With which of the five women students did you identify most closely? Why? Was there another character with which you connected more strongly?

Yale Needs Women focuses in particular on the experiences of five women students—Shirley Daniels, Kit McClure, Lawrie Mifflin, Connie Royster, and Betty Spahn. With which of these five did you identify most closely? Why? Was there another character with which you connected more strongly?

I think I identified the most with Kit McClure, the trombone player. I, too, was in marching band, but was relegated to the Flag Corp. I admired Kit's pluck in refusing to accept the band director's "no," and in making opportunities for herself where they didn't exist.

Actually it was Elga Wasserman who I most closely identified with. What a tough position to be in, knowing she had to play the chauvinistic game and still push through her plans to enrich the women students experience.

I also identified closest with Elga Wasserman. Throughout my college/grad school/career, I have been the only woman in the room most of the time, and frequently marginalized. I really admired her persistence to make Yale a better place for women, and felt her pain when it was not acknowledged or appreciated by the dean and associates.

As a male, I admired all five women, but I identified with Alec Haverstick. I liked his approach and persistence. He is who I hope I would have been like if I were a male student at Yale in these early years of coeducation.