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"I was on the competitve swimming team for 4 years and was
the team Captain in '70-71, my senior year. 1971 was the first time
the University sent a Women's Team to the national swimming and
diving championships -- we had to make a special appeal for travel
funds (until then, they didn't send women's team for competitions
beyond the typical dual meet area around Philadelphia!). Our team
included student-athletes who had swum in the National AAU championships
and the Olympics and who held World Records!"
-- Margaret Race, CW'71, GSAS'74
"During 1976-79 I was a full-time student and single parent.
In 1978 two other women and I formed a club for returning students
and were given a budget for it from the University. In 1979, we
were awarded the Alice Paul Award by the Women's Faculty Club for
contributing to women at the University. While I was attending Penn,
I used the Women's Legal Studies Services to obtain additional financial
aid (because the Financial Aid Office counted my child support as
resources available for my education) and thanks to their excellent
legal research, I succeeded in getting an additional loan for my
schooling. One of my best memories took place the day I received
the Alice Paul Award and saw my then eight year-old daughter in
the audience! She later confessed that she'd hidden behind a bush
when the school bus came so she could come to the ceremony. She
said she wanted to see me happy. It was really wonderful."
-- Margaret Childs MacDonald, W'79
"Read the 125th newsletter and it mentioned sending a favorite
memory of being a woman at Penn, and I must say that being Penn's
last Homecoming Queen was a highlight, especially being prefaced
by Candice Bergen and being followed by a monkey! Testimony to the
rapid changes during my time at Penn."
-- Lucinda Borden McKechnie, DH '70
"I was the first Iranian woman admitted to The Wharton School.
One day in a management class one of the students referred to us
as men and women consultants. The management professor said, 'Women
consultants? There are no women consultants, a woman's place is
in the kitchen.'"
-- Soussan Manouchehri Arfaania, WG'76
"I was the second or third French woman in the MBA program,
and the only woman in most of my business classes, with all the
conspicuousness you can imagine in those days. Whenever my name
was called every single person (man) turned to me -- being the only
representative of my gender and nationality, I was supposed to have
an opinion (different?!) on any issue that was raised in class discussions!
It wasn't always easy to deal with the sometimes condescending comments
from teachers and classmates, but for the most part curiosity, recognition
and respect were the most frequent attitudes people had towards
this 'daring and original student.' It certainly helped cure my
shyness! (p.s. I remember one professor in Transportation, who asked
why I took his course. I said I wanted to work for an airline and
he answered, "I see. You want to be a stewardess.'!)"
-- Catherine Geneste, WG'73
"I was at Lippincott Library the night of the first draft lottery
for Viet Nam. I remember feeling lucky to be a woman because I didn't
have to go, but also somewhat guilty. We were fighting for equality
in so many ways; why was it fair that women didn't have to choose
between Viet Nam and draft evasion? I think we were the last class
to have all female dorms in Hill Hall, and I was an early resident
of the coed dorms in the Quad. We wore skirt suits for football
games in 1969, but jeans to class. We were the transition years:
parietal hours were eliminated, the high rises (and the Class of
28 bridge) were built, and on-campus apartment blocks were available
to women for the first time. Everything was changing -- at Penn
and in the world -- for women. It was an exciting time. My years
at the university were the most important of my life. I learned
to think critically, and became a citizen of the world. What an
enlightening time it was for me."
-- Barbara G. Saidel, CW'73, GSAS'77,
WG'79
"Sitting with my roommate (Barri Bernstein, C'79) in front
of High
Rise North (where we lived for 2 years), after graduation, after
we had packed, after the hoopla had died down, and realizing that
college was over, but we didn't want to leave. We wanted to savor
the moment and the memories, and weren't quite ready to move on
to life in the 'real world'."
-- Kathy Sklar, W'79
"I remember: calls of 'man on the floor' in the dorm at Hill
Hall, generally signifying the appearance of a maintenance person;
certainly none of us was permitted to have male guests except one
Sunday afternoon per semester from 2-4. We would spend the morning
baking goodies to serve our guests on those 'special' days ... the
housekeeping dorms for women. Each unit had a little kitchen and
its own bath, and at the front desk sat a woman who made your guests
sign in, and at curfew time, would call to remind you to escort
them out ... wearing a suit and heels to a football game ... a professor
indicating that my grades could improve if I had dinner with him.
I was horrified (he was considerably older and married) but it never
occurred to me that I could report him."
-- Felice Kane Morel, CW'70
"I was one of the first women to be admitted as a member of
the Philomatheon Society and to hold an office in that organization.
The laws governing Philo stated that members must come to meetings
wearing a jacket and tie. So one evening I came (by way of fire
escape for dramatic effect) dressed accordingly -- in jacket and
tie. Most of the members were shocked by my unseemly behavior. They
wanted to oust me but there's another law that says, 'once a member,
always a member.' I remember suffering some kind of improvised punishment
and was barred from attending future meetings, but I remain a proud
Philo member!"
-- Jacqueline Davidow, CW'70
"I was very involved in Penn athletics, playing both field
hockey and lacrosse at a time when women weren't taken seriously
as athletes. Women's sports, except for swimming, were considered
hobby clubs. I didn't even think to complain or object; it was just
a given we'd receive no support or recognition. Fortunately, my
parents -- whose affirming support and expectations of excellence
meant more to me than the University's -- encouraged me to persevere,
and today I continue to be involved in competitive athletics as
both player and coach. It's too bad it took schools and colleges
so long to recognize that girls strive and compete just as boys
do; fortunately, that social inequity is behind us."
-- Ernesta Ballard, CW'76
"My memories: 'parietals' -- the university regulations that
said undergraduate women had to provide lists of approved homes
where they could sign out to for the weekend -- and curfews (2 a.m.
on weekends). Other restrictions included having to wear skirts
to class and dresses to Sunday dinner. But by 1967, dresses were
no longer required at dinner and by 1969, women were allowed to
wear nice slacks -- but no jeans!"
-- Doris Cochran-Fikes, CW'72
"I was born at Penn (literally), spent much of my youth at
Penn when my father became a professor in the Graduate School of
Education approximately 40 years ago, got my three degrees from
Penn (bachelors, masters and doctorate), gave birth to two of my
three children at Penn, and continue to work as the director of
the program that my father, Dr. Morton Botel, founded, The Penn
Literacy Network. Penn is a second home to me. I am a "lifer," I
guess one would say!"
-- Bonnie Botel-Sheppard, CGS'74, GED'76,
GRD'81, GED'99
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