Chaplain Morefield on Being a Woman at Dickinson

Date
circa fall 1980

Talk to female freshmen students by Chaplain Mary Anne Morefield on "Being a Woman at Dickinson."  Briefly summarizes the history of coeducation and changes in the male-female balance of the college.  Argues "that though at present there are more females than males on the campus, the historic maleness of the tradition outweigh the reality of the present situation."  Discusses the significance of the using the term "feminist" to describe oneself, the use of "girls" to describe female students, the influence of the fraternity system on campus, and guidelines from Ms. Magazine entitled "Advice for the First Year" (the lack of relevance for many of their suggestions, Morefield asserts, shows that "Dickinson is in the dark ages").  Closes by advising female students to "wake up and get in touch with the potentiality of their power" or else "you will find yourself enveloped in a male world & wonder why you fell vaguely uncomfortable, even though you have a cute smile on your lips and can imitate to perfection the cute Dickinson co-ed ideal."  She then describes the Dickinson diploma text ("you will find that in the course of 4 years you have given away your womanhood [...] you will have become a son of Dickinon") and reads a translation of it.

Location of Document in Archives
RG 5/2