Coeducation party had few men
While the "25 Years of Coeducation Celebration" weekend drew hundreds of participants to the campus earlier this term and was hailed as a smashing success, only a small number of the participating alumni, faculty, administrators and students were men.
Of the 494 registered participants, 460 -- or 93 percent -- were women. The event, which honored and recognized the achievements of coeducation, was held the weekend of Oct. 17th.
Giavanna Munafo, director of the Women's Resource Center, said that while male alumni were encouraged to attend, special invitations were sent to over 8,000 female alumnae.
The event was open to all Dartmouth students past and present.
When asked why men were not specifically invited, Munafo said the Women's Resource Office did not have the budget to mail invitations to all graduates. An open invitation was made to all graduates in The Alumni Magazine.
"We really wanted to have a time when we made a special gesture to women who have graduated from Dartmouth," said Munafo.
This is the first time women have been invited back to the College as a group and received recognition for their shared history, Munafo said.
Although just 34 of the weekend's 494 registered participants were men, John Pryor '84, director of Undergraduate Evaluation and Research, claims that men were not excluded from this event.
Robert Miotke '92 sat in on the roundtable discussion of "Redefining Masculinity," while Greg Millett '90 and Bart Bingenheimer '94 sat in on the roundtable discussion on "Responding to the AIDS Crisis."
Herbert Grove '73, Michael Hanitchak '73 and English Professor Thomas Luxon also participated in roundtable discussions.
"You have to expect that more women would be at the event than men," Pryor said. He said he saw plenty of men -- alumni faculty and administrators -- at the kick-off party.
Nancy Fopiano '98 said she enjoyed meeting the women who came back and felt all events were open to both men and women. She said she only wished more student groups would have participated.
Mariam Malik '98 said that while it would have been nice to formally invite men, she enjoyed the chance for women of many generations to interact. "It was really cool for the women to come back," said Malik.
The event included a mix of generations. Of the registered participants, 2 percent graduated before 1967, 22 percent graduated in the '70s, 29 percent graduated in the '80s, 28 percent have graduated or will graduate in the '90s, and 5 percent will graduate in the new millennium.
The celebration also included geographical diversity. Two participants came from France. One came from Spain, and one made the journey from Hong Kong.
The celebration weekend included various workshops and round-table discussions concerning the issue of coeducation. Included among the activities was an appearance by Meryl Streep, a Saturday night social, sports clinics, and an interfaith worship service.
