Among those who turned up the volume on demands for equal rights at NIU in the 1970s was a group that made up the majority of the student body, a substantial percentage of university staff, and an appallingly small number of administrators – we are speaking, of course, of women.
The early 70s were a time when such common indignities as being unable to get a bank account or credit card without a husband’s permission, serve on a jury, obtain birth control pills, or continue working while pregnant were not far behind in the rear view mirror.
Then came the passage in 1972 of Title IX, which prohibited discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. Universities across the country suddenly became much more serious about gender equity.
Meanwhile, NIU women began meeting – students, faculty and staff – in groups both large and small. One such group started with a handful of female faculty who met in Reavis Hall and eventually attracted a substantial number of colleagues to the cause.
Among their first victories was the appointment of Patricia Lattin as NIU’s first director of Affirmative Action for Women. Lattin called on NIU to not only work harder to retain and fairly reward female employees, but also to make special efforts to attract women of color to the university’s 3,100-member workforce.
In 1976, Provost William Monat received a request to establish a Women’s Studies minor. He responded enthusiastically, appointing an advisory committee to plan the new program. A plan emerged in 1978 in which the interdisciplinary Minor in Women’s Studies would be housed in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. It easily passed the college’s curriculum committee but appeared headed for defeat in the more conservative, male-dominated Council on Instruction.
But program advocates had an ace up their collective sleeve: The Council on Instruction was chaired by Wilma Stricklin, the acting associate provost and former chair of the Management Department in the College of Business. Realizing she could not muster a majority out of the 15-member group, Stricklin twisted arms behind the scenes to turn potential no votes into abstentions. Thus Women’s Studies was born on a 4 – 3 vote with 8 abstentions.
The final hurdle for Women’s Studies was the Board of Regents. After considerable lobbying by Barbara Bate of Communication Studies, Anne Kaplan of the Provost’s Office, and Patricia Lattin of Affirmative Action, on June 19, 1980 the Board approved a four-year trial period for the program.
The first two courses were offered in 1981: Women in Contemporary America and Women Across Cultures and Centuries. From the beginning, the classes were popular with both female and male students, and many more followed. By 1989, the Regents approved a Graduate Studies minor in Women’s Studies.
Barbara Bate became the program’s first half-time coordinator in 1981, followed by Marilyn Skinner in 1983 and Lois Self from 1986 – 1995. By the time Amy Levin succeeded Self, the position had been elevated to full-time director.
In the history of women’s advancement at NIU, Wilma Stricklin’s name looms large.
She led the university’s Title IX task force that created a gender-equity program in athletics and combined men’s and women’s programs under one athletic director.
She also formed a task force to improve the environment for non-traditional female students who were pursuing a career for the first time or taking classes later in life. That effort led to formation of University Resources for Women, both a program of support and a physical center to house a growing portfolio of resources, and the hiring of its first director, Sharon Howard. Stricklin also served as the first chair of the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women.
And for the past 25 years, NIU has honored faculty and staff who do the most to support females with the Wilma Stricklin Award for Enhancing the Climate on Campus for Women.
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