Christine Crist describes life at Dickinson when the men go off to war...

In an interview with Christine Crist (Class of 1946), the Dickinson graduate describes life at Dickinson College when a majority of the male students left for World War II. She guesses that the ratio of men to women prior to the war was five-to-one and reports that, in 1943, "the heart of the student body was picked up." In 1945, 11 men and 41 women graduated from Dickinson College, reflecting the male-to-female ratio after the war began. The college suffered during this period, and Christine explains that the students "really feared for the college['s] survival." The students left on campus were women, pre-ministerial students, and 4-F's, people who could not serve in the military for physical reasons.