Female Pioneers Play Key Role in Institution’s Evolution 

By Maura King Scully 

对于博彩平台网址大全和许多其他学院和大学来说，男女同校是生死攸关的问题. When Theodore Davidge Lockwood ’48 became president on July 1, 1968, he had three major challenges: reviewing and reworking the curriculum, improving the college’s financial situation, and determining whether Trinity could continue to thrive as a men’s college. 学院院长罗伯特·富勒(Robert Fuller)立即带头评估录取女性的选择, 写一封有说服力的推荐信，支持将女性纳入学生群体. Facing a dip in applications and the wave of schools going coed, 未来是明确的:学院需要迅速采取行动，在竞争对手之前录取优秀的女性候选人.  

Kirk Marckwald ’69 was among a handful of students selected to serve on the Committee on Coeducation that Lockwood convened in the fall of 1968. “这样做的动机是为了让一个小学院保持其地位，吸引优秀的教授和优秀的学生,” recalls Marckwald, now founder and principal of California Environmental Associates. “The big question was whether the trustees would go for it. There were a couple of pretty juicy meetings. At one, outside of Boston, a few trustees needed to be convinced that taking this step would not be the end of a meaningful football program. While we all wanted to have a good football program, it seemed a preposterous view. How would it affect the sports program? Obviously, 这并没有影响到学校，但具有讽刺意味的是，这些年来，女子体育项目的发展加快了，给学校带来了荣誉.” 

Writing in The Trinity Tripod’s “INSIDE” section in December 1968, David Sarasohn ’71, then features editor of The Tripod (and now a former editorial columnist for The Oregonian), had this to say: “虽然纯粹的学术原因令人信服，但社会必要性可能更为重要.” He continued, “……这所大学的课外活动状况令人遗憾”，在“周五和周六的晚上，校园里大约有一半的人带着女人以非法的速度奔向校园，而“另一半人则在宿舍里生闷气，自怨自艾”.” 

Women had actually made their way to campus as graduate students as early as the 1920s. More than four decades later, in the spring of 1969, 博彩平台网址大全的第一批女本科生是通过与瓦萨学院的交换项目来到博彩平台网址大全的. “在我看来，这没什么大不了的，这表明这没什么大不了的，”马克瓦尔德回忆道. “他们都是聪明、有才华的人，有很好的想法，并在讨论中做出了很好的贡献.” 

Joyce Krinitsky ’73 was among the 106 female first-years in the Class of 1973, along with 49 female transfer students, 前大学档案保管员彼得·纳普在他1965年的权威著作中提到了这些数据, Trinity College in the Twentieth Century. “It was very competitive to get into Trinity,” recalls Krinitsky, a teacher who later became a real estate agent. “实际上，他们给家长们写了一封信，在信中他们说，每10名女性中只有1名是他们收养的.” 

Krinitsky says she remembers a harsh climate. 她回忆道:“如果你一个人走进餐厅大厅吃晚饭，你会听到一片嘘声。. “Something sparked real distress in some men on campus. They had a protest sleep-out on the quad that was featured on the front page of The Hartford Courant.” 

Jan Gimar ’73 notes there was resistance among some of the upper-year students. “There were those who just wanted things the way they had been, but fortunately that was not universal,” says Gimar, who spent his career as an executive with the Boy Scouts of America.  

And it wasn’t just the students. “我认为，很多习惯了在单性别环境下工作的教师都有点吃惊,” Sarasohn recalls.  

In Gimar’s case, he sought a coed school; indeed, he would not have applied to Trinity had the school remained single sex. “I wanted women there,” he says, 带着喜爱的心情回忆起他在惠顿大学宿舍里那群亲密无间的男女同学. 

Alyson Adler ’73, an attorney, recalls coed dorm life with both humor and fondness. She recollects that 1969年，住在宿舍里的女性想方设法绕过为男性设计的浴室，享受男女之间的开放通道. “There was no barrier that would keep a guy from wandering through at any time. It was a coed dorm in every way,” she says. “A lot of schools that went coed didn’t go that far. 与当时其他男女同校的学校相比，博彩平台网址大全完全接受男女同校.” 

While Adler remembers sexism on campus, she doesn’t recall it as onerous. “In class, I never felt marginalized or intimidated. I was accepted by my professors, by the guys in my classes. I felt very comfortable,” she says. 

Krinitsky says she thought about transferring but decided to stay. “As the year went along, I was making friends and getting happier. Despite challenges with some of the faculty, I liked where I was academically.”  

Time—and numbers—also worked on the side of coeducation. “我们大多数1969年和大一新生一起入学的人都很苦恼和担心，因为第一年之后就有很多女生离开了,” recalls Gimar, who now is vice president of the Class of 1973. 虽然学校没有统计数据来核实转学的女性人数, each year brought new female students. “Every year it got better because the girls had reinforcements. The numbers made the difference by senior year.”  

Cornelia “Cornie” Thornburgh ’80, who today serves as the college’s first female chair of the Board of Trustees, looks back in awe at the first women who enrolled at Trinity. “Those early classes of women were behavioral engineers, although I doubt they would refer to themselves as such,” says Thornburgh. “When I arrived on the scene in 1976 as a first-year—then still called a freshman—concerns over lavatory configurations had turned to other more meaningful matters. There were Title IX implications, sports teams had to divide resources, all-male fraternities devised ways to incorporate females into their social lives, classroom discussion had a greater breadth, and even course offerings began to incorporate new titles like gender studies. 

“It’s easy to call these events evolutionary or an obvious natural progression, 但我想说的是，大约50年前，在我们近200年的历史中引入女性是一项行为设计的伟大实验，改变了这所大学的本质,” says Thornburgh. 

这种转变不仅导致女学生占学生总数的一半，几乎占教师总数的一半，而且还导致女学生进入了学院的最高层. In addition to Thornburgh serving as chair of the Board of Trustees since 2014, the school’s first female president, Joanne Berger-Sweeney, took the helm that same year. And the Student Government Association (SGA) currently is led by a female student, Schnadig Family Scholar Kristina Miele ’19.  

伯格-斯威尼认为，这些女性领导人为学院提供了一个重要的新视角. “很明显，当女性在一个历史上一直由男性领导的组织中担任行政领导角色时，她们带来了新的视角,” she explains. “Research shows that women are often viewed as more aspirational, empathetic, empowering of others, and more collaborative as leaders. If you asked campus constituents, they probably would say that I push our faculty, staff, and students to be less defensive, more collaborative, and more creative—taking chances when making important decisions. 我还认为，他们会认为我在博彩平台网址大全的领导没有那么等级森严，在实践中更具包容性, not simply inclusive in rhetoric. I also ask questions that may not have been asked before in the organization.” 

For example, 伯格-斯威尼上任后的第一步就是缩小校园性行为不端的处理范围. To explore the issues involved, she organized and headed Trinity’s Task Force on the Prevention of Sexual Misconduct. “工作组促使我们修改和澄清政策，并考虑影响校园气氛的其他问题. 我与大学牧师艾利森·里德和学生生活办公室合作，发起了社区运动. This campaign empowered student leaders to build a stronger, more inclusive community on campus and to hold their peers accountable. 这项活动的工作也帮助制定了我们战略计划中的许多学生生活倡议, Summit,” she explains. 

At the student government level, Miele is among women trailblazers, serving as only the seventh female SGA president at Trinity. “和管理人员一起工作，确保我被学生团体认真对待，这有点吓人,” says Miele, reflecting on how gender impacts her role. “It’s a thought, but I try not to let it be an issue. There’s always more to be done. 我认为，当涉及到性骚扰时，保持对话的开放性总是很重要的, body shaming, and women’s empowerment. There is always room for improvement.” 

当伯格-斯威尼沉思博彩平台网址大全女性领袖的影响以及以她们为榜样的女学生时，她最关心的是女性如何看待自己. “I do hope to inspire our women students to help others,” she says. 她说:“我认为女性可以建立人际网络，努力让身后的女性生活得更好. If I could have a small influence on women here, to lead by example and give them more confidence in their ability, 我觉得我在博彩平台网址大全和高等教育方面会有很大的不同.” 

博彩平台网址大全的男女同校先驱们在1969年来到这里时并没有很多女性榜样, 她们目睹并参与了学院作为一个欢迎女性的环境的演变. Though in some ways troubled by the atmosphere that greeted her in 1969, Krinitsky came to truly love the college. She currently is serving her third term as president of her class, has held other executive alumni positions, and has donated to the college for more than 30 consecutive years. 

“I think it is very important for people to know that we did not walk blithely into open arms of admiration and affection. It was a hostile atmosphere,” Krinitsky says. “但它变了，我们也变了，(我们的经历)帮助塑造了我们，也帮助塑造了这所大学.”