World War II

According to the Microcosm, Helen Kretschmar, Elinor Derr, and Catherine Stern were awarded blazers for being the three junior women with the highest score in competitions hosted by the Women's Athletic Association Council. Competitions included badminton, ping-pong, interclass volleyball, interfraternity basketball, interclass basketball, bowling, softball, and tennis. The women's sports program also offered non-competitive hockey, equestrianism, badminton, and swimming, among other sports.

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.

In the 1944 Microcosm, the Dickinsonian is staffed mostly by female students with Kathleen Briner as the editor-in-chief. The 1943 Microcosm reveals that the Dickinsonian had mostly male students on its staff as well as a male editor-in-chief. In 1944, the description for the Dickinsonian cites the difficulties the staff faced due to wartime shortages and their efforts to send copies of the newspaper to Dickinson's servicemen.

Interviewed by the staff of the Dickinsonian, Dean Josephine B. Meredith is quoted as saying that she liked "teaching students who provide me with such a unique response." According to the article, the dean could not analyze the reason for the students' responsiveness. She congratulated the newly-formed Chapel Committee on its chapel programs. She advised the men to organize their own student senate separate from the women's student senate. The dean's interviewer also asked whether or not she would do anything about the "eleven o' clock rule at Metzger," or the women's curfew.

An issue of the Free Dickinsonian called for the college administration to tear down East College, or "Old East;" to require resident students, including women, to eat in the cafeteria; and to create a smoker's lounge. According to the Free Dickinsonian, there was a "new fad" during the 1940s: female smokers. Other colleges, like Williams College and Penn Hall School, had recognized this "new fad." The Free Dickinsonian argued that, in the next decade, the college should install a smoking lounge in Metzger Hall for the co-ed students.

The Dickinsonian reports that Nancy Person was elected as its next editor-in-chief and Marjorie Monroe as its next business manager at the Editorial Board Meeting of April 18, 1944. The article lists the students' previous experience with journalism: both students worked on newspaper staffs during high school and served on the Dickinsonian prior to their election.

Marion V. Bell (Class of 1946), sister of Whitfield Bell, appears in the 1945 Microcosm with glasses and slacks. News editor of The Dickinsonian, Bell is described as liking "slacks, apples, and long walks." The Microcosm also describes Bell as being an "anti-anti-bifurcationist" (anti-bifurcation rules prevented female students from wearing slacks).

The Dickinsonian reports that the Pan-Hellenic dance, chaired by Ellen Morrow, would be scaled back from previous years. According to the president of the Pan-Hellenic Council, Elinor G. Derr, they would not hire a professional interior decorator and would use records for music. The dance would be  Pan-Hellenic Week's only all-College event.

As World War Two reached its peak in the years following the early 1940's, as Margaret MacGregor recollected in her interview, many Dickinson students supported the war effort by taking time off of school to work in the factories. In the years 1942 and 1943 Margaret recalled that she stayed at home to work in the York Safe and Lock company as a means to manifest her patriotism and save money (York Safe and Lock had defense contracts). She returned to Dickinson in 1945 alongside the other Dickinson students who had gone off to join the war effort overseas.

Virginia Weber (Class of 1946) claims in an interview to be the first female editor-in-chief of  The Dickinsonian. Asked if she believed that she became the editor due to the shortage of students during the war, she responded affirmatively, saying that "there was a lot of competition" for the position: applicants submitted editorials and were judged by a faculty committee. Weber recalls that the newspaper ran stories related mostly to campus events and did not usually cover national or international events.