The Transition period: Remembering the first year of coeducation at Deerfield Academy

by Nick Blixt '06

If you were to look around campus today, you would hope that the school's mix of girls and boys would appear seamless and well-established. This certainly appears to be the case as Deerfield enters its fifteenth year of coeducation, a relatively short period of time compared to that of some of the other major prep schools.

Although Deerfield did admit girls from the town itself until the middle of the 20th century, there was a period of about fifty years when the school enrollment was limited to males only. The return to coeducation was in the fall of 1989 when a handful of girls entered the Academy for the first time in half a century.

Associate Head Martha Lyman arrived in 1988, during the last year of single-sex education. The following year, she oversaw the committee responsible for re-integrating girls into the community, and during that first year girls entered every grade. "In the first year that girls came to Deerfield, they were extremely welcomed," said Ms. Lyman.

She added, however, that some problems arose during the second year, a trend that she said occurs in many institutions when a minority finally becomes a significant presence in a community. One such change that aroused the ire of many members of the community was the changing of the words in the school song to acknowledge the presence of both boys and girls.

The year before coeducation was implemented, the school established a steering committee which was in charge of coming up with an effective integration strategy and examining the issue from every possible angle. The committee used the example of other schools that had recently made the same transition to establish effective policies. One such goal was to accept girls into all four classes and aim for a balanced ratio of boys to girls within three years.

Health Issues teacher Sue Carlson was on that committee and helped to come up with some of these strategies. "It was very intense at first with everyone's reactions very heightened to everything about gender differences," Ms. Carlson said. "Many girls did feel that they were being treated as second class citizens by some of the boys."

Sheryl Cabral also arrived during the '89-'90 school year. "One of my fondest memories of that first year was when Bob Kauffman took the time during his graduation address to thank by name the seven or eight young women who had come as seniors," Ms. Cabral remembered. "It was a brave move for those young women, and they led the way admirably."

Deerfield has since achieved that original goal of having an equal enrollment of boys and girls. Not surprisingly, the daughters of Deerfield are now as much of a presence and a force on campus as its sons.

Pinsley reflects on past and present

By Julia Conway '05

When Deerfield opened its doors to girls in 1989, it was "the end of an era," according to Lisa Pinsley '93. Coeducation was a significant turning point for the school; the administration prepared for its arrival with new dorms, new lockers, and lengthy gender awareness training for teachers. The words of the Deerfield song were quickly changed from "The sons of Deerfield rally to a more inclusive lyrics. Pinsley recalls that "it was an exciting time, and we were made to feel special." But the girls immersed themselves in campus life without a second thought and, she continued, "I knew I was part of a big deal, but it wasn't a big deal for me."

Lisa Pinsley, a freshman in 1989, the first year girls returned to campus, now works in Afghanistan disarming warlords for the United Nations. She is involved in a program called DDR (disarmament, demobilization and reintegration) to find civilian occupations for retired warlords. She graduated from Harvard College and has a degree in Literature from Sussex College in England. She was also a part of a panel of speakers for the recent Round Square conference.

As a softball, squash and soccer player, a tutor, debater, tour guide, the first female editor-in-chief of The Deerfield Scroll, and the academy's second female Deerfield Cup winner, Pinsley showed that girls could certainly excel at the new, co-ed institution. But there were still hindrances and resentment from those who wanted to keep their, as Pinsley called it, "all boys club." She said, "The upper-class guys would shout the old song lyrics out of windows and make fun of girls. They felt like their world had been invaded." But eventually, after the resentment faded and after those who were angry graduated, they fully embraced co-education.

But Pinsley now lives in a place where co-education, and even gender equality, is hardly fully embraced. In Afghanistan, after the fall of the Taliban, she works in a field and a country dominated by men. "I'm under a microscope," she said. "The Afghani people, through the international media, have a very weird image of foreign women. They see us as wild, crazy, free sex goddesses." But she's never been subject to any serious gender discrimination; in fact, she's more of a novelty.

Sometimes, though, she's treated unfairly as a woman. Living and working so close to the Afghan military, there is plenty of discrimination, especially among the commanders. "The commanders are the most conservative ones," said Pinsley. "I'll go to a meeting where men won't even look at me because it's improper. I'll ask a question and they'll direct the answer to the man sitting next to me." There are also times when she's not even given credit for her work in a speech or a list of acknowledgments. When they leave her name off of a list, she said it's very purposeful. "The military would not appreciate that they had a woman behind their disarmament. But it's good for the female Afghani staff to see women in a position of power."

The Afghani females are treated unfairly as well, and worse, they're used to it. After generations of an "Afghani, not Muslim culture," said Pinsley, that suppresses women in the name of protecting them, women are usually quieter and more scared to voice their thoughts. "It's often couched in the attitude that they want to keep women safe and secure from a horrible outside world. But it's really a way to keep them down and uneducated," she said.

To the women with whom she comes in contact, she will certainly play an important part in their lives: leading by example, urging them forward and showing them a strong, successful woman. "It's frustrating, but there's slow progress," said Pinsley. And, as one of the original Deerfield girls, Pinsley will certainly play a role in that progress.

Deerfield reps attend conference on women

By Lissy Reed '05 and Mary Kathryn Mollahan '06

Female voices in independent schools today add unique viewpoints, personalities, and experiences to education. The Hotchkiss School hosted a national conference this past summer that spoke on the power of this female voice and how we can improve the female status for both students and adults in independent schools across the country.

Chinwe Atkinson '06, Lissy Reed '05, and Health Issues teacher Sue Carlson were selected to attend on behalf of the Academy.

The themes of the conference were twofold: how can women feel free and able to share their opinions, and how can women establish their equal place in a still heavily male-dominated society.

Along with various speakers, the conference also consisted of a series of open-ended workshops where students and teachers alike were able not only to ask taboo questions on issues ranging from parietals and sexual relationships to "how to be a leader," but to add input from their own personal experiences. These open discussions allowed everyone to speak her mind, and students returned with newfound knowledge and confidence, ready to change their world.

Girls at the conference shared how important it is to them to have active, female, adult role models in all aspects of school life. They asked penetrating questions about equity in terms of the male/female ratio of trustees, administrators, teachers, and department chairs. One student from Deerfield Academy even made the keen observation that no female teachers sit on the Curriculum Committee, arguably the most important committee that exists on campus. The conference was adamant in emphasizing the importance of women in responsible positions at all levels; especially in an academic environment like Deerfield where the "boys' club" attitude is supposedly long gone.

Atkinson reflected on her experience at the conference and said, "It was a very enlightening and empowering experience that brought both faculty and students together. It was an environment that allowed me to put things into perspective."

As published in the October 13, 2004 issue of the Deerfield Scroll, the monthly newspaper of Deerfield Academy.