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"Pressure and Popularity Spur Variety In College Women's Studies Courses"

This New York Times article chronicles the advent of the establishment of women's studies programs at universities across the country in the 1970s, featuring the newly established double major at Brooklyn College. Program co-founder and co-coordinator Renate Bridenthal (History) was interviewed: "Two years ago, Professor Bridenthal recalled, students began collecting signatures on petitions and lobbying the departmental chairmen, the student women's liberation group, and the Brooklyn College Women's Organization (BCWO) fought to get the major program approved." However, the article gives the last word to the male dean of faculty at Columbia University, reinforcing the climate of sexism within the academy: "The real question is 'whether or not this really represents an academic or intellectual discipline.'" This article demonstrates the frequent efforts to delegitimize women's studies that organizers faced, which reinforced their evidence for the importance and need for their work.

Source | Brooklyn College Library, Archives and Special Collections
Creator | New York Times
Date Created | May 7, 1975
Rights | Copyright New York Times
Item Type | Text (Article / Essay)
Cite This document | New York Times, “"Pressure and Popularity Spur Variety In College Women's Studies Courses",” CUNY Digital History Archive, accessed March 19, 2024, https://cdha.cuny.edu/items/show/5502.

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