Faculty

Professor Russell I. Thompson writes in a letter to President Boyd Lee Spahr about his ideas for the future of the college. He suggests the creation of a more specific position for the dean of women, calling the position as it stood then an "anamolous" one. He believes that the dean of women should be more than just a house mother or supervisor of Metzger Hall: instead, the dean should guide all the women of the college.

President Corson recommended to the Board of Trustees that the college give Josephine Brunyate Meredith "the honor of being the first woman elected to a full professorship at Dickinson College" in the English Department. Meredith had served as Dean of Women and an Associate Professor of English since 1922. The president added that offering the dean this position would not entail raising her salary or giving her a permament appointment as the head of this department.

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."

In October of 1972 the American Association of University Professors unanimously adopted the "Recommendations and Report on the Status of Women in the Academic Profession" at Dickinson College. The primary questions concerned the number of women in decision-making roles to serve as models for the women students and the salaries of women in comparison to those of men with equal qualifications and responsibilities.

On May 24, 1883, the faculty discussed whether or not female students should be admitted to Dickinson College. Referencing the discussion regarding coeducation that took place two years earlier, the faculty decided that the conditions of the college grounds were now suitable for female students. Thus, the faculty decided to "recommend to the Board of Trustees that women be admitted to the classes of the college on the same conditions of men." Nearly all the faculty, with the exception of Professor Harman, voted in favor of coeducation.

On May 31, 1886, Zatae Longsdorff went before the faculty to ask, "whether the Pierson Prize Medal Contest was open to all members of the Junior class without distinction of sex." The faculty decided that, as a member of the class, Zatae had the right to participate.

On September 10, 1884, the faculty of Dickinson College admitted Zatae Longsdorff to the insitution. Zatae Longsdorff would become the first female graduate at Dickinson College.

The 1946-1947 Microcosm bids farewell to Dean Josephine B. Meredith, who served the college as dean of women for 25 years. The Microcosm cites her "philosophy and indefatigable sense of humor, together with her wisdom about youth and its trials" as what made her well-suited to giving female students advice. In this Microcosm, Dean Helen B.

The Microcosm's page on the Debate Squad referenced the effect of World War II on the size of the team. As a result of the lack of male "veterans," three women tried out for the team during the first semester and were the first women "in recent history" to represent Dickinson in forensic contests. According to the Microcosm, President Corson approved their participation in the debate squad and hoped that more women would become involved every year.

Frances Vuilleumier (Class of 1924) claims in an interview that the college viewed men and women equally in the 1920s. She believes faculty like female students because they performed better in the classroom than their male colleagues. Frances recalls completing the same academic work as male students did.