Senate Forum Minutes March 28, 2006
1. Call to order 7:07
2. Mount Holyoke Senate joined us
Guest Speakers Helen Horowitz, Dan Horowitz, John Connelly, Penny
3. Helen Horowitz, Smith College American Studies, author of Alma Mater
 Mount Holyoke Seminary was founded as one house in which the students would live and
study, students would be monitored at all times
 Vassar College was the first to offer women real college courses
 Smith College opened with only fourteen students because students were expected to meet the
same expectations as Amherst students
 Mount Holyoke students were strictly disciplined; Smith students lived in cottages not dorms
like Vassar, and were not disciplined
 Faculty lived in the houses with students
4. Dan Horowitz, American Studies, speaking on Betty Friedan (Betty Goldstein)
 Wrote The Feminine Mystique, started the women’s movement
 Founded National Organization for Women (NOW)
 Lived in Chapin House, won prize for best academic record of first years
 Was a senior during the attack on Pearl Harbor, beginning the Second World War
 Experienced anti-Semitism at Smith, she thought of it as racism
 Published article in Smith College monthly
 Advisor and Professor Douglas supports labor unions as does Freidan
 Wondered what obligations women’s college students had toward the war
 1954 Harvard experienced it’s first woman tenured faculty member
 Smith during Freidan’s time more than 60% women faculty members
 Few African American students at the time, much less diversity amongst students
 A privileged feeling here, living in a Smith bubble, wondered what her relationship was with
laborers and soldiers
 Betty Freidan was challenged twice in her time here in the 40s by the President and a faculty
member about her editorials, in front of the college, regarding political views
5. John Connelly, past acting President and Provost, Philosophy Department
 Smith founded just after the Civil War
 Most New England Colleges had a core curriculum, Latin, Mathematics etc. no course
electives, taught by study and recitation
 Amherst tuition $30 a year, room and board $70
 Explosion of knowledge in sciences and other fields, also rapid industrialization
 Pressure from Germany, advancement of knowledge, students came to hear what a professor
had learned through his own research, students could choose courses, many students studied
at German universities and came back to be professors
 Smith emphasized modern languages and 30% elective courses, also subjects such as music
and art, not taught in colleges for men, a modified core curriculum at Smith
 1900 Smith adopted a single degree Bachelor of Art, also introduction of majors
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1916: during World War I, students had to take a number or courses in different areas, but
students didn’t all have to take the same courses anymore, they could be tailored to individual
interests
System of distribution requirements was widely adopted in the U.S.
1960s: College didn’t have any requirements and tested the natural distribution, and the
students distributed themselves basically as they had under requirements
It was made permanent, so students were happy in choosing the courses they wanted to take,
this greatly divided the faculty
Mid 90s adopted Latin honors distribution requirement, today less than 60% study in all seven
areas of knowledge
6. Penny Gill, Mount Holyoke College Professor of Politics
 During 1960s the institutions intended to become institutions advocating for gender change
 Penny asked a series of questions
 Is there still a need for women’s colleges today, and how long will the world allow women
this space? Women are now integrated in all of the previously male dominated institutions
 Is there a possibility of protecting liberal arts colleges in the coming years?
 Will the idea survive that one can train the whole person amongst increasing competitiveness,
the institutions are themselves in a competitive market, and is pushed on students
7. Conversations
 Seven Sisters conference 1927
 Mount Holyoke, Smith, Wellesley, Vassar, Bryn Mawr, Barnard, Radcliffe
 Many of the founders and trustees and early faculty of Smith were Amherst faculty members
 Why attend a women’s college when many past barriers don’t exist anymore?
 Every leadership position is filled by a women, every personality type in classrooms are
fulfilled by women, the smartest person in your class is a woman, a unique surrounding
 Students today come to a women’s college for a more progressive style of learning, not
necessarily that it is all women
 Creates a more supportive environment because not competing with others in the presence of
men
 Who determines that you are female enough to attend a women’s college?
 If gender is not biological, then how can we say we are not co-ed?