Dolly Destroys Dickinson Tranquility

Date
October 5, 1962

An article in The Dickinsonian's celebration of the college's 90th anniversary entitled "Dolly Destroys Dickinson Tranquility As Students Protest Coed Admission" explains the 1884 furor over the admission of a coed on campus. When Dolly Longsdorf became the first coed, writes the author, the Freshman divided over the "coed question." Dolly and the Board of Trustees stood their ground, and sixteen women were admitted to the college by 1890. The college needed to remodel Old West in order to accomodate female students. According to the article, the "anti-coed" groups on campus were not silenced for several men protested the participation of two female students in the annual Junior Oratorical Contest by setting off firecrackers and creating a raucous.

Location of Document in Archives
Dickinsonian October 5, 1962