1970-1979

The Commission on the Status of Women at the College formed four subcommittees to help investigate more deeply into several areas including recruitment and employment practices, attitude research, program and services, and community relations.

Professor Barbara McDonald, Commission chairwoman at the time, stressed the importance of the involvement of diverse individuals and any help offerred to the Commission will be appreciated.

The last verse of the Alma Mater which used to include the lines "Men may come and men may go,...ever to thy sons a pride," was removed in February of 1973. Being that the college has been co-educational since Zatae Longsdorff entered the class of 1887 as a sophmore, the third verse of the Alma Mater exluded a large part of the College community. First and second verses of Alma Mater were sung at College ceremonies since the change has taken place by President Howard L. Rubendall.

On November 10th, 1972, junior and senior women of the College had an opportunity to expand their knowledge of career opportunities for women by sponsering a trip to Washington Opportunities for Women (W.O.W.). Originally focusing on the jobs for women of low economic status, the W.O.W. bureau, a branch of the Department of Labor, extended its function to include career counseling for women of all ages and backgrounds.

Ms. Pam McFarland was the organizer of the trip, and 40 female students attended.

The pivotal events of the Vietnam War, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. as well as that of Robert Kennedy, was the foreground to the world events that welcomed the lives of Dickinson students during the decade of the 1960's. Having been an era of social, sexual and civil revolution, did not hinder the development and the rise of women as leaders on this campus. On the contrary the grand majority of women surveyed by Martha C.

The Women's Group drafted a proposal for the hiring of a gynecologist "to serve in the Health Center at least once a week." They sent it to President Howard L. Rubendall for action by the college administration. The Women's Group ascertained from the 39 percent response they received from their questionnaires that 40 percent of the women surveyed currently used birth control and 28 percent had used the Family Planning Clinics in Carlisle or Harrisburg.

President of the College Howard L. Rubendall responded to Samuel W. Witwer's letter in regards to the Social Opinion Survey of the Women's Group. He assures Witwer that Dean of Women Mary F. Carson had nothing to do with the survey and was offended by it. He adds that the Women's Group is not part of the mainstream or the sorority group at Dickinson College and was considered by peers to be "stupid and ridiculous." The president also tells the story of a Commencement speaker who inquired after the presence of the Women's Liberation Movement on campus.

The president of the Board of Trustees, Samuel W. Witwer, wrote to the president of the College, Howard L. Rubendall, in regards to the Women's Group "Social Opinion Survey." Witwer had heard complaints about the survey but had ignored them until he received a copy of the questionnaire. He referred to the survey as "cheap, tawdry, ill mannered, and bad taste [sic]." He suggests that members of the Women's Group "must be totally preoccupied with matters of sex." He insists that the College does not permit a wide variety of sexual conduct.

Paul E. Kaylor reported his meeting with Dean Mary Carson regarding the Women's Group Social Opinion Survey in a memorandum to President Howard L. Rubendall. Kaylor gives the background of the Women's Group, stating that students "not normally in the 'mainstream' of campus life" formed it the previous year. As a student organization, the group does not fall under rigid administrative control, though, according to Kaylor, the administration had been working to channel the group's efforts.

A member of the Women's Group published two lists of questions as well as an introductory statement for these questions. The questions emerged from the author's involvement with the Women's Group and human groups. The author explains that the questions "constitute a facilitating tool which draws on the fields of group dynamics...and clinical psychology." She encourages members of the group to take their time answering the questions and to work in pairs.

Examples of questions include:

What skills do I bring to the group?

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."