Women Students Take Part in Manhattan Community (1975-1978)

"WRCM On the Air", Manhattan College Community News, November 6, 1975.

In the 1975-1976 school year, the freshman class was said to be approximately 19% women in a Quadrangle article, and the class was the largest class entering the College since 1969. According to a Manhattan College Community News article, the largest percentage of women were entering the School of Teacher Preparation, 39% of the women in the class went into that program. The percentage of the new class entering the School of Business which was female nearly doubled from 11% in the class of '78 to 21% in the class of '79. In February of 1976, women's intramural teams for basketball and softball began.

The women graduating at the end of the 1975-1976 year were nearly entirely recipients of Bachelor of Science degrees.

Bogus '76: Letters to the Editor Excerpt

"Bogus '76: Letters to the Editor", Kathy McCarrick, Quadrangle, November 4, 1976.

The 1976-1977 year had a freshman class that had risen to about 22% women and the two most popular schools were the School of Arts and the School of Sciences. The worries about a lack of facilities for women seemed to be a valid one as delays to the gym being constructed caused the women's basketball team to have to take turns changing in a supply closet in the gym while their teammates held up a towel. The club's president protested in a letter to the editor that this "could hardly be considered a reasonable attempt to develop a co-educational institution." Following this letter, the College took action to find more suitable facilities.

Intramural sports in volleyball, softball and basketball were available to female students, and they were eligible in track and swimming pending a tryout. A sorority formed too, but for resident students only.

"Women at Manhattan", Manhattanite, 1977.

In December of 1976, the incumbent student body President Bill Bryk resigned, making the Vice President Pat Springsteen the first female student body president at Manhattan College (as well as the first commuter student president). Manzel Olea became the first female editor of the yearbook, the Manhattanite, and Dr. Mary Lynch of the Biology department became the first female dean at Manhattan College. Many of the clubs and associations at Manhattan had women officers or members.

"Girls Basketball Club", Manhattanite, 1977.

Ping-Pong, Manhattanite, 1976

"Cheers for the Cheerleaders", Quadrangle, October 7, 1976.

"Women's Basketball Team Wins Division Title" [Photo by Alan Zale], Quadrangle, March 16, 1978.

The 1977-1978 freshman class was about 23% women, with the School of Business being the most popular school in that year, followed by the School of Arts. Women made up 40-45% of the Teacher Prep class according to a Quadrangle article. Most of the female graduates at the end of that year were in the School of Arts or School of Science followed by the Schools of Business and Teacher Prep.

Women's basketball began being broadcast on the College's radio station, and in the spring, they won the district title with a game winning layup with thirty seconds on the clock. They would become a varsity team beginning in the next school year. The Quadrangle's departing sports editor apologized for not covering the team more "sorry for the lack of ink and I have left orders for my replacement to make it up to you."

As the first class of women who'd been at Manhattan their entire college careers graduated, their fellow female students were working in the yearbook and the student newspapers, playing in sports teams and participating in many student associations, making women truly part of Manhattan College.