Today marks the 25th anniversary of the College's announcement of its decision to coeducate, and many of the issues surrounding coeducation that once sparked controversy have become less inflammatory. But several, like social space, still ignite discussion and debate.
"The College is always capable of doing a better job and we should continue to be responsive to needs as they arrive to try where we can to be proactive ... in issues that relate to the welfare of women on this campus," Dean of the College Lee Pelton said.
Many argue that women's issues at Dartmouth affect the whole campus.
"If a large proportion of one of the sexes on this campus is not comfortable, then that's an issue for the whole community," Scott Jacobs '99 said.
You've come a long way
While the first few years were often difficult for women, the College has taken great strides in creating a campus atmosphere that is more hospitable to women.
"I think we've come a good long way in establishing parity among men and women," College President James Freedman said.
Freedman pointed to the leadership positions women have held as a major improvement, which he has seen during his tenure, in the status of women on campus. He said he has seen more female leaders than male leaders in the past five years.
Dean of the College Lee Pelton said the percent of women enrolled at the College has increased by 10 percent in the past 10 years. "We're very close to parity," he said.
"We have done a very good job of hiring and retaining women tenured faculty, and the last time I checked, Dartmouth has the highest percentage of tenured women faculty in the Ivy League," he said.
WRC Director Giavanna Munafo also said the College's attitude toward women has improved over the last quarter century. "There's some indication of course that since 1971 or [1972], things have certainly gotten better in a number of ways," she said.
Students also see the progress.
"I think a lot of progress has been made in the past 25 years since coeducation, but I still think there's a ways to go," WRC Intern Miranda Johnson '97 said.
Emily Stephens '97 said she thinks the College's administrators "truly want to see equality on this campus." Stephens brought attention and scrutiny to the College's handling of sexual abuse complaints in 1995 when she alleged the College mishandled her case.
But Dartmouth still faces the stigma of the turmoil that developed in the wake of coeducation.
Munafo said prospective students sometimes ask, " 'Is it really as bad for women at Dartmouth as they say it is?'"
"We'll probably hear it for a very long time -- it's partly based on history," Munafo said. "It's kind of a myth about Dartmouth that isn't necessarily fully true anymore."
And fraternity for all?
While the College has made women feel more welcome since the days when they were referred to a "cohogs," students and administrators said women still feel like outsiders in the social arena. Some recommended greater coeducation of the Greek system as a way to make the social scheme more inclusive.
"When they go out on a Friday night some women feel that the events they have available to them really aren't attractive to them or can be uncomfortable or unsafe," Munafo said.
Pelton said he thinks the social atmosphere for women is a weakness.
"The Dartmouth men still control a large share of a particular kind of social life ... the kind of social life that occurs after midnight."
Female students often express concerns about a lack of social space.
"I think there is a sense in which some women feel they are not equal partners in how that social life is maintained because that space belongs to others," Pelton said.
Susan Marine, Coordinator of the Sexual Abuse Awareness Program said when she talks to Dartmouth students she often hears "a lot of ... concerns about social space."
Munafo said the Greek system puts women on unequal ground in terms of the social opportunities available to them.
"It is a fairly isolated campus with a fairly dominant Greek letter system, good or bad, and all those facts do shape the experiences women have," she said.
Dean of Student Life Holly Sateia, who was instrumental in the College's early efforts to recruit women, pointed out "the sheer square footage and the resources" that fraternities posses compared to groups for women show an imbalance in social areas for the sexes.
Although she does not favor the abolition of the Greek system, Stephens said she is interested in more coeducational houses.
"Until women are comfortable walking into a fraternity basement," there will continue to be problems of inequality for women at the College, Stephens said.
Johnson also sees coed Greek houses as a step toward improving the Greek system."I'm a strong supporter of coeducation of the Greek system but I don't think that's necessarily going to have to come from the administration," Johnson said.
Johnson said such a movement could come from students.
"Even if more undergraduate societies that are coed, such as Amarna, were to be founded, I think that would be really positive," she said.
Although the Greek system is "only a fraction of the total social experience of students, it is a fraction that's important to a significant number of students," Pelton said.
"I would like for us to be in an environment in the area of social life where women feel they are equal partners," Pelton continued.
The classroom environment
"You certainly want women to feel comfortable in the classroom," Freedman said.
While women have varied experiences in the classroom, some think the College should do more to make women feel more welcome in the College's academic environment.
While some women say they have good experiences at Dartmouth, "other women ... feel there are some ways" that the institution is not prepared for them, that the "materials that are taken in to consideration or materials that are used are not inclusive of women's experience," Munafo said.
Some students at the College feel the academic environment is not as welcoming to women as it could be.
"I would say that lots of times women have trouble speaking out in class particularly in their first and second years," Johnson said.
But Sateia said she did not think "that is as pressing an issue as it has been in the past."
Debbie Carbonaro '97, who is the SAAP intern, said although the administration's attitude toward women students is "great," not all professors share the same attitude as the administration.
Marine said it is important to realize the effect that women faculty and the environment they face also effects women students at the College.
Women's Resource Center
Most students and administrators agree the WRC has outgrown its first home, but budgetary constraints have held it hostage in the Choates cluster.
"The last eight nine years of its existence," the WRC has been "offering programs, resources and support in a broad way," Munafo said.
Pelton said the work of the WRC is not limited to women -- a quality that distinguishes it from women's resource centers at other schools.
"Our women's resource center, in my view, has operated wonderfully in that it has reached out to a broad spectrum of women and men on this campus," Pelton said.
With it's expansion over the years, students and administrators believe the WRC's space should parallel the program's growth.
"The Women's Resource Center needs more space clearly," Pelton said. "Its programming has simply overwhelmed the space so that requires some attention. In terms of ... capital issues, it has a priority for me."
Jacobs is working with his class council to move the WRC from its current place in the Choates cluster.
"A lot of women at Dartmouth don't feel safe here," Jacobs said, and a more accessible WRC "would, I think, give them some safe space."
Visibility is an important factor in relocating the center.
"I would really like to see the Women's Resource Center moved to a larger, more prominent location on campus," Johnson said.
Munafo predicts the center will be moved soon. "We really need to be in a more visible space and I think that's going to happen," she said. "It will be more visible. It'll be right on a main drag."
"When the women's center opened in 1988, it was put in the Choates and that was 'temporary situation,'" but now "the prospects are better," Munafo continued.
Issues of safety
Dartmouth may be safe, but the College is continually faced with safety issues, like sexual assault, that will likely always plague college campuses.
Carbonaro said issues like rape and sexual assault still affect the campus, but "they're issues that affect our society" in general.
Stephens said she thinks the administration wants to see equality on the campus and to empower women, in part by giving choices to victims of sexual assault. Since she does not think sexual assault will ever be eliminated, Stephens said she would like to see the College codify more clearly its stance on sexual assault and the places of mediation and the Committee on Standards in dealing with the matter.
Stephens said during her time at Dartmouth, the College has paid increasing attention to women's issues, but said it is important for the College to let victims of sexual assault know what to expect after the incident.
Pelton emphasized the College's efforts to make its campus safe.
"This is a very safe campus and we have a safety committee that reviews lighting issues and so on and so forth, issues related to sexual assault," Pelton said.
Pelton highlighted the resources available to victims of sexual assault.
"There are a number of resources on campus available for students in that area," Pelton said. "The fact that we have a full time sexual assault awareness director and program is a testament to the fact that we recognize some of the special issues women face," Pelton said.
