Former Kirkland College President Sam Babbit and Kirkland alumnae Cassandra Harris-Lockwood '74, Dolores Mancuso-Chainey '72 and Alison Root '72 participated in a panel discussion on their memories of the college's first year, 1968. The event was sponsored by the Kirkland Project, in conjunction with the 1968 Sophomore Seminar "Year of Revolt."
Kirkland College's president, Sam Babbit, recalled the several years of planning before the college opened in 1968, and talked about how the world changed even in those few short years. For example, he said, when the college's founders began planning the dormitories and residential life, they were assuming that there would be parietal hours and other such strict rules. However, by the time the college opened in 1968, parietal rules were on the way out, and the college had decided to allow the incoming students to develop the rules for the residence halls. Babbit said that having the rules decided on by the community (which decided not to have campus-wide parietal hours) was indicative of the time and place. The atmosphere of the late 60s, Babbit said, gave people permission to experiment and think things through. He recalled how Millicent MacIntosh, who was involved in the early committees that developed the philosophy of Kirkland, decided that the college should start from square one when deciding what an ideal college should be, and rejected the traditional male model of education. Babbit conveyed the excitement of this fresh start by saying that he had looked at the future site of Kirkland as "the most beautiful empty field I'd ever seen."
Cassandra Harris-Lockwood '74 was a senior in high school looking at colleges in the spring of 1968. When attending a college fair at her high school, the words "innovative," "experimental," and "avant garde" drew her to Kirkland. She chose Kirkland, she said, because it "validated the concept that women could do anything." Harris-Lockwood said that 1968 was a pivotal time in America, and it is difficult to express today how different the atmosphere felt. She said that she was accustomed to authority being oppressive and distant, and was therefore pleasantly surprised when her demands for a women's center at Kirkland were met with no opposition. She recalled discussing Our Bodies, Ourselves and having seminars on sexuality at the new women's center, and said that Kirkland was a "sanctuary for women to develop themselves as individuals." Students at Kirkland in the late 60s, Harris-Lockwood said, got "so much more of an education than we had ever thought we were going to college for."
Dolores Mancuso-Chainey '72 was a member of Kirkland College's charter class. She told the story of how her high school history teacher had recommended Kirkland to her during her college search, providing an alternative to the colleges most girls from her high school went to. Mancuso-Chainey related how going to Kirkland changed her life. "Someone expected me to think, and no one had expected that of me before," she said. Her experience at Kirkland also gave her perspective on students and education that she uses today in her job as a high school principal. Mancuso-Chainey's daughter is now a Hamilton senior, and she said that she sees the spirit of Kirkland remaining alive at Hamilton today.
Alison "Woody" Root '72, also a member of Kirkland's charter class, began her portion of the discussion by talking about the atmosphere of the 1960s. She remembered getting chills listening to JFK's inaugural, and later being unable to sleep after his assassination. Around the time of her high school graduation, both MLK and RFK were assassinated, and over the summer there were riots at the Democratic National Convention, where "people my age were getting their heads bashed in," she said. This was the atmosphere when she began at Kirkland in the fall of 1968. In high school, Root said that she felt a lot of fear associated with education, particularly when it came to grades. At Kirkland, however, she remembered this fear and anxiety being alleviated by the fact that students received written evaluations instead of traditional marks. Root also said that Kirkland teachers made it clear that the students themselves were responsible for their education, and that professors were there to guide them along. This responsibility for one's own education, as well as involvement in the beginning of a new educational institution, was what made going to Kirkland so exciting, she said.
The panel members then took questions and comments from the audience, which included Kirkland alumnae and professors who shared their own feelings and memories about the college. Dean of Faculty David Paris, who was a student at Hamilton in 1968, said that the dialogue and interaction generated by the new college across the street was good for both schools. President Joan Hinde Stewart said that attending the discussion and speaking with former President Babbit really helped her to get a feel for the character and originality of Kirkland College.
--Caroline O'Shea '07
