Women’s service organizations were popular
in many colleges, including the School of Business in 1947. The Evening Session
group, Organization for Women’s Rights, sponsored social and education
programs that focused on getting women admitted to the College of Liberals
Arts and Sciences on an equal basis with men.
A member of this group, Ms. Elaine Shapiro, appeared before the College’s
trustees in 1950. The Board tabled the issue. Soon, however, concern that
the College’s enrollment would drop if the draft for the Korean War
continued led to the adoption of a resolution at the January 1951 meeting
to the effect that women would be admitted to the College of Liberal
Arts and Science; and, to balance things out, men would now be able to attend
the
uptown campus of Hunter (now Lehman College). About 315 women, half of
them transfers from the School of Education, shattered a century long tradition
and enrolled in the College of Liberal Arts and Science in the fall of
1951. |
