Kenyon College Alumni Magazine

Fifty Years of the Bulletin

As we celebrate the first fifty years of the Bulletin, we look back at some memorable stories from the past.

"The Paramount Problem — and a Solution," by Bruce Haywood, July-Sept., 1965.

The article offers the first glimpse into the planning by the College's administration and the Board of Trustees for the admission of women students. 

We have turned, then, to the coordinate college for women as a way of gaining the advantages we seek while preserving the best features of Kenyon. ... We propose a scheme which would the Hill as it is, with a separate campus for women sufficiently close so that joint instruction is practicable but separated by its site and architectures for Kenyon sufficiently as to propose separate identities for the two colleges.

"Letters," Nov. 1972.

William R. Chadeayne '50, secretary of the Board of Trustees, responds to the contention, voiced by some alumni and others after the College's move to coeducation was announced in 1972, that the idea of coordination had been a ruse from the beginning.

In reality, the shift of thinking resulted from experience, for even during the first year when women came to Gambier, it began to be apparent that the women themselves generally preferred coeducation to coordinate education or, in other words, that they preferred to participate in and share Kenyon traditions rather than create their own. This manifested itself in various ways, as for example protests over being excluded from the matriculation oath and not sharing fully in the student government. In short, it developed that the concept of coordinate education was becoming a divisive influence on campus rather than a unifying one, with the result that an unhealthy polarization began to emerge.

Homecoming Weekend Celebration

To commemorate the first quarter-century of women as students in the College's classrooms, this year's Homecoming Weekend, Sept. 23-25, 1994, was flush with special events. 

Among the activities were an exhibit of memorabilia in Olin Library's Special Collections, compiled by librarian Jami E. Peelle; a presentation by Jean C. Dunbar '73, a historic-design specialist who was instrumental in last summer's renovation of the Crozier Center for Women; a lively rendition of "Philander Chase: The Sequel," sung by alumnae and other celebrants; an open house and "Common Bond" brunch at the Crozier Center; a "Tea and Sharing Party" for alumnae and students; and a "Celebrating Twenty-Five Years of Women at Kenyon" recognition dinner.