Читать книгу The Deans' Bible - Angie Klink - Страница 8

We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

—ELIE WIESEL, HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR, AUTHOR OF NIGHT NOBEL PEACE PRIZE ACCEPTANCE SPEECH, 1986

FIVE REMARKABLE WOMEN enlivened and enhanced Purdue University from 1933 to 1995. They shared profound concern for students and the educations they were receiving. In addition, they also were united by their efforts to expand opportunities for women, both at Purdue and nationally.

Purdue itself benefited immensely from their service, including their forceful and direct efforts to convince their boss, typically the university president, to modify policies that would make Purdue a stronger university. Often, though not always, they were successful.

Who was this quintet? They were the deans of women and then deans of students from 1933 to 1995: Dorothy C. Stratton, Helen B. Schleman, M. Beverley Stone, Barbara I. Cook, and Betty M. Nelson. In their early years they were part of a mere handful of adult women in positions of responsibility at Purdue. Thus, their concerns for women transcended student life to include opportunities for women as professors and senior administrators. Not surprisingly, many of their male colleagues did not share their enthusiasm.

Angie Klink has recorded their experiences in this lively volume, The Deans’ Bible: Five Purdue Women and Their Quest for Equality. This is not simply a tale of five beloved servants of Purdue. Rather, Klink has embedded their efforts in the larger tale of women’s changing role in American society in the twentieth century. She places these women—from Missouri, Indiana, Virginia, Tennessee, and West Virginia—in the national events influencing women’s experience as well as the service of three of them in the military during World War II.

This is a book for Boilermakers to remember some of our most impressive leaders. I am fortunate to have known and admired all of the deans as a child in West Lafayette and as a Purdue student (BS, 1955; MS, 1958; Litt. D., 1980). Additionally, it is a book for those who have not had the privilege of a Purdue education to learn about this dedicated group who sought and achieved improvements, both in women’s opportunities and in university education.

—PATRICIA ALBJERG GRAHAM

Charles Warren Professor of the History of Education EmeritaHarvard University