Coeducation and the Assumption Experience Part II

by Maureen Ryan Doyle '73

On September 12, 1969, against the cacophonous strains of the Vietnam War the first undergraduate class to include female students entered Assumption College. While the women were met by upperclassmen offering them roses and help with their luggage, each member of that class knew s/he was entering the world of higher education at a time of great upheaval and national unrest. The previous year had brought the Tet Offensive, the turbulence of the Chicago Convention, and the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.

In the autumn of 1969 the country was at war within. Fathers who were veterans of World War II were pitted against their draft-avoiding sons, and liberal college students were alienated from their conservative brothers and sisters. Even the closest of friends could find themselves divided by philosophies and ideologies only to become the bitterest of enemies. Much of our character was pressed into being because of or in spite of the Vietnam War. While Assumption was coming to grips with its own changes, for the students in the class of '73 the concerns and demands of the outside world would be inextricably linked to those of campus life throughout their college careers.

Frances Anthes '73, is a licensed social worker and president of Family Health and Social Services in Worcester. She remembers her four years at Assumption this way.

"Many of the women in the class had gone to girls' high schools or Catholic coed high schools in the Northeast or the Middle Atlantic states. But we grew up in the '60s, the post-Vatican II era. So our background was traditional, even conservative, compared to what was going on in the rest of the country. But we were raised in high schools with religion teachers telling us to let our conscience be our guide. We were thinking about what to do to be good human beings.

"We were traditional in terms of our role in this coordinate college and I'm sure some of us probably wore gloves to teas. But we had also been in an experience where our high school years were characterized by thoughtfulness, what it means to live your religion, a sense of real values. We brought these with us and they very much shaped who we were.

"I was glad to be coming here. Coming to a small, New England liberal arts college was an ideal for me. I could grow here, form my opinions and test them. It was a protected place for someone like me coming from a fairly sheltered childhood into a really turbulent time.

"Assumption was right for me, it was a good place for me, but there were dichotomies in the first class. We started as a coordinate college. We knew we were wanted for economic and academic reasons. The academic standard of the college could be maintained if the pool got bigger, by accepting the other half of the population. The women in my class were aware of this.

"We were also aware and got the message clearly and sometimes graphically that men, particularly upperclassmen, didn't need women."

The members of the class of 1973 were known as a vocal, strong presence on campus.

"Tuition my freshman year was $1600. That year the Board of Trustees raised tuition to $2000. I wondered if I could afford the extra $400. So we protested, and the Board guaranteed not to raise tuition again for the rest of our college careers.

"These were the issues we paid attention to. Could we afford to pay tuition? Could we finish college? What is happening in Vietnam? What is my responsibility as a student, as a Catholic, and as someone whose colleagues went through the lottery system for the draft? That was very real for us.

"We looked at Black Studies on campus and marched to an African-American church in Worcester and talked to the people in that church. We started a vigil in the chapel to keep watch until the College addressed the issue. We thought in religious terms about what our commitment was."

Ms. Anthes clearly states that in her opinion women on campus have provided both depth and dimension to the college experience of all the students.

"What we brought to Assumption College over time for whatever reasons, how we're made, how we were raised, or what our family situation, is this. We think of things differently as men and women. Without our class and the women who have followed us, we wouldn't have a balance. The Assumptionists realized they wanted both sexes to have this balance. There is much more of a dialogue because we bring different things to a discussion.

"I hope Assumption College is as glad we came as we are."

For post-Vatican II Catholics the essence of change took on a spiritual quality which transformed individuals into living their faith through action. The peace movement, the civil rights movement and the women's movement had their birth and were nurtured in this crucible of change. Dr. Claire Quintal, director of the French Institute and professor emerita of French, has been both a member of the faculty and the administration of the College. However when she first arrived on the Assumption campus, she was one of only two female faculty members.

"I had written a book about Joan of Arc and was lecturing about it at Anna Maria. Fr. Louis Dion, then president of Assumption, attended the lecture and later invited me to a luncheon at Assumption to meet members of the History and French Departments. I had a sense that even as early as this, 1965, they were preparing the way, thinking about going coed.

"I was teaching at the American University in Paris in 1966 and was asked to teach in the summer Masters Program in French at Assumption. I agreed. I enjoyed that summer very much and I'm still friends with some of my former students.

"I still had a contractual agreement in Paris, so I did not join the Assumption faculty full time until the fall of 1968. I taught here for just one year while it was still an all male student body.

"The students in the senior seminar were wonderful. But the freshmen and sophomores hated French and having a woman professor in their eyes was akin to hitting rock bottom.

"In 1970 I became Dean of the Graduate School here at Assumption. I think it was very important to show that women could be members of the administration. I remained in that position for over nine years.

"Fr. Wilfrid Dufault eventually approached me with the idea of establishing a French Institute. The Board of Trustees approved the idea, but there was no money for it. The College agreed to house us, for which I am very grateful. But I knew I needed to raise funds."

Dr. Quintal's vision and tenacity reaped incredible benefits and the French Institute is a viable force today.

"The Institute is both an academic research facility, concentrating its efforts on the French in North America, and a center for French cultural activities. Part of my aim as Director of the French Institute is to enhance the image of the College."

Dr. Quintal recalls the class of 1973 in this manner.

"That first class of women was an incredibly talented and gifted group, and very creative. It took courage to be here. They were in a very real sense pioneers.

"I have never felt ostracized for being female on this campus. On the contrary, the family spirit has always been alive and well here. I owe Assumption College a great deal. We as women have benefitted richly from being part of this institution."

Dr.Arlene Vadum, chairperson of the Department of Psychology, lends a different perspective to the first years of undergraduate women on campus.

"When I first came to the College, there were two full time women faculty members, including myself. Looking back, I wonder why I didn't think it was unusual to be almost alone as a woman faculty member on campus and to be surrounded by men faculty members. At the time, I thought little of it. A lack of women faculty in institutions of higher learning, even the most progressive, was the rule then rather than the exception. In the Psychology Department at the University of California, Berkeley, where I went to graduate school, for example, there were perhaps 20 faculty. No full time faculty members were women."

At Assumption, Dr. Vadum viewed herself as a role model for the women students and in her role as a faculty member saw herself as paving the way for other women who would follow later.

"I thought that what I did would affect the lives of women faculty here in the future. I had to be on my best behavior, a model faculty member.

"Because I was a woman faculty member, I frequently was invited to give lectures in the Worcester community about gender equity and sexism in education. But like most women faculty of the day, I was learning as I went along.

"I vividly recall the day that a woman student in my graduate course on theories of personality pointed out that my course did not include one woman theorist. This was a shock to me. Although it was not conventional to do so, there were women theorists I could have included. And then, of course, I did. What it meant was reeducating myself.

"Gradually more women were added to the faculty. Once women were here, I realized I had missed them. We organized a faculty women's group. We hoped to encourage the women students, to teach them what they needed to know, and to help prepare them for their lives after college. In the process we learned much from them, greatly enriching our own lives as professionals and as women."

Bob Lewis '74, is employed by REMAX in the area of residential sales. He was a member of the second coed class, and recalls his undergraduate years in this manner.

"My choice to attend Assumption was to some extent based on financial considerations. I was given the option of going to a state school and going away from home or attending a private school and commuting. I preferred the idea of a private school and began looking locally. I had heard about Holy Cross my whole life, and since it was the '60s, rebelled against it.

"I really fell in love with the enthusiasm of the students at Assumption. The bucolic atmosphere of the campus was appealing as well. I also knew I wanted to major in psychology. I had not studied psychology in high school, but I knew it was for me. I was a child of the '60s and I wanted to look at what went on within a person. Thoughtfulness and insight were what was important, not practicality.

The political upheaval that was rocking the country was having its effects at Assumption as well.

"The whole nation was politically active and Assumption was no different. Certainly a lot of changes took place in a short span of years. Only a few years before there had been certain times for lights out in the dorms. Now people were constantly concerned with the Vietnam War.

"I had a high draft number, and a 2-S deferment. Some professors acted as draft advisors. They were available for guidance, they helped us understand the draft law and at times avoid the draft. There were always posters hanging on bulletin boards concerning the political issues of the day. Not everyone attended a protest march, but we all felt personally involved with what was happening nationally.

"There were men on campus who had returned from Vietnam. They had been in the jungle and they offered a different perspective. One of them had grown his hair down to his shoulders and clearly was not in favor of the war. He had come back and turned hippie, but he had jungle warfare skills. We thought he could turn violent at any time.

"For the most part we were just innocent college students from decent suburban homes away from those homes for the first time. I chose my classes for the traditional reasons that students make those choices, for the reputation of the class and the quality of the teaching. But I was constantly aware of my deferment.

"I think the transition to coeducation was easy. In a way it was a grown up version of boy scout camp with the girls' camp across the lake. I have no memories of any negatives being directed at the women. They were accepted immediately.

Following commencement in 1974 Mr. Lewis made a significant journey to Evansville, Indiana, site of the NCAA playoffs. Assumption had competed in the national championships and many students had traveled there to support the Greyhounds.

"After graduation I took a 9,000 mile trip on a motorcycle to the West Coast. On that trip I stopped in Evansville. During senior year it seemed as if the whole school was going to Evansville. My friends and I wanted to go too, but we knew none of our cars would make it. So after senior year I stopped in Evansville on my motorcycle. There was no one on campus. It was the middle of the summer, but the janitor let me into the gym. I just stood there with the janitor and created my own memory.

"Assumption for me was a time to mature. I grew up at Assumption either intentionally or accidentally. We understood that we needed to go coed and we also understood that this was good."

Some from that first class of women can recall with utter clarity the painful moment when an occasional professor would jest that women were not at Assumption to earn a B.A. or a B.S., but an MRS. Degree. The joke may be unthinkable by today's standards, but it was not uncommon in the late 1960s when employment opportunities were listed under the ubiquitous heading, help wanted male or help wanted female. Dr. Paul Douillard, associate professor of philosophy and dean of the undergraduate college, was a senior in the fall of 1969 when women first entered the College as undergraduates. If there are some who think the males on campus harbored ill feelings toward the women, Dr. Douillard refers them to the yearbook of his class, 1970.

"Everything was changing. Vatican II had brought changes and Catholic higher education was changing. I have a clear memory that the upperclassmen wanted to be the ones to give the roses to the incoming women on their first day. Some of my classmates married girls from this class.

"But the yearbook expresses what we really thought. It says, 'You were waiting outside with so much else of what life is 1969-1970: student awareness has lifted its head and Assumption College has begun to open its doors and its mind to reality. You came during a period of change contributing a big part of the reality and relevance of which we are in need. And so this yearbook is dedicated to you, the first female class at Assumption'."

Bro. Robert Beaulac, director of health services for the College, was in a unique position to be an integral part of the students' lives from 1969 till 1970.

"Once the women arrived, it all seemed so natural, so normal. It was a wonderful thing, it added a different dimension to life on campus. At first they tried to keep the women separate with their own dean, but the women and the men just integrated. Some relationships started, continued, and the couples married. Some now have children who are undergraduates.

"We initially made a big thing out of going coed, but it really wasn't that big a thing. There might have been some resentment from the boys, but it was short lived.

"I think the first women were adventurous, they wanted a challenge. Academically they might have been even better than the boys. But they also brought a lot of fun to campus."

Bro. Robert was a friend, mentor, and confidante to many during those first years of coeducation.

"I've held many flowers in the refrigerator here in the infirmary before dances. And I've also held engagement rings. I think the core of the student is the same today as it was then. What has happened is that the exterior has changed drastically. Just as it was 25 years ago, students love their parents and want to do a good job. Their hearts are in the right place."

What Bro. Robert has to say to the women is direct and from his heart.

"I want you all to realize how grateful we all are to you. We probably would have not survived without you. Thank you so much for coming to Assumption."

As a male member of the class of '73 Bob Carroll, now a corporate trainer for Mellon Trust, looked back on his college years and candidly discussed the attitudes and conversations he had with his peers.

"When I first arrived on campus, some of the upperclassmen were in a lather because the women were going to change things. Some of the men were used to going to the cafeteria in their pajamas and not shaving. It was a guy's clubhouse.

"What we grumbled and complained about was the tripling up in the dorms while the women's dorms were being finished. In some ways the guys in that first class of women were taken for granted. Yet we knew the admission of women was necessary for the college to remain financially stable.

"We discussed our discontent openly. It was a national pastime to grouse about authority, it was one of our guiding principles, like listening to Grace Slick, Janis Joplin, or Jimi Hendrix. We were not about to scrape and bow before the administration of the College. It was easy to feel sorry for ourselves and complaining during bull sessions made us feel better during those initial testosterone rushes."

Despite feeling overlooked as the College endeavored to make the new women feel accepted, Mr. Carroll had great respect for those women with whom he shared the class of '73.

"I don't think any women who were shaky academically were considered for the class. The College was very selective and there was not much attrition. The College looked for women who hit both ends of the scale. There were those who enjoyed Dean Lola Boyd's white glove teas and others who only wore sweatshirts, blue jeans, and work boots. I think the women saw an opportunity to express themselves academically, politically and socially. I think we had a slice of the entire spectrum on campus representing all types of personalities and ambitions."

As with others, the Vietnam War was a focal point of Mr. Carroll's college years.

"At times the war was background noise. At other times it flared white hot. It was often a topic of conversations. It was always in the news. Other campuses were mobilized, many were doing more to protest. They had greater numbers of students too. People took action in different ways. Assumption simply did not lend itself to the blowing up of an ROTC building. In fact, the intimacy of the campus worked against this type of action .

"I took an officer's commission in the Marine Corps. But people had the chance to get to know me before I was the guy going into the Marines. The campus was small enough to promote familiarity and with that came respect, even for someone whose views we disagreed with. I was never shunned or isolated or set apart for my decision."

The grumbling about the women eventually faded and the females gained acceptance and respect.

" The women's dorms were finally completed, the tripling up for the men ended and the situation improved. Each year more women were admitted and the sheer weight of numbers made the situation less intense."

In conclusion, Mr. Carroll summed up his thoughts about the class of '73 with these words.

"I had a political science class and we were studying The Lord of the Flies. The characters had reverted to barbarism and the professor asked us about the future for this society. The men all thought the society would overcome its difficulties, but the women were shaking their heads. They knew this society was doomed. Of course, it was doomed. It could not reproduce. It had no stake or claim on the future.

"By bringing in women, Assumption provided the College with new life, a new history. The admission of women made the future possible. The story and the leadership of the College underwent a remarkable change. Now the story, the history and the future are linked together forever."