Women At University In The 1960s

This School is so full of Crap! The immediate impression when we consider young women, at University in the 1960s, is one of long hair, hippies, the summer of love, flower power, and the music of the time. And, of course, freedom; complete freedom from the constraints that might have existed in their homes; but was that the reality? By the time the decade was ending, the impression is closer to the truth, but the early years of the same decade were a different story. It was not until the 1980's that women started to exceed men in terms of college attendance percentages (NCES 1), so women at College were still something new, that was still growing. Of course, there were women-only Colleges, with “Madison College” being a prime example. But

However, they did not make many changes in regulations for women. Madison College has been a women’s college for over sixty years. The lack of progression was despicable. Women, and some men voiced their strong opinion and shared it with the public. The two newspapers of the school helped make a difference in the school’s policies. One student, Steven Smith, writes in the newspaper “This school is so full of Crap” (Fixer 1). People listened to the newspapers and valued the students’ opinions. People started to realize that the typical “60’s women” was not seen or allowed at Madison college. Women did not want to be constrained and held back from their freedom. The University saw this and started to banish some of the irrational strict rules by the end of the decade. In effect, the typical, flower power girls started to be seen across campus. They started to be able to wear what they wanted to wear, and when they wanted. The rules of dating were abolished also. The year men and African American women were allowed to attend Madison College, was the year the advances started to start. By the end of the decade, the change started to take place. An alumna visited after the changes were made, “[s]he was flabbergasted by the changes she saw in her alma mater: the presence of men, all those new buildings, a football team, and my, my look what the students are wearing these days” (Hilton par.1). Now, as formally known as Madison College, James Madison University is a diverse, co-educational University with little regulations for women and men. Men and women follow the same, rational rules under the same faculty. The faculty contains women in the high-level positions and men as assistants and secretaries. As clearly seen, the power of these confined, young women made an enormous difference to help advance the student’s