University of South Carolina Columbia - Garnet and Black Yearbook (Columbia, SC)

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Cecilia Saxon, a graduate of the first class and a teacher then at Booker T. Washington. Upon hearing an account of the class's experiences, Mrs. Elliott returned to the University to find history pages void of the information. She was told then by University offi- cials that theqsubject was taboo on campus and should continue as it had before - buried, untouched, and forgotten. It wasn't until Gov. Ben Till- man's administration in 1894 that coeducation would be instituted. The years just prior to World War I constitute the second phase of coeducational growth. Located at the Preston-Hampton mansion was the College for Women, a Colum- bia independent college closely associated with the Presbyterian Church. President of the college was Miss Euphenia McClintock, a very efficient and popular presi- dent, who nevertheless was a poor business manager. With the Euro- pean crisis threatening American security and involvement, Miss McClintock found her college's 360,000 debt insurmountable. For 1915 this was a lot of money, too much money for her school. With no future as an independent col- lege, she pleaded with the state leg- islature to take over her school and combine it with the University. But 360,000 was also too great a debt for the poor state and the leg- islature refused her appeal. When Chicora College merged with the ailing school, much antagonism arose between these two institu- tions. Supporters of McClintock's college established a professorship at USC to be given in southern studies in honor of Miss McClintock. Also, McClintock dor- mitory is named for her. According to Mrs. Elliott, Miss McClintock should have been USC's first dean of women. The state should have taken over her school and combined it with USC. The McClintock era overlaps the opening World War I years and the next phase of coeducation at USC. As many male students left school to join the war, university officials looked at the declining enrollment with alarm. Fearing a during the years 1924-35. possible repeat of Civil War condi- tions when the academic halls sud- denly emptied, the administration decided to allow Coeds to live in University dormitories. Mrs. B. L. Parkinson who became advisor to the female students moved into Rutledge with the girls. While Mrs. Parkinson was actu- allyfirst dean of women, the Uni- versity did not give her the title or consider her a member of the fac- ulty. This second female occupa- tion of Rutledge lasted only for the war's duration. The close of World War I intro- duced the final chapter in coeduca- tion as well as the beginnings of Mrs. Elliott's association with USC. In 1922 both the South Caro- lina Federation of Women's Clubs and USC President William Mel- ton began full campaigns for offi- cial coeducation at the University. During December, 1923, Mrs. Elliott, then Miss Irene Dillard, met with Melton. He said USC was going to have a dormitory for women, a dean of women, and offi- cial 'coeducation within the coming year. Melton's criteria for the dean of women included that she must have a Ph.D., have a full professor- ship with membership on every committee relevant to coeducation, and the same salary as her male peers. When Mel- ton offered Mrs. Elliott the job, she refused saying that she already had a job offer in LaGrange, Ga. A graduate of Randolph Macon Women's College and professor there for seven years, Mrs. Elliott was currently working on her dissertation at the University of North Carolina at the time of Mel- ton's offer. In june, 1924, she received the first Ph.D. given to a woman at that school and accepted the position of dean of women at USC. As first dean of women, she also became USC's first female faculty member. She served as dean from August, 1924, until June 30, 1955, when poor health caused her to resign. A shortage of English pro- fessors in 1946 brought her back to USC where she taught until 1964. Those last 18 years were her happiest years of teaching, she said. Looking back on the deanship I worried and grieved over problems that naturally arose. Her dedication to the University continues today and she seems to know more about current campus life than most students do. A charming and gracious lady, Mrs. Elliott has given USC a rich legacy in coeducation. This Darwinian web of coed evolution clings delicately to for- gotten pages and lies hidden in untold memories. USC owes Mrs. Elliott more than a debt in her coeducation story. We owe her a tradition. Editor's Note: In preparation for this story, Mrs. Elliott was inter- viewed at her Columbia home where she still resides.

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- --.s,'?'1?'Ew Dawlv College forms the likebf barkgroundfbr 1930 damaf. like that, one Gamecock contributor wrote. We feel 58D is talent enough. The role of the beauty is not stressed as much today as more and more women have become involved in active roles in the SGA, Associa- tion of Women Students and dorm government. Current issues have also played a major part in the rapidly changing role of women. In November, 1962, a woman became the first black to seek admission to USC. Filing suit against the University, she claimed USC offi- cials barred her entrance because bf race. And in 1972 Gail Ransoine became the first black homecoming queen, an event marred by boos. Equal rights and women's -libera- tion became hot issues in the seven- ties as women pushed for greater availability of birth control contracep- tives, abortion legislation and the equal rights amendment. In 1970, Vicki Eslinger, a maverick law student, started an abortion hot- line. She explained that from 1966-70, she knew of at least one illegal abor- tion being performed on a girl in her dorm. One year a dead fetus was even found in a garbage can at South Tower. An issue over the infirmary's deci- sion not to supply birth control pills for coeds arose in 1970. Harvey L. Burdette, director of the infirmary then, explained that the health center was there for the treatment and pre- vention of diseases. Birth control, he said, did not come under this category. Today birth control pills are sold at a 26 nominal fee to USC coeds. ' A bra survey conducted during 1970 also revealed a change in women's preference of clothes. According to the survey, almost 20 per cent occasionally went without bras in public. The Gamemck reporter daringly formed this impression, The girls who went without bras were mainly Northern Chippie-typej, small-breasted girls. Today's Woman is obviously much unlike her foremother. She is involved in a rapidly growing society where job opportunities are just beginning for females. She no longer has to be the nursery attendant unless she chooses. Versatility is the key for t0day's female. Rita McKinney, '74 SGA president lil' the ffm female to secure that office. USC's First Dean of Women Looks Bac 4 By Karen Petit The evolutionary fossils of coed- ucation at USC are scattered rem- nants of the past, concealed by time and buried in the annals of history. Enclosed in multiple layers of con- troversy, war, and politics, the steps leading to official coeducation at USC have been painfully taken and carefully hidden from previous his- tory texts. Since she was first dean of women at USC, Mrs. Irene Dillard Elliott is able to trace coeducation from conception to official recog- nition on the University campus. According to Mrs. Elliott, the Coeds' evolution is in four impor- tant phases. The first begins with post Civil War conditions in Columbia. When federal troops came to occupy South Carolina, the federal authorities first changed the South Carolina College concept to one of university status. Their idea was to broaden educational opportunities for those in the state. Scouting the Columbia vicinity, federal officials looked for blacks to fill the class- rooms - especially black women who could later teach in the public schools. Finding enough black women to establish a four year Normal College for the prepara- tion of teaching black students, col- lege coeds first entered the Univer- sity's scene during Reconstruction. Housed in Rutledge, these women became the first and only class for blacks to graduate from USC. When Mrs. Elliott became dean in August, 1924, she met Mrs.

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I f '7x I fx U r Qs ' - ' 1, -- , f ,',' , .- The Greek System Moves Up By Karen Petit za While the same fraternity cry to go Greek has penetrated the Carolina campus for years, the role of the tradi- tional fraternity member has gradu- ally changed. From early years as underground groups seeking reorgani- zation in 1927, and a later more party- goer and philanthropist combined, the campus Freddie Fraternity and Susie Sorority have become involved in a whirlwind of social activities since early formation of the groups. Never let it be said that the Caro- lina male has ever been at a loss for something to do. When fraternity life came to campus in the form of Delta Psi in 1850, another dimension was added in Carolina history. This frater- nity, along with Delta Kappa Epsilon 118525 and Beta Theta Pi 118585, was to exist until the outbreak of the Civil War. Two others, however, Phi Kappa Psi 118575 and Kappa Psi 118585 continued even after the war. Initiation fees and dues at the time were srnall because of impoverished' conditions. Phi Kappa Psi lasted until 1892 with Kappa Psi dying out in 1897. As the campus expanded in post war years, so did the number of frater- nities - Kappa Alpha 118805, Sigma Alpha Epsilon 118825, Phi Theta Delta 11882j, Alpha Tau Omega 118835, Sigma Nu 118865, Chi Psi 118895, Kappa Sigma 1189Oj, and Pi Kappa Alpha 118901. And, with the spread of fraternity growth, the future of Euphradian and Clariosophic liter- ary societies became jeopardized as they took a subordinate role to the new social activities. Society office became less an honor in itself and more a prize to be won by one frater- nity in competition with another. To be a lion on campus, or today what we call a greek brother, a male had to belong to one of the social fra- ternities. Within the fraternity, the early frat found an organization for both fellowship and social exclusion. It was this social existence and elitist barb that aided in S.C.C.'s being con- sidered an aristocratic school in the late 19th Century. Opposition to fraternity groups came from a group called barbarians, or non-members. The hostility between frats and non-frats, who felt themselves socially ostra- cized, grew as the years passed. In pro- test to what they called aristocratic privilege, 42 barbarians', petitioned in 1896 for the abolition of fraterni- ties. These non-Greek students blamed the fraternities for their cultural snob- bery and stated that the Greeks were responsible for many of the school's ills. Among these were lacking in school spirit, attending literary society meetings only to vote their brothers into office, and bringing the death of the honor system by refusing to report cases of cheating. The 51 Greek members rallied to defend themselves by denying charges of political power play. Searching back into history, they even noted instances when testimony by frater- nity men had resulted in the convic- tion of fraternity brothers. While trustees formed a committee to review the charges, the barbarians found sympathetic listeners in their cause in the state legislature. In 1897 Rep. Calvin W. Garris of Colleton County introduced a bill to prohibit Greek letter fraternities on campus. The measure passed both houses and became law in the same year. Chapters of Kappa Alpha, Pi Kappa Phi, and Sigma Alpha Epsilon went underground to maintain their organization despite their prohibition in 1897. In 1913 these groups finally agreed to abolish their chapters. When a bill to permit fraternities at the University was narrowly defeated in 1920, USC President William S. Currell said the groups were again flourishing as sub-rosa chapters. The Democratic Club was formed by anti- fraternity men to protest the sub-rosa chapters. Bitter antagonism arose between the groups from 1920-1921. In 1927 the General Assembly agreed to lift its ban on social fraterni- ties. With restrictions lifted, fraterni- ties and newly formed sororities began a new era in USC history. This was the age of the flapper and bath- tub gin and Greek organizations became social leaders rather than bas- tions of privilege. Sororities were introduced to the changing USC environment in 1927 when the Scarabean Club's petition to Alpha Delta, Pi was sponsored by the Columbia Alumnae Club of that sorority. In Pebniary 1928, the Beta Epsilon chapter of ADPi was char- tered and ADPi became USC's first national sorority on campus. Chi Gmega and Delta Zeta soon became campus sisters.