Board of Trustees

In this letter dated October 18, 1926, Trustee L. T. Appold wrote to President Morgan to further discuss the admitance of female graduates to the Alumni Council. Appold explained that "I am always opposed to this feminism which puts a woman on because she is a woman." He argues that if there were an outstanding woman she would be on the board. Until there is one, Appold conteded that the matter should be left alone.

In a letter dated August of 1923, President Morgan wrote to Bishop William F. McDowell an informed him that coeducation at Dickinson College was in danger. Morgan wrote that "A few of the trustees have not been friendly to coeducation for a good many years, and raised the question at commencement, having it to take the form of a purpose to limit very decidedly the attendance of women." According to Morgan, Boyd Lee Spahr, Mr. Appold, and Mr.

In a letter dated August 9, 1923, President Morgan wrote to Reverend John R. Edwards, warning him that three prominent Dickinsonians are attempting to abolish coeducation at Dickinson College. Morgan explained, "A few of the trustees have not been friendly to co-education for a good many years, and raised the question at commencement... Since commencement, however, it has developed that two or three, Boyd Lee Spahr, Esq., of Philadelphia, being their spokesman, Mr. Appold of Baltimore and Mr.

In response to Gertrud Martin's letter dated October 27, 1921, President Morgan sent Martin a brief letter explaining what was enclosed as well as a questionnaire addenda. The addenda contains information regarding female faculty members at Dickinson College in the 1920s. According to Morgan, at this point there were three female faculty members: Louise d. Vilaine (Associate Professor of Romance Languages), Josephine Brunyate Meredith (Dean of Women and Associate Professor of English), and Hazel J. Bullock (Associate Professor of Romance Languages).

An article in The Dickinsonian reported that the college planned to build another new dormitory for women over the next two years, beginning in February.  The financial vice-president, Dr. Shuman, explained that the building was made possible by a $675,000 government loan.

President Howard L. Rubendall responds to Vincent Schafmeister's second letter of March 23 on behalf of Mary Frances Carson. Rubendall does not specifically cite the Social Opinion Survey or the Women's Group in his response, instead writing that Schafmeister's choice to inform the President of the Board of Trustees about his concerns was "most appropriate."

In his response to Dean of Women Mary Watson Carson, Alumni Trustee Vincent Schafmeister says of the Social Opinion Survey of the Women's Group, "sort of shakes up an old, stuffy conservative such as I." He declines the dean's offer to put him into contact with members of the group in order to determine their objectives, saying he is more interested in the role of the Office of Student Services in encouraging this organization. He references the "frightful negatives" and the suffering of the college as consequences of this kind of encouragement.

Responding to Vincent Schafmeister's request for a clearer copy of the Social Opinion Survey distributed by the Women's Group, Dean of Women Mary Watson Carson procures a copy from the Women's Group and encloses it in her letter to Schafmeister.

Alumni Trustee Vincent J. Schafmeister, Jr. wrote to Dean of Women Mary Francis Carson requesting a clearer copy of the Social Opinion Survey distributed by the Women's Group. Schafmeister expresses his concern over some of the questions in the survey, claiming that he would be "compelled to speak to this business at the Commencement Weekend meeting of the Board of Trustees."

President William W. Edel suggested possible names for the new Women's Dormitory to the Board of Trustees. He presented one of the suggestions that the buildng be named Longsdorff Hall "in honor of the Longsdorf Family [sic] which suppied four women students to enter Dickinson College, among whom was Dr. Zatae Longsdorf Straw [sic]." He recommended, however, that the board select a name out of the college's historical past and that the hall be named Mary Dickinson Hall for the wife of John Dickinson.