Students and supportive administrators took different tacks to create a better environment for Yale women. Was one method more successful than another? What would you have done? Have you ever participated in a protest march or sit-it?

The students and supportive administrators took different tacks in their attempts to create a better environment for Yale women. Some participated in protests, some wrote articles, some distributed petitions, some led groups or classes, others used the legal system. Do you think one method was more successful than another? If you’d been a student there, what would you have done? Have you ever participated in a protest march or sit-it?

This is such a great question.
I graduated from Scripps College in 1971. I had gone to an all girls elementary/high school and continuing on to an all women's college seemed perfectly natural. Being raised in this educational environment, I assumed (as did my peers) that being the smartest person in the room was perfectly okay. It was merit, not gender, based.
Obviously, as I got older AND became a public school teacher in greater Los Angeles,
I quickly realized how privileged I had been in my educational experience and how wrong I was about educational meritocracy being the norm.
Now, being 72, I see that all of the methods mentioned above are powerful and the success of one over the other would be judged using different rubrics through the decades.
Frankly, I do not know what I would have done as an 18-year-old, growing up in that era. I know now, however, that the struggle for academic and social equity continues
and the 18-year-olds and advocates/administrators of 2021 are a lot more savvy, prepared, and united than anything we could have imagined 50 years ago.

I agree with MH Russell’s response above.I went to coed schools and have no memory of experiencing sex-based discrimination until College.I believe all the people in this book who assisted in getting women into Yale or who supported their opportunities for full engagement in Yale life while there were effective. It takes a village applies to making change happen. Attacking discrimination from all angles is necessary.As a former HR professional I can attest what it must have been like for Wasserman to stand up in a majority male leadership environment on behalf of others. It’s really, really tough and not for the faint of heart. That’s just one reason if many reasons why many & diverse methods of change makers were so necessary!

I agree that all of the methods used were effective and powerful ways to draw attention to the treatment of women at Yale and what needed to change. I think the methods that had participation from BOTH men and women were some of the most important. When the group with power allies itself with the group who doesn't there is a greater chance that more people will pay attention. The marginalized group is also protected by having the support of the majority. I did not truly understand the importance of this allyship until my son shared with me his role in the George Floyd protests this past summer. White allies placed their bodies on all sides while black and other protestors of color stayed to the inside of the group during marches and rallies. The allies served as a shield so the protestors of color could feel a little bit more secure about expressing themselves. They were also granted a bit more protection if the police or opposing protestors used force. The pictures I saw are powerful, and I still cry when I think about this.

I think it says a lot when members of the "ruling class" (Yale's white men) are willing to give up some of their power so others can have some too.

There wasn’t any mention of an existing student government. Where I attended college, student concerns were brought to the administration through student government. So, lacking that, all the methods they tried were the only ways to be heard. It took a long time for listening and change to happen.