VOX CLAMANTIS: The Tenth Pioneer
By Dona L. Heller, Encino, Calif.
Published on Friday, April 10, 2009
To the Editor:
I am writing about the article about the "Pioneering Nine" -- Dartmouth's first coeds ("College welcomes back the 'Pioneering Nine,'" April 2). The nine women were drama students who enrolled for the 1968-1969 year to act in theater productions.
Without any intent to self-call, and in the interest of accuracy, I would point out that the '68-'69 Dartmouth women pioneers actually numbered 10, and that I am, indeed, the 10th.
On leave from Bryn Mawr College, I spent the 1968-1969 academic year enrolled in Dartmouth as a special student, taking a full academic load. I was not a drama student; rather, on my own, I'd somehow convinced the then-Dean of the College Thaddeus Seymour to let me study at Dartmouth for the year. Each term, Seymour would send me a letter reminding me that I was not eligible to receive a Dartmouth undergraduate degree because I was not male.
With courses taken at Dartmouth that year, and at other times, I actually graduated from Bryn Mawr with about as many Dartmouth courses as Bryn Mawr courses.
My Dartmouth days actually prepared me quite well for law school at the University of Pennsylvania, where there were relatively few women.
Thanks for letting me set the record straight.
Dona L. Heller
Encino, Calif.