The Seventies: Women at Marquette Set the Foundation for Change

In the 1970s, American society, as well as Marquette, began experiencing changes stemming from the ’60s. One powerful change of this decade was the redefinition of female roles in society. For the first time, women began to be viewed as career-oriented, and women at Marquette excelled as they moved into visible leadership roles and entered previously male-dominated areas.

One powerful change of this decade was the redefinition of female roles in society.

In 1972, after nearly 20 years of a coeducational student government at Marquette, female student Terri L. Nally successfully campaigned for the position of student government president. The junior was a natural for the role, as she had been involved in student government since high school. She won with 58 percent of the vote. Later that year, Carpenter Tower became the first coeducational dormitory at Marquette.
Another notable change took place in 1973 when Col. William J. Hoar, the commander of Marquette’s Army ROTC unit, announced that women would be admitted into the program because of the Army’s need for more Women Army Corps officers and the interest expressed by female students. It did not take long for women to take advantage of this opportunity; two weeks after the announcement Kathy Nell, a freshman, became the first woman to enroll.

Change also took place at the academic level. The previously almost all-male engineering department, which between 1947-’70 only graduated 10 women, began to regularly graduate women from the program. The number of women in the program increased every year in the ’70s, and by 1978 there were 142 women enrolled. The changes the engineering department experienced were not atypical as more women began to enroll in and graduate with degrees from male-dominated areas like law and business administration.

Even with all of these advances, the ’70s did not constitute an era of gender equality at Marquette, but the decade did represent the beginning of the quest for equality. During the ’70s, women at Marquette began to set the foundation for equality through their movement into high-profile leadership roles, increasing their participation in previously male-centered areas and remaining a visible force on campus. The foundation they created is strong, and it is their work that paved the way for all Marquette students and faculty who followed.

Carpenter Tower, view from Wisconsin Ave, 1972

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