Yale News

In a year-long commemoration titled 50WomenAtYale150, Yale celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first female students to attend Yale College through conferences, film screenings, publications and more. 

In 1869, Yale admitted the first two female students to the Yale School of Fine Arts. Yale College took another 100 years to follow suit. In 1969, 575 women entered Yale College as first-years, sophomores and juniors. University President Peter Salovey commissioned former trustee and former Vice President for Global and Strategic Initiatives at Yale Linda Lorimer LAW ’77 and current trustee and physician Eve Rice ’73 to chair the Steering Committee tasked with celebrating the 50th anniversary of coeducation of Yale College and the 150th anniversary of admission to the University. 

“What stands out so vividly in my mind, as we think about coeducation, was how Yale College students — past and present — could interact with and learn from one another face to face. I can’t imagine a better way to mark the start of this historic year,” Yale College Dean Marvin Chun wrote in an email to the News. 

The 50th Anniversary Committee, a smaller group in charge of organizing the kickoff event in September, consisted of two women from each of the first coeducated classes of the College — 1971, 1972 and 1973. The University’s graduate schools and other Yale entities were allowed to celebrate in the manner that best fit each institution’s tradition, including a host of lectures, exhibitions and performances.

In September 2019, the University hosted “50 Fest: Celebrating a Half-Century of Coeducation in Yale College.” The project included an Old Campus soiree and an oral and written history project. Testimonies of more than 100 women were recorded, many of whom were interviewed by former ABC News producer Kyle Gibson ’78.

The University also placed a stone plaque at the base of Phelps Gate commemorating the classes of 1971, 1972 and 1973. The entrance is symbolically marked by footprints of Yalies over the years.

Yale institutions and student organizations also commemorated the anniversary.

The Yale University Art Gallery held an exposition showing the work of female Yalies from the College, Art and Architecture Schools. 

“On the Basis of Art: 150 Years of Women at Yale” was held from Sept. 10, 2021 to Jan. 9, 2022. It showcased and celebrated the remarkable achievements of women artists who graduated from the University.

Tanya Marcuse ART ’90 and George Miles ’74 GRD ’77 also created a photo exhibition titled “12 Portraits: Studies of Women at Yale.” It includes a virtual exhibition hosted by Yale Library and a physical display in the Sterling Memorial Library Memorabilia Room.

“I wanted to harness the formal language and expressive powers of the painted portraits of men that we see around the university,” Marcuse said. “I used the stillness and seriousness of this convention to grant power and presence to the women in the photographs.”

The Yale Symphony Orchestra also devoted its entire season to showcasing works by female composers.

Their concert in November 2019, “From Darkness to Light,” featured a piece called “Disillusioned Dreamer” by Hannah Kendall, a Black female composer currently pursuing her doctorate of musical arts at Columbia University.

YSO conductor William Boughton told the News that he felt the 50th anniversary of coeducation at Yale College was a perfect opportunity to challenge the domination of classical music by white males.

The Yale Film Center’s series of free film screenings highlighted films by female directors. The series sought to ask if there is a “female gaze” at tension with the “male gaze” — a film phenomenon related to the male-dominated field of directors. 

Yale Athletics’ contributed to the commemoration through sports patches, website changes and events.

Student-athletes wore sport patches that read “Lux et Femina” — a play on Yale’s official motto “Lux et Veritas” — on their game jerseys or warmups. Under the “Teams” heading on the Athletics website, women’s sports were featured on the left, while men’s sports were moved over to the right. This change was initiated to increase the number of clicks women’s sports teams receive. 

The night before the 2019 iteration of The Game, Yale hosted a reception for female athletic alumni before the Blue Leadership Balla -– a biennial event for alumni and friends of Yale athletics.

Residential colleges and student groups stepped forward to help celebrate coeducation at Yale.

Yale Women’s Leadership Initiative, or WLI, published “Remembering 150.” The book includes stories and recollections from alumni discussing their experiences of coeducation at Yale from graduation classes ranging from 1971 to 2020.

Ananya Kachru ’22 and Jen Huang ’22, members of the WLI board, wanted to find a way to recognize the milestone more “appropriately and with more impact,” adding that 50 Fest fell somewhat flat. 

The Pierson Women at 50 committee organized a college tea, dedicating a tree and a bench in honor of the anniversary.

Marissa Sanghvi ’20, a member of the Pierson Women at 50 committee, remarked that the tree “leave[s] a mark long after our time at Yale is over.”

During the first year of coeducation at Yale College, women comprised less than 15 percent of the student body.