Women's rights movement

Equality for Females: Our Rights Today or E.F.F.O.R.T. is a women's feminist organization that began in the early 1980s. The group's purpose, as stated in their constitution, is to bring to Dickinson College "a better understanding of feminist issues" through the use of "lectures, films, petitions, discussion groups, and social events." EFFORT also stresses in its constitution that it does not take a specific stand on any feminist issues but "welcomes a variety of opinions." EFFORT's constitution provides the only information that is known of this organization.

The Dickinsonian reported that the upcoming symposium would address the topic of "The New Morality" and would feature Betty Friedan, author of The Feminine Mystique, among other speakers. The symposium was designed "to allow the student to come to grips with himself...."Betty Friedan would partner with Dr. Evelyn Duvall in order to discuss "Feminine Fulfillment in a Changing Morality." The article calls Friedan's book a "controversial bestseller."

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.

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."

On a sheet with "So we can find each other" across the top, the Women's Group lists what we can assume to be its membership roster and the locations and mail box numbers of each member.

The Office of Student Services published a list of members of the Women's Group for the 1971-72 Academic Year. These women included: Melissa Maholick, Debby Marcus, Barbara Levering, Kathy Jaquith, Beverly Burns, Cindy Hawley, Joan Eltonhead, Millie Harden, Donna J. Young, Kerry Kushinka, Rita Donegan, Abby Adams, Jane Holloway, Linda Keppel, Sharon Jenkins, and Ann Reinberger. It also listed the contact information for these women.

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.