Women’s History Month at Hopkins officially began last night with an opening ceremony featuring Vice Provost for Institutional Equity Caroline Laguerre-Brown. About 25 people attended the event.
Women’s History Month was planned by the Women’s History Month Committee, Students Educating and Empowering for Diversity, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA).
Laguerre-Brown was chosen because she was able to give insight as a woman to what is going on at Hopkins. “We thought to look within our own institution to showcase the expertise, talent and insight of a [Hopkins women,” OMA’s Assistant Director for External Affairs Carla Hopkins wrote in an email to The News-Letter.
Hopkins started off the ceremony introducing this year’s Women’s History month. This year’s theme is “40 Years Of Phenomenal Women at JHU”, emphasizing fitness, staying healthy, and self-defense. Other events include a Jazz and Poetry Night on March 9th, “Fitness Fridays” on March 11th and 18th, a sex trafficking discussion and dinner on March 14th, a Self Defense class on March 17th, a community service event on March 27, and a closing ceremony on April 2nd.
Hopkins spoke about the legacy of the women who were in the first coeducational undergraduate class forty years ago. “Every woman in this room is a part of that legacy and the history of phenomenal women, whether you’re a student, administrator or faculty member. You’re contributing something to the community that would be long lasting,” Hopkins said. “We’re gathering here tonight to honor the accomplishments of women worldwide and at [Hopkins].”
Laguerre-Brown was introduced by Amy Bross, an External Affairs intern for the OMA. Laguerre-Brown began her speech by explaining what the Office for Institutional Equity does at Hopkins.
“It is a small office with a massive mission,” she said.
As Vice Provost, she works with the office to make sure that Hopkins is following laws relating to diversity and equal opportunity issues. The office investigates discrimination complaints, and provides training on various issues.
Laguerre-Brown explained this so that students would understand the services that her office provides. “We want people to come in and talk to us about what’s going on,” she said.
After discussing her job at Hopkins, she went on to talk about how excited she was to open this year’s Women’s History Month. “This year’s theme says it all-40 years of phenomenal women at [Hopkins],” she said. “That’s such a huge topic to get excited about. It is my pleasure to join … incredible women with intellect and tenacity and spirit that makes Hopkins great.
To research her talk for the opening ceremony, Laguerre-Brown looked online at the library’s databases. She found an entire history of women at Hopkins, written by Associate Secretary on the Board of Trustees Julia B. Morgan. The text, entitled Women at JHU: A History, was distributed to students at the ceremony.
“[Reading the text] reminded me of something that I’ve always known, that the accomplishments of women pursuing their passions are always inspiring,” Laguerre-Brown said.
She went on to talk about the 90 women who came to Hopkins in the first coeducational class in September 1970. What was especially interesting to her was that these women were not just satisfied that they had been accepted. “These women began agitating on campus, and their message was clear, ‘Letting us in was a good start, but it’s not enough,’” she said. “These bold women began a tradition of activism and self-advocacy that resulted in significant steps forward.”
This first class of women demanded that Hopkins embrace coeducation in every way, including accommodating housing for women and enhancing security measures.
“Changes were made rapidly because these first female undergraduates circulated petitions, they participated in university committees, and they formed student organizations,” Laguerre-Brown said.
Because of the activist tradition of the first women class, the percentage of undergraduate women in the school of Arts and Sciences went from 4.7 percent in 1970 to 38.2 percent in 1985. “The landscape of Hopkins was forever changed,” Laguerre-Brown said.
However, there were still many problems on campus that needed to be fixed. In 1984 and 1985, there was a large underrepresentation of women on the faculty. “This new era in Hopkins history would bring new and more complicated challenges, challenges a new and ongoing head count would not fix,” Laguerre-Brown said.
Despite these challenges, women currently comprise 48 percent of the undergraduate class, 39 percent of full time faculty, 20 percent of tenured staff, and 62.9 percent of the executive staff.
“Great progress has been made because of the enduring tradition of activism of the first 90 women, and the countless courageous women that came after them,” Laguerre-Brown said.
She went on to discuss numerous talented women who have had top notch jobs in the Hopkins community.
But the top female influence in Laguerre-Brown’s life is her mother. She described in detail how hard her mother worked to give her a good life, and how she encouraged her through college and law school.
She concluded her speech by talking about her time at Hopkins. “When I reflect on the six years that I’ve been part of the Hopkins community, I’m so grateful for the opportunities that I’ve had to interact with sharp, talented, passionate women who make a difference at Hopkins everyday,” she said.
After her speech, students were invited to ask questions. Senior Lauren Hawkins talked about how unfair it was that there were only two African American female professors that had tenure. “I would call it a problem,” she said. “This is 2011-this should not be a problem. Hopkins only has two professors that look like me, yet they say they believe in diversity.”
Laguerre-Brown responded with concern. “I can’t say strongly enough how much university administration agrees with you that that’s a problem, that we care about that, and we’re working on it,” she said.
An effort to start hiring minority tenure track professors started in 2008. 20 professors have been hired so far. “That’s something that we think is a great success,” she said.
She went on to discuss how important her minority female professors were to her at SUNY-Binghamton, so important that she still remembers their names.
“It would be great to hear from students more,” she said. “I know, for me, in my college experience, having faculty of color around made a huge difference for me.”
Hawkins also feels that Hopkins students need to be more involved in activism. “Students need to hold the institution accountable with what [they] want, not just go with the flow,” she said. “[These issues] need to be addressed.”
Junior Cristine Carter, who talked to Laguerre-Brown about the lack of female engineering professors, felt that the event went very well. “It was very informative [and] I learned a lot of new stuff,” she said.
Feminist Alliance President Yelena Tsilker was one of the students who helped plan the event, gearing up right after Intersession. Though the turnout was rather small, Tsilker felt that it was a good selection of people. “It was enough of an environment of interesting individuals,” she said.
Laguerre-Brown encouraged students to participate in Women’s History Month. “This kickoff event and the events that will follow throughout the month of March are an opportunity to acknowledge the pioneers of our Hopkins past, to encourage and support the brave women today, and to inspire the leaders of the future,” she said.
“Women’s history month celebrations are also an important reminder that when we are guided by the principles that we’re passionate about and when we believe in ourselves, we can make a real difference.”
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