Female Faculty

In response to Gertrud Martin's letter dated October 27, 1921, President Morgan sent Martin a brief letter explaining what was enclosed as well as a questionnaire addenda. The addenda contains information regarding female faculty members at Dickinson College in the 1920s. According to Morgan, at this point there were three female faculty members: Louise d. Vilaine (Associate Professor of Romance Languages), Josephine Brunyate Meredith (Dean of Women and Associate Professor of English), and Hazel J. Bullock (Associate Professor of Romance Languages).

In a letter dated October 27, 1921, Gertrude Martin, the Executive Secretary of the American Association of University Women, wrote to President Morgan regarding Dickinson College's membership application to the AAUW. Martin apologizes for the delay and asks President Morgan to fill out and return a survey she enclosed. The application will then go before committee. ..

This document describes S. Louise de Vilain's educational training. According to the document, de Vilaine studied in France and Germany. In 1882, she received her A. M. at Karlsruhe, State of Baden, Germany. 

In his letter dated September 29, 1920, President Morgan responded to a complaint mad by S. Louise de Vilaine, instructor of French and House Mother at Metzger Hall. According to the letter, de Vilaine believed President Morgan's decision to not promote her to a a full professor was unfair. President Morgan took offense to this and told de Vilaine to remain calm and explained his stance.

After accepting the position as both house mother and instructor at Dickinson College, S. Louise de Vilaine wrote to President Morgan and expressed her disappointment. She wrote, "I accept your offer although it is not as generous as I had expected. My work is worth more and still count on your raising it to $1400 before the year is over."

In a letter dated June 28, 1919, S. Louise de Vilaine, a French instructor at Dickinson College, accepts the house mother position at Metzger Hall. She wrote President Morgan requesting more information regarding the position, house rules, her teaching agenda, and whether or not she will recieve room and board.

In a previous letter (dated January 13, 1921) to President Morgan, Helen Witmer asked for information pertaining to Dickinson College's relationship with the Association of Collegiate Alumnae (ACA). Witmer was told that Dickinson College was not a member of the ACA due to the lack of women within its faculty. On January 15, 1921, President Morgan responded to Witmer's letter and explained that he had applied for membership and found that "its first interest the securing of faculty positions for women in colleges.

On January 13, 1921, Dickinson alumna Helen L. Witmer wrote to President Henry Morgan requesting information pertaining to Dickinson's relationship with the Association for Collegiate Alumnae (ACA). According to Witmer, a women's college club was recently formed in Lancaster, PA. However, only women who attended institutions affiliated with the ACA were permitted to join the association. Witmer was told the Dickinson College was not allowed to to join the ACA because the school does not hire female faculty members.

The context of why this essay was written remains unknown; however, it provides an in-depth account of college life for women during the time Josephine Meredith was Dean of Women.
The introductory part of her essay is entitled "Historical." In it she briefly accounts for the reasons women had not been admitted into Dickinson College up until 1884 and outlines the various developments that arose from that year on. Developments addressed include: additions to faculty and trends in enrollment.

Miss Martha Barbour was hired as an instructor in physical culture (read, P.E.) for the female students at Dickinson. She was a graduate of the Boston School of Oratory and was not an alumna.

The January 21, 1914 Dickinsonian marks with sadness the resignation of Lucretia McAnney, who held various positions at the college. For the past eight years, McAnney had been in charge of the Department of Oratory. Before her, "there was no Department of Oratory" but she had "gradually built up her department until at the present time there is too much work...[for] one person." Even the former President, Dr. George Edward Reed, remarked fondly that McAnney was "the only woman I have ever met whom I would be willing to place over men as an instructor in forensic work."

Miss Amy Fisher, class of 1895, was the first "regular lady teacher" associated with "this historic old institution." She had been in charge of the study halls at the Prep School, but in Spring 1896 began to teach regular classes at Dickinson. The rest of this entry in the Dickinsonian lauds the College on its liberal views:

This dinner program honors Miss May Morris in Morgan Hall on November 2, 1956, the year of her returement. Born in June 29, 1886, May Morris, Class of 1909, became Dickinson College's librarian in 1927 and revitalized its collection, budget, and general organization. She received her Ph. B. from Dickinson and a degree from the Pratt Institute of Library Science in Brooklyn, NY. When Miss Morris became Dickinson's librarian, there was only one librarian, one assistant, 52,000 volumes and a budget of $6,050.

A portrait taken the year of her retirement, Mary Buckley Taintor joined the Dickinson faculty in 1928 after receiving her B.A. from Ripon College in 1911, her M.A. from both Ripon and Stanford in 1915 and 1918 respectfully. She also taught French as a member of the Ripon College faculty in 1919.  She studied at Oxford University, at the Sorbonne in Paris, at the University of Grenoble in France, the University of Chicago, Columbia University, and the American Classical School in Rome.

This Progress Reports includes changes and plans to change College policy regarding female students. Most notably is the mention of the 1973 Spring semester and the success of the movements to "rescind the 'sex quota,' by action of the Board of Trustees, so that henceforth Dickinson College will strive for an approximate ratio of 1:1 in admissions of male and female students; and to omit singing at College functions the last verse of the Alma Mater, with its references to 'men' and 'sons.'"

"Recommendations and Report on the Status of Women in the Academic Profession at Dickinson College" documents the information from a survey done from 1962 to 1972, which included a study of student enrollment during those years. In these ten years, female enrollment increased from 33.3 % to 43.2 %. On the other hand, male enrollment had increased as well. The downside to this information was that there was an increase of female students, but no increase in female faculty.

Data from a survey done from 1962 to 1972 about Dickinson College faculty revealed information about female faculty in the "Recommendations and Report on the Status of Women in the Academic Profession at Dickinson College" document. They discovered some interesting results, both positive and negative. Some negative aspects found from the survey were that women were underrepresented on the faculty, in the upper professional ranks and on the standing committees of the faculty.

According to an article in The Dickinsonian, Josephine B. Meredith will retire from Dickinson's faculty after serving the college for 29 years. The former dean had graduated from Dickinson in 1901, received a masters in English, and married Arthur Meredith. She became the dean of women of the college in 1919 and served as an English professor as well. Meredith's interests included knitting, chatting with friends, and studying John Wesley. She also travelled to England, Canada, and the European continent.

President of the College Howard L. Rubendall responded to Samuel W. Witwer's letter in regards to the Social Opinion Survey of the Women's Group. He assures Witwer that Dean of Women Mary F. Carson had nothing to do with the survey and was offended by it. He adds that the Women's Group is not part of the mainstream or the sorority group at Dickinson College and was considered by peers to be "stupid and ridiculous." The president also tells the story of a Commencement speaker who inquired after the presence of the Women's Liberation Movement on campus.

Dean of Women Mary Watson Carson sends a memo to Dr. Rubendall regarding the "Social Opinion Survey" of the Women's Group. She explains that she did not give permission for them to attach her name to the survey. According to the dean, the Women's Group distributed the questionnaire in residence halls and mail boxes. Dean Carson reports that the group formed early in the fall and invited some faculty women to meet with them. The same week that Carson wrote this letter, Student Senate officially recognized the group as an organization.

The members of the Women's Group composed a letter to professors calling for more female faculty at Dickinson College. The Women's Group writes that the foundation of coeducation  presupposes that it is valuable to have both men and women students participate in the educational experience. They explain that this concept should be applied to faculty as well and cite the ratio of male to female faculty of 10:1. The male to female student ratio, by contrast, was 4:3.

President William W. Edel mentioned in his report to the Board of Trustees that Phoebe Follmer married John F. Bacon on November 11, 1950 and was granted a leave of absence without pay for the rest of the academic year. The college appointed Mary-Margaret Kellogg as Acting Dean of Women with the Rank of Instructor for part-time service at a salary of $125.00 per month. He requested the board's approval for this action.

President William W. Edel's annual report to the college recommended the retirement of Josephine Brunyate Meredith and her election as Professor Emerita of English. In response to her retirement and others, the college filled the vacancies with part-time instructors.

President Corson recommended to the Board of Trustees that the college give Josephine Brunyate Meredith "the honor of being the first woman elected to a full professorship at Dickinson College" in the English Department. Meredith had served as Dean of Women and an Associate Professor of English since 1922. The president added that offering the dean this position would not entail raising her salary or giving her a permament appointment as the head of this department.

In October of 1972 the American Association of University Professors unanimously adopted the "Recommendations and Report on the Status of Women in the Academic Profession" at Dickinson College. The primary questions concerned the number of women in decision-making roles to serve as models for the women students and the salaries of women in comparison to those of men with equal qualifications and responsibilities.

As explained in her interview, Professor Barbara McDonald, who began teaching at Dickinson during the Fall of 1956, described the atmosphere of the campus post the "La Vallee Affair" as being one of widespread conflicting feelings. At the time, being one of the few female faculty members at Dickinson, Professor McDonald did not become conscious of the predominance of men for "it just seemed to be the way it was." Even though there were a large amount of female students enrolled in general biology classes "there were very few women on the faculty."

An article printed in the Dickinsonian discusses the history of women at Dickinson College. From the first acceptance of a woman as a student and female professors being admitted under the faculty status, to the celebrations and workshops, "Voices of Today's Woman," taking place the weekend of October 6th, 1972 in celebrating the changes that have been made.

The Male:Female ratio within the Dickinson Faculty was very disproportionate. In this picture you see Josephine B. Meredith - Dean of Women and English; Sophie Louise DeVilaine - French faculty; and Hazel Jane Bullock - French faculty as the only women amongst an otherwise entirely male faculty.

On motion of Trustee Frank Lynch in 1918, the president of the College was allowed to hire female faculty members. The president was allowed to do so if, "it seems to the President of the College that better service can be secured by the employment of one or more women as instructors."