Faculty

Dickinson Magazine chronicles the birth of coeducation at the college.  In 1877 a committee considered "the advisability of admitting ladies," and the next year faculty voted almost unanimously that women should attend Dickinson - a single professor, Henry Harman, opposed the idea.  He was still opposed in 1883, when a faculty vote nonetheless approved admission of women to the college.  Although Harman may never have warmed to the idea of women at Dickinson, he did agree in 1896 to have his name ironically attached to a newly-formed women's literary society.

In this Dickininsonian article from March 1992, the issue of percieved gender roles for professors and staff at the College is discussed. The need for not just more women professors but women professors across all academic disciplines is addressed.

“Professor Kim Rogers, assistant
professor of history and chairperson of the Commission on the Status of Women,
recently submitted the committee’s final report to Steven McDonald, Associate
Dean of the College and President Fritschler.

In a lengthy letter to President Morgan, Dean Meredith discussed chaperons, the inadequacy of Metzger Hall Staff, the running of Metzger Hall, and her family's situation. Most interestingly, Meredith wrote about a woman she met in Harrisburg named Dr. Taylor. According to the letter, Dr. Taylor is willing to give "six to eight talks" to Female Dickinsonians on "the care of the health and sex hygiene." Dean Meredith explained that "Our girls here are very much in need of such instruction.

In her paper titled "The Women's Liberation Movement: It's History and It's Effects Upon the Faculty of Dickinson College" Eve M. Draeger analyzes the impact of the feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970 upon Dickinson Faculty. For her paper Draeger interviewed a diverse group of Dickinson Professors.

This essay by Dean Meredith outlined the problems faced when women attended fraternity dances. She argued that such dances were chaperoned however, before and after the dance was not. Often women would to travel to such events and it was impossible to watch them all the time. Thus, improper behavior occured between men and women.

In a letter to Dean Filler, Dean Meredith explained the College's policy on female students' relations with men of the War College. According to Dean Meredith, the female students often go to the War College to entertain the soldiers. However, there is a strict rule that prohibits women from "entertaining a young man not of the student body without special permission from the Dean of Women." She further explains that such a ruling is not "against the Uniform" but rather against a "chance acquaintance."

 

 

In her letter to President Morgan dated January 22, 1920, Dean Meredith discusses the running of the household at Metzger Hall. According to Meredith, in order to run the Hall, "two cooks, two house maids, two waitresses, a dishwasher, and George [a janitor]" are needed. The Dean of Women is concerned that the current staff, hired by Sarah K. Ege (the "Lady in charge of Metzger College"), are stealing from the college. Moreover, she argues that they do not do their jobs.

In a letter to President Morgan while on the S. S. Arabic in 1927, Dean Meredith explains her plans for the new female physical training program. She and Miss Frances Janney, instructor in physical culture, discussed the equipment needed as well as the text books required for the program. Dean Meredith ends the letter and proclaims that "physical education will progress next semester."