a concluding tea in the Women's Apartments in Denny Hall.  Participating colleges included Lebanon Valley, Bucknell, Susquehanna, Juniata, and Dickinson Colleges.  Several students served as "chairmen" of various committees, including Margaret Brinham '38 (Gen

Yates Snyder, class of ’39, was not only a bright scholar as a member of the Harman Literary Society, and heavily involved in extracurricular activities, including chorus, athletics, and Greek life, but was also noted as an extraordinary campus beauty.  Her senior year she was crowned Queen at the Midwinter Ball and during her four years at Dickinson, “graced the pages of the beauty section of the Microcosm,” perhaps setting an example for future female students that it is possible to have beauty and brains.

Long time contributor to the college, librarian, May Morris, earned the dedication of the 1939 edition of Dickinson’s Microcosm.  A woman who is praised as having contributed to the “advance and achievement of the college,” Morris helped to introduce to Dickinson’s library “a sufficiency of material and the efficiency of system unparalleled in its history.”

Six professors and their wives chaperoned the Panhellenic Council dance.

This photo is of a group of female Dickinsonians celebrating Christmas. The caption below the photo reads, "Christmas at the Women's Dormitory."

The photo depicts the women's basketball team during a game, c1940.

In a memo on smoking, Dean J.B Meredith states the regulations on smoking for female students. Stating, "smoking by female students on the premises of Dickinson College is stricly forbidden" and "any students found smoking in dormitory rooms will be indefinitely suspended." This was authorized by President Corson of Dickinson College. In a handwritten note added to the document later Dean Meredith notes that smoking rooms were arranged in residence halls starting the fall of 1944.

This photo is of a group of female students sitting around the radio at Metzger Hall. The women in the picture are not identified.

 

This photo depicts female Dickinsonians studying in a dorm. The names of the women in the photo are unknown.

This photo depicts the front ahll of the women's dormitory. The caption below reads that the house is "decorated for Christmas."

This photograph depicts three women mending toys. The caption below the picture reads "Social Work-Mending Toys."

The Dickinson Dramatic Club revived their fraternity, Tau Delta Pi, in 1938 in order to “recognize higher accomplishments in dramatic art.”  The 1940 Microcosm notes Dorothy Sandrock's notable presence in the organization and her election into the prestigious  position of President.

This picture dates circa 1940 and shows a women's bowling team as a part of Dickinson's physical education ideas for women.

A group of five unidentified women enjoy nice weather on the steps of Old West.  Photo taken circa 1940.

This photograph depicts a group of female Dickinsonians dinning in Metzger Hall's Dinning Room. According to the note on the back,  this is one end of the Dining Room.

Because of a recent tragic death of a female student at a nearby college, Dean Meredith and the College crack down on the rules regarding the female students' travel plans. Women are now required to get an "Absence from Metzger" card every time the student wishes to go on a trip overnight or late at night. This card supplies information both to the college and at home of where the student will be staying, with whom, who will be driving and when they will return.

The Dickinsonian reports that two female students, Alice Abbott and Ann Housman, were among those who signed up to take a Civil Aeronautics Authority flying course at Dickinson.  Professor Wellington Parlin, a member of the Dickinson Physics Department, will teach a portion of the course.  The article specifically notes that the women "have been given the authority of President Corson to participate."

In the "Minutes of the Faculty Meeting of November 11, 1940," the Board of Deans reviewed a case of discipline in which the Phi Delta Theta house hosted a party "without proper chaperonage" followed by a jaunt in an automobile. The two female students who left Carlisle in the automobile received probation for the rest of academic year 1940-41 and were placed under "special regulations" in Metzger Hall. Another student, who did not leave in the automobile, only received probation "until Christmas."

The Women's Freshman Adjustment Committee served as a liason for incoming female students to assist in their transition to college life. This committee provided general information, information on equipment, courses, etc...

Included in the 1941 student handbook is a list of six rules freshman students were required to adhere to. Freshman women were expected to wear armbands, rise when the Dean of Women or any other college official entered the room, women were required to speak to all professors and their wives, "give the right of precedence to the women of the upper classes," and were required to know "something of the college history."

Dean Ernest A. Vuilleumier reminds the Dickinson College Fraternities about the regulations against unchaperoned female visitors. According to the rule's creation in 1936, it is stated that, "women visitors shall be admitted to fraternity houses without chaperonage approved by the dean of the college." Suitable chaperones that are available without further formalities are mothers of fraternity members, mothers of guests, or faculty member's wives. Only in certain cases where other chaperones are contemplated then it is necessary to secure special authorization from the Dean of the College.

Circa 1942, The Metzger Council divided itself into three new councils in addition to a fire drill committee to better provide for Dickinson's female students. A fire drill committee was created of Helen Kretschmar, Arline Mills, Nancy Tatnall, and Nancy Person in which regular drills would be planned.

The Faculty Minutes for the meeting of January 6, 1942 detailed the requirements and standards set for girls who wanted to enter into the Nurses Aides course on a voluntary basis. They had to prove, among other requirements, that they had the grade point average, leisure time, and permission necessary to complete the course. They also needed to complete the entire course.

According to the 1942 student handbook, all incoming female students were "given a physical examination by physicians designated by the college." Female students seeking all other physican services were required to arrange appointments through the Dean of Women's office first.

Two female students were suspended by the Board of Deans upon approval by the faculty. The Deans suspended one student for drinking, for giving a false testimony to a college officer, and for violating the regulations of the college. They suspended another for "absenting herself without permission."

Found in Marion Bell's personal scrapbook from her years at Dickinson College (1941-46), this document of six pages outlines female regulations in dress and socialization in games, bars, dancing, and dining, with a special section regarding social possibilities on Sundays. It also includes rules regarding curfews, tardiness, noise disturbances, and distinctions between freshman women and upperclassmen not "on rules- those having a 75 average." It even provides a section for transfer students.

Clipped from a newspaper between 1941 and 1946 and placed in Marion Bell's personal scrapbook, this snippet shows the rules and regulations regarding women's attire at Dickinson. Marion Bell was known to wear slacks and this made her quite a rebel against this school rule. See Marion Bell, the Anti-Anti Bifurcationist.

The 1943 Microcosm added pictures of co-eds in the "Features" section. These women, selected by the Officers of the 32nd College Training Detachment of the Army Air Forces, included: Elizabeth Black, Charlotte Stopford, Barbara Mulford, Lucille Sweet, and Jean Carson.