<p>Not all state flagships were open to women “from the get go”. Wisconsin was started in 1849 but only a few segregated (from the men) women allowed much later in that century. They named one of the first women’s dorms after the U head who did not want women on campus, Chadbourne (later rebuilt as a tower, now coed like all of the dorms).</p>
<p>Being “a part of” a men’s college was not good enough for me. Aside from no need blind admissions in my day and living in the Midwest I decided there was no way I was going to Radcliffe instead of Harvard (although they were merging around my time). HS class of 1971- in time to see the end of the Vietnam war protests et al at UW. I have had oldies stations on my car radio forever- I notice they never play any of the protest songs from that era.</p>
<p>Women had it tough in my mother’s generation. You should read what a 1950’s housewife was supposed to do! There were plenty of kids- one neighbor lady had 5 girls then birth control came and no more kids! She was an RN but all of the others were at home- they used to coffee klatch as a way to have some adult conversation (and of course there was no way we could get away with saying so-and-so’s mother let her…). My mother was bored.</p>