Before the initiative: a history

With the unveiling of the Women's Initiative report set for tomorrow, a brief look into the history of women at the institution shows just how much things have changed since the seeds were sown for what would eventually become Duke University. 

In its first decades, the institution underwent a series of name changes--becoming Trinity College in 1859--but one thing remained the same: Degrees were awarded only to men, by men. After the Civil War, women were allowed to study as private pupils with Trinity College faculty members, but were not accepted as regular students. 

It was not until the 1870s--when Mary, Persis and Theresa Giles expressed and were granted their wish to study at the college--that the school experienced its first hints of coeducation. The Giles sisters were taught independently until their senior year, when Braxton Craven--the institution's president from 1842 to 1882--allowed them to attend his regular lectures on metaphysics. In the spring of 1878, the Giles sisters became the first women to receive undergraduate degrees from Trinity College, each earning a Bachelor of Arts. 

The first real thrust for coeducation came in 1896 when Washington Duke offered Trinity College $100,000 toward its endowment, under the condition that it "open its doors to women, placing them in the future on an equal footing with men." 

As planning progressed, Baldwin--herself a product of coeducation--proved to be a champion of equal educational opportunities for women, even over Few's greater concern with the academic separation of the sexes. In fact, although Baldwin wanted to increase the number of women faculty members at the university, she wanted even more to ensure that women students were on equal footing with the men, even if it dictated a shared and possibly male-dominated faculty with Trinity College. 

Few himself proved committed to the advancement of women's educational opportunities, striving with the Women's College for recognition by the American Association of University Women--an association that held schools to such standards as equal treatment for women faculty members in terms of promotion and pay and a requirement that a dean for women students be a regular member of the faculty.V

In 1924, Baldwin--a regular member of the history faculty--suggested that the AAUW might be impressed by a special committee on the instruction of women. Few followed Baldwin's suggestion, further proposing that the new council be looked upon as the Woman's College's nucleus and that women faculty members attend the council's meetings instead of the regular meetings of Trinity College faculty.V

Baldwin, however, counseled that women faculty view themselves as a part of the whole institution and urged eligible women to attend the regular Trinity College faculty meetings--a significant step toward the educational equality of the Woman's College. The Council for the Education of Women instead served as a guardian for women's academic equality. 

The Woman's College opened in 1930--the same year Rose Davis, Trinity College '16, became the first woman to receive a doctoral degree from Duke. Also that year, three out of 30 students entering the Medical School were women--one of whom later recalled that women students were treated well by the faculty but that some of the male students and house staff were not so welcoming. Women entering the Law School at that time also faced difficulties in a male-dominated course of study: A 1939 report stated that out of 17 women who had attended Duke Law since 1930, nine withdrew before earning their degrees. 

Still, women at the Woman's College seemed to be flourishing, even through the Great Depression, which many feminists considered a recession for women's rights. The school received more applications each year from highly qualified candidates and boasted a better academic track record than it's male counterpart. 

Despite the success of the undergraduates at the Women's College, Baldwin still saw room for improvement. Always a staunch supporter of a stronger women faculty, she had gained little ground in increasing the number of women on the faculty, in particular in the higher ranks. 

Although there were a number of distinguished women faculty members such as Hertha Sponer in physics and Katherine Gilbert in philosophy, the women faculty was small throughout Baldwin's term as dean. Only 6 percent of full-time faculty in arts and sciences in 1930 were women; 10 years later, women faculty had increased only to 9 percent. 

Women in the faculty did make some gains, however, following Baldwin's persistent arguments on their behalf. Although salary raises through the Great Depression were scarce for all faculty, Baldwin continued to insist that women faculty with national and international reputations as scholars were deserving of a raise. Out of the few faculty members who received the maximum raises for the 1940-1941 academic year, several were women, and four of the 12 persons promoted that year were women. 

When Baldwin retired in 1947, she was succeeded by a highly qualified candidate, Florence Brinkley. Over the next decade-and-a-half, however, the college's autonomy gradually eroded. When many of the women students themselves began to attack the separate-but-equal arrangement in the 1960s, it was only a matter of time before the Woman's College was absorbed into Trinity College in 1972. 

Since then, women at the University have continued to gain ground. In 1983, the Women's Studies Program was established. In 1989, the Women's Center came into being. President Nan Keohane became Duke's first female president in 1993 and, recognizing room for improvement for female students, faculty and staff, began an extensive study into women's issues at Duke in 2002--the results of which will be unveiled Tuesday.