Malice in Wonderland

At a recent party in a Kirkland House entry, a group of well-dressed and beautifully made-up women appeared at the door. As the men swung their heads to survey the newcomers, the Harvard women nudged each other and pronounced with great disdain, "The Wellesley contingent is here."

Certainly everyone has heard the well-known adage "Lesley to bed, Wellesley to wed, and Radcliffe to talk." The Harvard men who most frequently use the taunt loudly bemoan the dearth of social life and attractive females at Harvard, and openly advertise their trysts with girls at other colleges and junior colleges. Accustomed to being called "Cliffie bitches," and frigid ones at that, Harvard women develop a not-surprising feeling of antagonism towards females from other colleges, whom they frequently see populating the Harvard House parties and dating Harvard men.

As the situation repeats itself year and after year, the stereotypes remain continually in force, and Harvard women often neglect to look beyond those surface impressions. Believing themselves to be more intelligent, more socially refined, and vastly superior in every way, a lot of Harvard women simply write off the credibility of the other colleges and universities and pronounce the women silly airheads--their only desire in life being to net a Harvard man who will marry them and make them happy forever and anon. In many cases this label is not deserved--yet little is ever done to dispel the myths that have been around for so long, and that show no likelihood of dying soon.

Take Wellesley, for example. At one time considered the paragon of academic excellence for females desiring a college education, Wellesley boasts a proud tradition of its graduates going on to high-powered jobs and prestigious careers. CBS White House correspondent Diana Sawyer, Mary Cunningham of the recent Bendix brouhaha, and actress Ali McGraw are but a few of the successful Wellesley alumnae. In fact the heritage of academic excellence has been at Wellesley for so long that it is not unusual to hear of current Wellesley undergraduates having mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and even great-grandmothers who attended Wellesley in their time.

With this aura of scholarly accomplishment hovering over it, why is it then that Wellesley women tend to be dismissed as slickly-packaged air heads by Harvard women, and pursued by Harvard men who often make the 12-mile busride to Wellesley to participate in brief one-night flings? A trip out to Wellesley and a weekend spent talking to and observing the undergraduates reveals surprising facts about life among the 2000 females ensconced out there, including a startling amount of unhappiness and bitterness.

A great deal of discontent at Wellesley stems from the total lack of men--a problem compounded by the fact that Wellesley is very secluded and separate from all other colleges. "I felt like I had entered a nunnery or a nerd-shell when I came here," says sophomore Heather Rae. "There are a lot of girls here who just don't want to deal with men--who just want to shut the door on the male aspect of their lives."

Although the Board of Trustees voted against admitting men in 1971, a few men every year elect to attend Wellesley as transfer students--a situation that was humorously described in Esquire earlier this year by a man who said that he had been amorously pursued by scads of sexually-starved Wellesley women during his year out there. Discussing this article, junior Tracy Trippe says, "I would never recommend that a man do the exchange; the women just treat the guys very badly. Their whole attitude towards them is just one of 'Are you just here for the sex?"'

What Wellesley women say is the worst part of not seeing men during the week, however, is that they never get to interact with them on a day-to-day basis as friends. "I really miss not having guys in classes," says sophomore Amy Jordan. "The only time we ever see guys is on the weekends, and that's always a stilted and unnatural environment. At times when we just want to meet men as friends, we can be misperceived as wanting to be picked up."

Although almost everyone agrees it is difficult to adjust to the lack of men, some Wellesley students believe that the introduction of men would sully the beauty and serenity of the campus. Women point to the expensive yards of Oriental carpeting in the living rooms, the numerous expensive grand pianos, and the acres upon acres of beautifully manicured green grass and gardens, and say that the natural roughness of men might destroy the prettiness of the setting.

Some women, however, while they appreciate Wellesley's charm, still feel that a lot of its perquisites are artificial and unnecessary. "The alums have a lot of power--they replace the worn carpeting, make sure the lands are perfectly manicured, and work on ensuring that Wellesley remains static and unchanging," Trippe says. "In the springtime I can go out and pick bunches of azaleas and pussywillow and bring them back to my room because the campus is like a specimen or botanical garden. But then, you begin to wonder if it's natural for everything to be that perfect."

Part of Wellesley's ambience lies in the fact that it is so secluded. But it is exactly this seclusion that at first attracts, and then repels, scores of women who begin to find it tiresome to plan their lives around bus schedules and the availability of friends' cars. Although Wellesley brochures cheerfully announce that metropolitan Boston is only 35 minutes away, there can be limited spontaneity in going out because of the planning involved. After all, there is no "T" to hop on out there.

This desire to get away often manifests itself in people making plans for the weekend as early as Monday night. "By Wednesday just about everyone knows what they'll be doing over the weekend," junior Lynda Davis says. "That's why we always look so nice when we come in for parties--it's something we've been planning for and looking forward to all week. It's also our one chance to meet and impress guys; Harvard girls can not only see men every day, but they can also hear about a party, throw on a pair of jeans, and be at the party within five minutes."

One of the most telling statistics about Wellesley is the fact that one-third to one-half of the junior class leaves in a great exodus every year to go abroad or to participate in the 12-College Exchange, of which Wellesley is a member. "Because Wellesley is single-sex and so isolated, everyone wants to get away at one time or another," says Jordan, who will probably spend next year at the University of California at Berkeley. "Wellesley is too mellow for me; I miss the 'real' college atmosphere of frats, football games and parties," she says.

Trippe, who is presently completing her junior year exchange at Williams College, feels that her time away from Wellesley has been enjoyable and beneficial. "There is so much to do and so much going on at Williams--it's a much healthier environment than Wellesley," she says. "The only reason I'd go back next year to Wellesley would be because it is admirable to stick out four years there--it's almost like a prison sentence. If I had the choice again, I wouldn't choose Wellesley."

Not all Wellesley students are this negative, however. Some women simply accept the isolation and concentrate instead on obtaining the excellent education that Wellesley has to offer--a factor that attracts many students in the first place. Getting admitted to Wellesley is no easy task. 71% of the students ranked in the top tenth of their high school class, and their SAT scores generally fall into the high 600's and 700's.

Classes at Wellesley are usually small, and contact with faculty members is very extensive. "Participation in classes is crucial--it's not as if you can sit in a large lecture hall and mindlessly take notes for an hour," says junior Jenny Hinshaw. "Classes here are so contained and so one-on-one with the professors, that absences are instantly noticed and frowned upon."

Another positive feature about the stellar academics at Wellesley is the way in which it provides females with role models, and helps women to fully appreciate the worth of their own minds. "In high school it was always the guys who dominated the classes. I used to play down my strengths to fit in--Wellesley helped me to put my feet on the ground," junior Kathy Oglo says, adding, "I take myself more seriously now."

But again, like the initially attractive isolation of the campus, the intensity of the academics can make people very unhappy. "Learning is reduced to a petty competitiveness here--everyone feels like they have to put in more hours at the library, or score better on tests than the girls next door," Rae says.

Many students also complain that the days tend to blur together because of the redundancy of the daily routine of eat, go to class, study, sleep. "All you do at Wellesley is study--it's taken for granted that you'll be in the library every night and on Sundays," Trippe says. "I thought that the swim team would be an outlet for me, but even with them the big thing is to dress really fast in the locker rooms after meets so that we can get back to the libraries."

Because of Wellesley's self-paced exam system, which allows students to schedule their exams at either 9 a.m. or 2 p.m. over three days, the Honor Code at Wellesley is very strict. "You can't ask people if the exam was easy or hard, and you can't talk to a friend if you are upset about an exam, so what you find are multitudes of girls calling their mothers to cry about their finals," Trippe says.

While a lot of women point to the education they are receiving as the primary reason they came to Wellesley, some feel that this posture is only a mask for discontent over not being admitted to first-and second-choice schools. Rae, an Exeter graduate, says that Wellesley is seen as a second-rate school at her alma mater. "People only come to Wellesley because they didn't get into the Ivies," she explains.

At times this bitterness over not getting into other Ivy League schools and universities can color a Wellesley student's view of women at other colleges. "The picture we have about Radcliffe out here is that it is a very bitchy place to be," Oglo says, adding, "But maybe that is just because some of the girls applied there and didn't get in." Trippe offers a blunter assessment: "Wellesley women see the Cliffie bitches as competition for the Harvard men."

And just what is the view of Harvard men at Wellesley? Although Trippe avers that Harvard men are sometimes seen as more "glamorous" and more "fun," other Wellesley women have less-than-flattering portraits to paint. "A lot of the Harvard guys who come out here are strange sometimes--they're very into being at Harvard and they think that being there makes them special or something," Jordan says. "While Harvard guys might be fun for a few weeks, it is generally the MIT guys who call back and who are friendlier."

As to the notion that Wellesley women are just out for a husband, the resounding response from the students is that careers and well-paying jobs come first these days. "Sure your parents joke about you meeting the Harvard doctor, but not that many people are here to get married anymore," Rae says. "The women are very career-oriented now--priorities have definitely changed."

Oglo offers some final views on the Wellesley women she sees today--a different breed from that described in the opening ditty. "It's time people took us seriously; the Wellesley woman these days is down-to-earth, intelligent and laid back," she says. "It is definitely a clean-cut, live and let live atmosphere now."