Alumnae Recall Experiences of First Year of Co-Education at Harvard

A quarter-century after their graduation, Radcliffe women find themselves resolving issues from the past and discovering their classmates once again.

"Radcliffe Class of '72: Then and Now," an informal reunion event open exclusively to women, was held Tuesday night.

Amid emotional conversations with long-lost friends and carefully organized discussion groups, many participants expressed mixed feelings both about their time as undergraduates and about the role of Radcliffe as an institution.

According to Janet L. "Lee" Aitken '72, "People were saying 'I did feel disaffected and alienated for most of my time there'...Alienation was kind of the main theme."

Some alumnae tried to sort out the sources of the persistent confusion. "What I found missing in the discussion [was that] we talked for an hour and a half and nobody mentioned Vietnam, which was the reason [for the confusion]. I'm kind of astounded," Aitken said. "I certainly don't think a group of men could have talked for that long without mentioning it."

"In fact, I felt very connected to my friends in the anti-war movement," she said. "[The Vietnam War] affected everybody's sense of being at Harvard and what they were going to do afterwards."

Aitken cites other factors which induced mixed emotions as well.

"The rate of change we went through [was a factor]. When we were freshmen, we lived in womens' dorms, we had parietals...by the next year, we had co-ed bathrooms. People underestimated how radical that was for us," she said.

Other alumnae agreed their college years had been filled with complex emotions.

"It was sort of confusing what our role was here," said Gloria R. Melnitsky '72. "Radcliffe mostly was restrictive. It appeared everything was happening at Harvard."

Melnitsky recalled working as a waitress at the Faculty Club and said that at the time it seemed that many of her professors felt more comfortable seeing her in that setting than in class.

At times, she said it seemed as if "there was no place for women at Harvard."

"Most of us were not thinking careers," she said. "There weren't many doctors, lawyers. It was a lot of energy, and we didn't know where it was going to go."

Organizers said that the event provided a meaningful chance for classmates to reunite after long separations.

Mary A. Cronin '72, co-chair of the Harvard-Radcliffe 25th reunion said, "People are happy to be back and connecting."

"I think there are a lot more issues that join us together than might separate us [men and women at the Reunion]," she said.

"People are all facing simliar issues with children, careers. Many people have had profound experiences in the last 25 years," added Cronin, who closed the actual discussions to the press.

"The main thing for me was that when I looked around, I saw myself [at this event]," said Suzanne B. Kulik '72. "I don't have the same affinity with the men."

Kulik summarized the discussions Tuesday night, which began with a "brief introduction of each other and what we'd done. [We talked about] what Radcliffe had and hadn't done for us."

"We went on to talk about much broader issues of what we faced with old age and workplace issues, the flexibility we've shown as women. Most of us have had a couple of careers, and we hope that will stand us in good stead as we have a couple more," she said.

"At the beginning of our freshman year, Polly Bunting [then-president of Radcliffe] spoke," she added. "What I remember was that she said that our aspiration should be to have fulfilling part-time jobs."

Kulik said she ridiculed that sentiment long afterwards. These days, she says half-jokingly, "that would be great."

Most of all, alumnae are trying to figure out how Harvard fits into their identities.

Like many others, Rachel V. Tompkins '72 attended the reunion in hopes of finding old friends. "I sort of thought I'd see people again and then you realize after 25 years if you don't come [to a reunion] you won't."

And like others, Tompkins found her reunion brought more feelings to the surface than she had expected. "I didn't identify with Radcliffe," she said. "I identified with Harvard--not even that much. Mostly with Dunster, if any place at all."