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Page 21 text:
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( ffcrf iiL; rudifio i l ' iiiu;cti)ii . . . the luimc conjures u ) tlic iiii- a v i)f ivy-c-.ovonul walls, century-old rivalri(!s- Iho rowdy c.ompotition between the Bij Three Harvard. Princeton and Yale is nationally la- moiis-football games, reunions, orange and black banntM ' s waving from every precipic( , anil bonfires burning on Clannon Cireen. The lair of the tiger bears an aura of tradition, a heritage centuries-old. an image cherished in tht; hearts of alums of the past seventy-five years. However, in recent years the face of Prince- ton has changed drastically with the heart of this change assumi-d to be the introduction of women into the student body. Cries of sacrilege from alums far and n( ar have poured into the ivy-covered walls of Nassau Hall, for the deci- sion to go coed has provoked more controversy than perhaps any other decision in Princeton ' s two hundred-year history. To the alums the ninv feminine aspect of Princeton has signalled the end of a glorious past, the ignominious demise of that revered institution. Princeton tradition. Has Princeton tradition suffered a severe blow with the changing times? It ' s true that many of the old traditions have faded. For ex- ample, the old Princeton that so many re- member has effectively ceased to exist. No longer does the interclass rivalry exist to the de- gree of seniors alone sitting on the sundial, of certain paths reserved for upperclassmen. and of certain types of dress for each particular class-cherished memories of old timers. And even more recently, the very atmosphere of dat- ing on campus has been completely altered. No longer are women, upon pain of expulsion, for- bidden in the dorms after 7:00 p.m.; no longer must the number of party weekends be limited to five per year; no longer must parties end by 1:00 a.m.: no longer must parties be chaperoned by a married couple at least five years beyond college-age; no longer does one escort a lovely young import down to Lake Carnegie to watch the submarine races at night-all charac- teristics of Princetonian life in the early fifties. Times have definitely changed. However, these changes are only minor ones in the all-encompassing scope of Princeton tra- dition, heralded by the change in the tim(!s. Such metamorphoses are inevitable with or without the presence of females on campus, and tho.se persons who attribute the passing of such traditions to feminine influence are refusing to bow to the world of the seventies. On the c;on- trary, the females on campus have added a new dimension to Princeton tradition. For example, there now exist both a tiger and a tigerette, a female tiger who parades with coeducation: ' 69- ' 74 the male to cinder PrinciMon ' s tii.inis on to vic- tory. And many of these teams are f(!male. In- deed. th(; women ' s tennis, crew, squash, and swimming teams are nationally recognized. Wom(!n have adapfcul th(!ms(dv(!S to every as- pect of Princeton tradition and hav(! in many cases revitalized dying inslilulions. Th(!y, as nuich as [hv. mem, care for Princeton and arc; as ready and as willing as any male undergraduate; to salute; Princeton ' s glorious past, although n(;ver forgetting that ahead of lh(;m lies a glori- ous future. In many cases n(;vv traditions have; (;volved. For example, one; of the most commonly occur- ring f(;minine (;xp(;riences revolv(;s around the (;ver-present debate over the merits of coeds v(;rsus imports. How discouraging the freshman girl finds being informed of the male opinion of her class ' s female segment, as a consequence of the males ' scanning of the Freshman Herald: in- deed, out of three hundr(;d girls, less than fif- t(;en might be considered acceptable; ; for to be;gin with, only twenty-five are even passably good looking , of whom at least five will be so bookwormish they ' ll never be seen, plus at least another five will have no personality; leaving at most fifteen adequate coeds. She sub- sequently learns that coed is a dirty four-let- ter word like Yale. Of course, the coeds counter with the merits of the female population and the disadvantages of the old cattle drives. and fight back admirably with lines such as. Im- ports is a seven-letter dirty word like Har- vard. Such rivalries have become a part of the Princeton tradition. Lastly, one of the; most vehement of alumni complaints has been that females will erode; the sense of male camaraderie that formed so much a part of the old Princeton. However, this fear has not as of yet been realized, at least not no- ticeably. Athletic teams and many activities are still segregated coeducationally; for instance, the singing groups and three eating clubs-Cot- tage most notably by a ve)te- e)f over one- hundred to three-have maintained their all-male status. All-male nude Olympics still delight Holder courtyarel audiences, foexl-fights still abound in Commons, people continue to swim in the Woodrow Wilson School Fountain. Male fel- lowship has not died; it has simply been e-n- rie;heel by a new dimension. This then, is coeducatie)n ' s eff(;ct on tradi- tie)n-a new dimension has been added, a e:hoice. an enrichening. The- most important as- pect e)f Princeton traditions still exists in the he-arts of oil Princetonians-the magical Princeton spirit. Prince te)n still has the same glow, the same unquenchable drive that it has always hael-nothing c:an change that. missv mcneil
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Page 22 text:
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enlivening the classroom It was not so long ago that Princeton ' s male chauvinists apparently believed that the University ' s decision to be- come coeducational was made largely on social grounds, as if it were the Trustees ' desire to hold a sort of per- manent mixer here which would give Princeton men the opportunity of meeting attractive and intelligent women without leaving the comforts of their own dormitories: four or five years ago, a few may have even imagined that the Princeton female population was intended to serve in the capacity of slightly sophisticated call girls, energeti- cally committed to m(;eting the needs-social and sex- ual-of frustrated male scholars, but uninterested in pur- suing knowledge and truth for themselves. If pressed to the wall, even the most piggish of chauvinists would probably have concedt d that Princeton women might po- tentially make some; slight academic contributions, but these would certainly be limited, for the most part, to the donation of their feminine secretarial skills to the typing of the astounding scholarship of the Princeton male. By now, five years after coeducation came, the impact of the woman on Princeton can more accurately be gauged and, whatever one thinks of the heterosexual so- cial inter-action on the Princeton campus, one cannot help but be impressed with the performance of the aca- demic Tigress. While the actual figures are unavailable, I strongly suspect that the relationship between female ac- ademic success and male academic success at Princeton must be roughly equivalent to the relation.ship between the Princeton women ' s tennis team ' s athletic achieve- ment and the fading fortunes of the football team: those persons with the second X chromo.some appear to have won both rounds. That is not to .say that the Princeton woman iouiui smooth sailing on the University ' s academic .sea.s. Far from it. Until very recently, preceptors-some even in the more exact sciences— would predictably seek out ' the feminine view-point from the solitary woman in the classroom, as if she, like some sort of Congressional lob- byist, could speak only for the relatively narrow concerns of a special interest group. Just months ago, a modern lit- erature preceptor ' s blush almost matched the bright red crew neck sweater worn by the only girl in his class as he tried, for her benefit, to describe delicately the sexual im- agery in a D. H. Lawrence masterpiece. When an attrac- tive Princeton woman receives an attractive grade from a male Princeton professor, eyebrows are raised and know- ing smiles are exchanged as jealous male classmates fan- tasize how the interesting grade bargaining session must have taken place, dismissing, of course, the possibility that the grade was earned legitimately. A Princeton male who speaks up rather often or who dwells on his vast knowledge a bit long is dismissed as somewhat loqua- cious, at best, and perhaps pretentious, at worst. A Princeton woman whose classroom contributions are equivalent is an obnoxious bitch, pure and simple. As time goes by and as female enrollment climbs, one can begin to glimpse the day when Princeton women will be considered just as intelligent and stupid, just as in- triguing and boring, just as charming and annoying as their male counterparts. And, in fact, that day might ,il- ready be here. An early morning precept, held the day after the truste(!s announced an equal access admissions policy, b(!gan with a brief discussion of the impact true coeduca- tion might have at Princeton. The preceptor then turned to the lone woman seated at the long walnut table and a.sked, inevitably, for the coed ' s point of view. Without a pau.se or a smile, .she responded, Why look at me? We ' re all coeds now. jim lytic
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