129th commencement ceremony

Hi All!

Sorry for blog silence, but its been crazy few weeks at work. I have been meaning to post details about commencement this year for a while. Commencement is May 20 at 10am. This year's graduation speaker is the wonderful Gloria Steinem, class of 1956. Ivy Day and the Alumnae Parade will be the morning of the 19th, with parade line up at 8:30am. All classes, regardless of reunion year, are welcome to walk in the parade

We haven't seen Ms. Steinem speak since she was on campus for the Sophia Smith Award celebrations in 1997, so we will be driving over to attend. If anyone else is planning to attend commencement this year and wants to meet up drop me a line at the class officers email. We would love to connect!!! For those too far away to make it to Northampton, I promise to take pictures of all the festivities.

Have a great weekend!
Tiffany

Smith's Press Release Below


Editor, journalist and political activist Gloria Steinem, a tireless promoter of equality for women around the world, will be the speaker at Smith College’s 129th commencement ceremony, at 10 a.m. Sunday, May 20, 2007.

Steinem’s lifelong career as a writer and journalist began when she graduated from Smith in 1956. Her early freelance articles include an investigative piece for Show magazine on the working conditions of Playboy bunnies. By the 1960s, Steinem had gained national attention as the outspoken leader of the women’s movement. In 1971, she co-founded Ms. magazine, which became an influential forum for feminist issues. Around that time, Steinem and several other leading feminists -- including Betty Friedan, Smith Class of 1942 -- also founded the National Women’s Political Caucus.

Steinem received an honorary degree from Smith in 1988 and was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, N.Y., in 1993. She has twice before delivered the commencement address at Smith, in 1971 and 1995. During the latter address, Steinem noted, “Trusting our own experience...may be the single most revolutionary thing we can do.”

More details and a list of those receiving honorary degrees is located at the Smith Commencement Site and at the Reunion Resource Center.

Smith College: Home of the first Gym Suit

Everyday I get a news feed with various mentions of Smith College. Sometimes it interesting and sometimes its not and sometimes its not even about our Smith College... but this little mention made me smile and put google to work.

The Senior Journal's article Books for Seniors reviewed Patricia Campbell Warner's (professor of theater at the UMass Amherst) book When the Girls Came Out to Play. The book is a history of modern women's sportswear and how sportswear broke down traditional gender roles. Apparently Smith was home to a great evolution in women's gym wear... the Gym Suit...

"the most enduring symbol of women’s athletic wear — the gym suit — was born in 1892 at Smith College when students took up the new game of basketball. Very quickly, it became apparent that skirts were too bulky and restrictive for the sport.

'From then on, comfort and common sense played an increasing role, finally overwhelming the conservatism and societal limitations that had kept women covered, compressed and in skirts,' says Warner."

The 1902 Basketball Team in the Gym Suits

Playing in the gym suits in the Alumnae Gym, now archives

Looking for some pictures for this post led me to information about Senda Berenson Abott, considered the "Mother of Women's Basketball". She was the Director of the Gymnasium and Instructor of Physical Culture at Smith and was the first person to introduce women's college basketball to Smith and the world. Shortly after joining Smith, Senda read about basketball and contacted the creator in Springfield, MA to find out more about the game. On March 21, 1893 she organized the first women's college basketball game at Smith. First years played sophomores in the Alumnae Gym, now home of the College Archives and Sophia Smith Collection.

Apparently she adapted the rules of the game to meet the "current thinking about women's physical limitations" and to make the game less "rough." Her rules were published seven years after that first game and were used for many years. She was also the editor of the first Women's Basketball Guide, a member and chair of the United States Women's Basketball Committee, and in 1985 was one of the first women elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

GQ Gets it Wrong

GQ's April issues is running an article titled "Where to Find Her, 2007". Below the article title is the following, "A whole world of smart, beautiful women are out there, from the beaches of Uruguay to aisles of Whole Foods. We searched far and wide to discover the best spots on the planet to meet them."

Now, my first thought is Smith College (or really any women's college) would be a natural choice for finding "smart, beautiful" women. Oh how wrong I am...

Now, I'm not expecting greatness from GQ, but the article contains a sidebar which additionally describes where not to find her. There, so graciously lumped in with family reunion, Hooters and on vacation with the wife and kids, is Smith College.... apparently not home to the "smart. beautiful women" I remember.



Oh GQ.... I'm sorry, but you are just so so so wrong.

To say the least current Smithies, at those on the Daily Jolt (where I found out about this little tidbit), are up in arms and have started calling for a variety of protests. They put together a Facebook group called "F*ck You, GQ: Smithies are Beautiful" calling on Smithies to send photos of themselves to the editor of GQ to demonstrate their beauty. From their website:

"…while this list offends all different types of nationalities, sexualities, religions, hobbies, and age groups in addition to ALL WOMEN EVERYWHERE, I feel that it is our JOB to stand up for our college. Smith does not get enough positive publicity. This article appears in a well-known, well-read magazine. It offends our school, our intelligence, our beauty, and our beliefs. It lowers us to a worthless thing. According to GQ, we are merely a place where smart and beautiful women cannot be found…"

I personally liked this response from the Daily Jolt:

Dear GQ,
In light of your recent mention of Smith College as lacking smart beautiful women, we hereby challenge you to an academic decathlon and swimsuit contest.

Love,
Smith College

There are some entertaining threads going on over at the Regular Daily Jolt and at the Alumnae Daily Jolt.