Fifty Years Ago, Xavier Opened Doors to Women
Jan 7, 2019
The fall of 2019 marks 50 years since Xavier’s undergraduate, day program opened to women, breaking a 138-year, male-only policy. According to the Oct. 1, 1969, edition of the student newspaper, the Newswire, “Fifty-two coeds are presently registered and attending classes. Of these, twenty-three are freshmen and twenty-nine, including many familiar faces from Xavier’s evening division, are transfer students.”
Women were actually part of Xavier life as far back as 1914 when 93 nuns were enrolled in St. Xavier’s downtown campus to fulfill mandated teaching certification. Enrollment in the teacher-training program grew to 175 in 1919. St. Xavier leaders explored the possibility of creating a full teaching college for women at that time, but the plan never came to be.
By 1946 women were able to enroll in the Evening College, summer sessions and Graduate School. In 1967, a select group of women were taking undergraduate classes at Xavier University.
Those enrolled female students were not considered undergraduate students, but “special exceptions,” as identified by then-President Paul O’Connor, S.J. But to his credit, O’Connor quickly saw the impact and value of those “special exceptions.”
Following student surveys and a report by a University-wide committee, O’Connor and Xavier’s Board of Trustees determined that by going co-ed, “the university could both increase the quality of the students and help its financial position,” as noted in Roger Fortin's To See Great Wonders: A History of Xavier University, 1831-2006, published in 2006. It goes on to say that O’Connor cited the number one reason to admit women was to provide “a more normal and natural environment for learning and living.”
The 52 pioneering women who enrolled during that first
semester of undergraduate eligibility in 1969 had no idea how prophetic O’Connor’s words would be and the path they were forging for Xavier’s future.
In 1976, just seven years after women were officially in, Brigid Harmon would become the first female undergraduate valedictorian and Julie O’Donoghue the first woman Student Government president. In 1980, Xavier acquired the all-women Edgecliff College, welcoming even more female students, faculty and alumni. A year later, Phyllis Smale became Xavier’s first woman trustee. Barbara Howard, Esq., a member of the class of 1976, went on to become the first, and current, chairwoman of the Xavier Board of Trustees. And by 1986, women made up the majority of Xavier’s student body and still do today.
Those are just a handful of the firsts that the University plans to acknowledge this year as the campus comes together to commemorate this milestone. Through academic, student, athletic, mission, diversity and alumni events and programming, we will celebrate the contributions, achievements and sustaining impact that women have had and continue to have on Xavier University. To join the celebration, be sure to visit our website regularly and use the #WomenofXU hashtag on social media if you want to recognize an extraordinary Xavier woman, past, present or future.
Come out and celebrate with us …
Renowned journalist, philanthropist and entrepreneur Soledad O’Brien visits Xavier from noon to 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 27, at the Cintas Center as part of the Distinguished Speaker Series. O’Brien, a Harvard graduate and author, will discuss her life and career at the lunchtime event, which is sponsored by PNC Bank.