Fannie and Mabel: “Two Special Ladies”

March 20, 2023 By Leave a Comment

Hello, everyone — Ellen Huggins, JEC archives fellow, back again! For the past few months, we’ve been updating our “Women of Davidson” site to center lesser known stories of women from the Davidson archives, particularly Black women of the Davidson College staff who have not yet been highlighted for their contributions to Davidson history. Here’s a preview of what you’ll see on the Dining Services page!

Did you know that from 1971 to 1985, one of the eating houses on Patterson Court was named after cooks Fannie and Mabel?

Black and white image of Fannie Brandon and Mabel Torrence. The two women are standing side by side and both are wearing white dresses with white aprons. Fannie Brandon has her hair in a bun and is wear glasses, and she is standing on the left, wearing glasses. Mabel Torrence has short hair and is standing on the right.
Fannie Brandon and Mabel Torrence. (Fannie is on the left, Mabel on the right.) From the Davidsonian, 1982.

Fannie Brandon and Mabel Torrence were two longtime staff members of dining services at Davidson College, and by 1982 they had a combined total of 72 years of service. According to the 1982 Quips and Cranks yearbook, “With the closing of the 1980-81 school year, Mabel finishes her 28th year of Patterson Court service and Fannie marks up 40 years of catering to hungry students.” Although Mabel and Fannie started their work at Davidson at different times, the pair began working together at the Kappa Sigma fraternity house in the 1950’s. 

The student members of the Fannie and Mabel eating house are sitting on a brick wall outside. There are 21 people lined up, some sitting on the wall and some standing behind. There is a tower of large steel beer kegs arranged on the wall as well. Fannie and Mabel are at the center of the group. They are wearing white dresses with white aprons over them.
The “F&M” eating house, 1972. (Fannie and Mabel are wearing white dresses and standing in the center.) Courtesy of Davidson College Archives and Special Collections.

After the fraternity left Davidson College in 1971, students rallied to form a new eating house on campus around the two women and named it “Fannie and Mabel” in their honor, going by F&M for short. Fannie and Mabel’s personability and excellent meals (including the famous “Melt-in-Your-Mouth-Wednesday-Mabel-Rolls”) were well known across campus and the two would be regularly visited by alumni of F&M and the Kappa Sigma fraternity, especially on Davidson game day weekends. 

Pencil illustration of Mabel Torrence and Fannie Brandon. The women are wearing aprons and are standing with their hands behind their back. The title at the top reads Two Special Ladies. The caption below the image reads With Love, Lisa Buckley class of 1982. Mabel Torrence is on the left and Fannie Brandon is on the right.
“Two Special Ladies,” dedication page by Lisa Buckley ’82, secretary for F&M eating house. From the Quips and Cranks yearbook, 1982.

In response to Davidson College’s lack of retirement benefits for Patterson Court staff, the residents of F&M began a retirement fund for Fannie and Mabel starting in 1979. The F&M eating house raised more than $1200 in donations from alumni and students who had been impacted by the pair, and in the Davidsonian article written about the retirement fund three years later, the two women reflect on their long years of service for the college and the changes they had experienced while working on campus. 

Black and white text reading F and M's Celebrated Cooks.
“F and M’s Celebrated Cooks” article headline. From the Davidsonian, 1982.

“Fannie and Mabel have enjoyed Davidson and generously share their impressions on how the community and the campus have changed over the years. “We just love the kids,” Fannie explained. Mable will tell you of the growth of the town. Both smile quickly when reminiscing on changes in the student body. “It’s the girls. That’s the big change,” Fannie says. “And it’s good to see more Blacks,” Mabel adds.” 

Benedict, Jeb. “F and M’s Celebrated Cooks.” The Davidsonian, January 22, 1982. Page 6.

(As Fannie started in dining services around 1941, followed by Mabel in 1952, both were working on campus well before the entrance of the first Black student at Davidson College in 1962, or the beginning of coeducation in 1972.) 

The F&M Eating House was shut down in 1985, but Fannie and Mabel continued working in dining services, moving on to different Patterson Court fraternities and eating houses where they kept cooking, serving up meals, and making connections with Davidson students. 

Black and white headshot image of Mabel Torrence. Mabel is wearing large glasses, has short black hair, and is wearing a white shirt.
Mabel Torrence, 1990.
Black and white headshot image of Fannie Brandon. Fannie is wearing large glasses, has short hair and is wearing a white collared shirt.
Fannie Brandon, 1990.

Fannie Brandon and Mabel Torrence in the 1990 Quips and Cranks yearbook, where they were listed as cooks for Spencer eating house.

Filed Under: Staff, Women Tagged With:

Behind the Display Part 2: Title IX and the History of Women’s Basketball at Davidson

December 2, 2022 By Leave a Comment
Title of Display Case Two.

Welcome back! In this part 2 post, we’ll be looking at the second case in the “Title IX and Women’s Basketball Davidson” exhibit. The oral histories featured in this display case were originally collected as part of a student research project in 1999 by Davidson College alum Eileen Dwyer (Class of ‘99). 

First half of Display Case Two.

Figure 1) For her senior capstone paper entitled “Women’s Athletics at Davidson College: Grassroots Movement and Institutional Support,” Eileen Dwyer decided to research the history of women’s athletics at Davidson College, starting with the then current 1998/99 women’s basketball team. The interviewees include; John Filar, the head coach of the women’s team; Jessica Montrella (‘99), a center on the team; Jennifer Roos (‘93), assistant coach; and Emil Parker, sports information director for athletics at Davidson College. 

The 1998/99 team were the first in the history of women’s basketball history at Davidson to reach the Southern Conference finals. In these oral history interviews, Dywer asks candid questions about topics including the realities of student athletic life at Davidson, the impact of Title IX, and the journey to the 1999 Southern Conference. 

1999 is at the midpoint between 1972, the year that Title IX was passed, and today. By listening to the stories and perspectives within these oral histories, we can learn more about the complicated legacy of Title IX at Davidson College.  

While navigating this display case, consider:  

What is Title IX? A) Title IX is a legal obligation towards women’s sports that college administration upholds at the risk of losing funding for men’s sports or men’s teams memberships to athletic conferences. B) Title IX is a significant step towards equality between women’s and men’s athletics that gives female athletes the opportunity to dedicate themselves to the sport they’re passionate about.  

Can both be true?  

Figure 2) Jennifer Roos, Assistant Coach for the 1998/99 team, was also a member of the 1991/92 inaugural Division I women’s basketball team during her time as a Davidson student.  

In this excerpt, she discusses her views on the funding behind women’s basketball from the dual perspective of a student and a coach. [33:07] 

[Click here to access Roos’ complete oral history audio/transcript: https://davidson.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01DCOLL_INST/1lben0i/alma991025209482805716 ]

Figure 3) John Filar was the first women’s basketball coach after the varsity team was brought back in 1992, and the first to coach Division I women’s basketball at Davidson College.  

In these excerpts, John Filar speaks about the difficulty in transitioning from a team club to Division I in order to join the Southern Conference. [8:57] He then talks about Title IX and how the college’s desire to move men’s basketball into the Southern Conference affected the women’s team. [10:21]  

[Click here to access Filar’s complete oral history audio and transcript: https://davidson.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01DCOLL_INST/1lben0i/alma991025209482705716]

Second Half of Display Case Two.

Figure 4) Jessica Montrella was a senior in 1999 and a center on the women’s basketball team. She was a star player on the women’s basketball team during her time at Davidson, surpassing 1000 points scored over her college career.  

In these excerpts, Jessica Montrella speaks about her time as a student athlete at Davidson College. [28:45] She then talks reflects on what she had to sacrifice to play on Davidson’s newly Division I team. [34:21] 

[Click here to access Montrella’s complete oral history audio and transcript: https://davidson.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01DCOLL_INST/1lben0i/alma991025210483305716]

Figures 5-7:  

Figure 5) Image of more players on the 1998/99 women’s basketball team, including Kelly Copeland (#15), D’Erica Taylor (#30), Bethany Schott (#40), Leah Uhernick (#25), Janna Magette (#20).  

Figure 6) Guide for the 1999 Southern Conference. Featuring John Filar and Jessica Montrella in the bottom right corner. (Courtesy of the Davidson Athletics Department). 

Figure 7) Article from the March 3, 1999 edition of the Davidsonian, “Montrella-less ‘Cats fall to ASU in finals.” The 1998/99 team finished their winning season by losing the Southern Conference final to Appalachian State University, 69-78. Montrella suffered an injury before the final game that prevented her from playing, and in the article’s image she stands on the sidelines with Coach John Filar.  

Click here to access the “Women’s Athletics at Davidson College, 1999” oral history collection: https://davidson.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/collectionDiscovery?vid=01DCOLL_INST:01DCOLL&collectionId=81316843600005716  

Filed Under: Athletics, Behind the Scenes, Staff, Women Tagged With:

Behind the Display: Title IX and the History of Women’s Basketball at Davidson

November 29, 2022 By Leave a Comment
Display Case One.

Hi! This is Ellen Huggins, current JEC archives fellow. In honor of the 50th anniversary of coeducation and Title IX at Davidson College, the Archives and Special Collections are looking back on the history of women’s athletics and the impact of Title IX. This exhibit was originally meant to highlight one of the newest additions to our oral history collection, a series of recently released interviews recorded with staff and players belonging to the 1998-1999 Davidson women’s basketball team. The exhibit eventually evolved into a deeper look into the history of women’s basketball at Davidson and how the trajectory of the varsity team has been affected by the college’s relationship to Title IX.  You can use this post as a way to navigate the exhibit, or just as a way to learn more about the research that went into the exhibit making process!  

Case One: History of Women’s Basketball at Davidson College (1973-1986)

First Half of Display Case One. Figures 1-5.

(Timeline) 1973- Board of trustees votes for basketball to be one the of the first varsity sports for women at Davidson College along with field hockey. 

Figures 1 and 2) In this oral history excerpt, Emil Parker talks about Davidson College’s trustee board’s conception of the first female athletic award in the 1970s, the Rebecca E. Stimson award, and the difficulty of naming the award without a legacy of female athletics at the college. (click here for Parker’s interview). Stimson was a student at the time of the award’s creation, and she speaks about her mixed reaction to being the namesake of the award in her oral history interview, collected as part of the “Women’s Oral History Project.” (click here for Stimson’s interview).

Figure 3) Davidson College’s plan to comply with Title IX circa 1973, which includes how to divide the newly created women’s athletic programs into divisions and club classifications. Davidson College’s plan for the women’s basketball program was for the team to be a part of the AIAW (Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women) league as Division III. (You can listen to Emil Parker’s oral history for more information on the college’s experience while in the AIAW.)  

Figure 4) Images from women’s basketball at Davidson while the team was a part of the AIAW, or the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, in the period between 1973-1982. (Both images are circa 1975, courtesy of Davidson Archives and Special Collections). 

Figure 5) Promotional brochure from the 1980/81 season of Davidson women’s basketball, as an AIAW program. According to the program, one of the benefits of being a part of the AIAW Division III team was that it was a non-scholarship program. This meant female athletes were able to play basketball on a competitive level but could also join other sports teams at Davidson which many female athletes like Rebecca Stimson, who lettered in three sports during her time at Davidson, took advantage of.  

Second Half of Display Case One. Figures 6-8.

1982- The NCAA began to accept women’s sports into their divisions, and the women’s basketball team switched from the AIAW as a Division III team to the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) league as a Division III program.  

One reason for Davidson College’s push for women’s basketball to leave the AIAW and become a member of the NCAA was to join the Southern Conference tournament, which held its first tournament for NCAA women’s basketball in the 83/84 season. (click here to learn more about the history of the Southern Conference)

1983- The women’s basketball team joins the Southern Conference in 1983, along with the women’s tennis, field hockey and swim teams.  

Figure 6) Second set of pictures: Pictures of women’s basketball program while a part of the NCAA, or the National Collegiate Athletic Association, post 1982. (The image of the team player is from 1985, and the team picture is from 1984, Courtesy of Davidson College Archives and Special Collections.) 

1986- Women’s basketball team wins the Division III State Championship.  

Figure 7) From the 1985/86 Davidson College Quips and Cranks yearbook, “Ladycats Achieve Winning Season.” Despite winning the state Division III championship that year (see the Davidsonian headline above, “Lady Cats take first home victory”), the 1985/86 women’s basketball varsity season would be the last at Davidson until the team’s reinstatement in 1992.  

1986- The women’s basketball team is cut from the varsity basketball program due to budgetary constraints and inadequate resources to maintain a competitive team. 

Despite an elevated level of interest in the women’s basketball team and the program’s continued success, women’s basketball was cut as a varsity sport at Davidson College in 1986. This change was possible because Davidson College already had six varsity sports for women other than basketball, which was enough to retain their Division I NCAA membership. The varsity women’s basketball team was brought back in part as the result of a 1991 rule change by the NCAA regarding women’s sport divisions. (click here to learn more about the history of NCAA divisional regulations).

1991- Women’s basketball is brought back to Davidson with Coach John Filar as a varsity NCAA Division I team.  

Figure 8) Image of Coach John Filar from the 1992 Quips and Cranks yearbook, with the women’s varsity basketball team of 1991/92. The caption reads, “Coach Filar is excited to bring women’s basketball back to Davidson.” John Filar’s oral history was collected in 1999 by Eileen Dwyer for her senior research project, “History of Women’s Athletics at Davidson College, Grassroots Movements and Institutional Support,” and is featured in the following case in the exhibit. (click here for the “Women‘s Athletics“ oral history collection).

Interested in the history of women’s athletics and basketball at Davidson? Check out these entries currently in the Davidson College Archives and Special Collections Encyclopedia: Women’s Athletics, Women’s Basketball.

Filed Under: Athletics, Guest Blogger, Staff, Women Tagged With:

Guest Blogger: Kseniia Koroleva, Fulbright Scholar, “Feminist movement and the Soviet Union: Tatyana Mamonova”

September 8, 2022 By Leave a Comment

Kseniia Koroleva majored in education at Murom University. Prior to arrival to Davidson, she taught English as a foreign language in Russia. She is a Fulbright scholar and has been at Davidson since 2020. She works as a Russian teaching assistant for the Russian Studies Department and is involved in the Humanities program.  

The beginning of perestroika and glasnost’ (movements for political reforms and reconstruction) under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev empowered the Soviet people to express their views and opinions more freely. Subsequently, it resulted in many suppressed social and political issues coming to the surface. The surge of openness in the Soviet Union galvanized new discussions and forums around the political and social challenges of the Soviet government. To educate Davidson college students and the general public about current developments in political, social, and economic aspects of the USSR, the Dean Rusk program sponsored a two-day conference on October 10 and 11, 1989 [1]. 

A clip from the September 20, 1989, Davidsonian

The conference brought together many prominent speakers from different fields. One of them was Tatyana Mamonova. She was the first feminist and advocate for women’s rights in the Soviet Union. Tatyana’s criticism of the governmental system regarding women’s rights was seen as a threat by the Soviet ruling party. It led to Tatyana being interrogated numerous times about her Woman and Russia journal and connections with other feminist authors [2]. Eventually one morning KGB forced her to leave the Soviet Union in 1980[3]. Despite all that, Tatyana continued her feminist work.

Cover of the Woman and Russia journal

The Soviet conference held at Davidson college allowed Tatyana to share in depth about challenges that women in her native country had to face. She stressed how forcing the mothering role on women constrained them and immensely limited their participation in social and political spheres of life [4]. Tatyana’s talk made it possible for those who attended the lecture to see how the portrayal of the Soviet Union as an equal society was fundamentally wrong. 

A clip from the October 19, 1989, Davidsonian

Undoubtedly, there were more career opportunities for women during the Soviet times. However, as a result, women had to take on many more duties combined with their already excessive household and childcare responsibilities and men kept on holding their privileges [5]. Thus, the changes in the current at that time governmental system caused greater exploitation of Soviet women and created new unreasonable expectations of their performance at work and at home.  

Today we can see a rising appreciation of women’s contributions in different professional fields and many more people recognize that mothering duties should not be defined as a women’s obligation and the only possible role for their self-realization. Unfortunately, a lot of women in Russia still feel like they have to conform to the old patriarchal system and work much harder than men in order to be taken seriously in their occupations. 

Cover of Tatyana Mamonova’s book, Women’s Glasnost vs. Naglost; shown with permission of the author.

[1] “Reform or revolution in the Soviet Union today?” Davidsonian [Davidson, NC] 20 September 1989. p.3.

[2] Mamonova, Tatyana, Sarah. Matilsky, Rebecca. Park, and Catherine A. Fitzpatrick. Women and Russia: Feminist Writings from the Soviet Union. Boston: Beacon Press, 1984. p.215-216.

[3] Afkhami, Mahnaz. Women in Exile. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1994.p.158.

[4] “Soviet women still fighting for rights”. Davidsonian [Davidson, NC] 19 October 1989. p.3.

[5] Mamonova, Tatyana, Margaret. Maxwell, and Margaret Maxwell. Russian Women’s Studies: Essays on Sexism in Soviet Culture. 1st ed. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1989. p.168.

Filed Under: Guest Blogger, Student Life, Women

Guest Blogger: Kseniia Koroleva, Fulbright Scholar, “Life under the Soviet regime: Alexandra Tolstoy”

August 10, 2022 By Leave a Comment

Kseniia Koroleva majored in education at Murom University. Prior to her arrival at Davidson, she taught English as a foreign language in Russia. She is a Fulbright scholar and has been at Davidson since 2020. She works as a Russian teaching assistant for the Russian Studies Department and is involved in the Humanities program.  

The newly formed Soviet Union was surrounded by many contradictory views and opinions on the global arena. Due to heavy propaganda and censorship, it was next to impossible to find out about the real horrors of Bolshevism. Thus, the guest speakers specifically from the Soviet Union drew a lot of attention here in the US. Their lectures were a rare opportunity to debunk some circulating myths and rumors for those who wanted to learn more about the USSR.

The desire to learn more about the political system of the Soviet Union was also widespread among Davidson students. The lecture committee made it possible to hear from guest speakers what it was like to live under the Soviet government. One of the first speakers to cast light on the reality of the Soviet regime was Alexandra Tolstoy, the youngest daughter and the secretary of Count Leo Tolstoy.

Alexandra Tolstoy and her father, Count Leo Tolstoy

Alexandra’s lecture was held in Chambers auditorium on 22 March 1937 and was free to attend for Davidson students and the local community. The event was also advertised in the Davidsonian issue from 17 March 1937[1] and brought “one of the largest audiences ever to attend a lecture in Chambers auditorium.”[2]

A clip from a 1937 Davidsonian article advertising the upcoming lecture of Alexandra Tolstoy 

Alexandra wasn`t politically involved. Still, before she came to the US, she was watched by the Soviet government and eventually arrested. Alexandra was suspected of association with the anti-communist movement after unknowingly allowing the Tactical center of the Whites (anti-communist forces) to have meetings in her office[3]. After leaving the Soviet Union, Alexandra strongly believed it was her mission to tell the West about the suffering and devastation caused by Bolshevism. In her lectures, Alexandra stated that her father would be opposed to the policies of the new government[4]. She didn`t shy away from speaking the harsh truth about the dreadful conditions and poverty in which regular Soviet people lived. The topic of education was a focal point of her talks. Alexandra used to lead her private school and shared how in her opinion, the quality of education became worse under the Soviets no matter the increased number of schools. She emphasized that the government didn`t care about the quality of education and forced her to graduate everyone without considering students’ abilities and results. The tour through America allowed Alexandra to share more freely her criticism of the Soviet regime, but even being so far away from her homeland, she still wasn`t completely safe and some Soviet officials followed her to the US[5]. 

Even though the tour attracted Alexandra some unwanted attention, and she also faced a fair amount of skepticism[6] due to her background, she still didn`t abandon her mission and made at least some people walk back and rethink how they perceived the Soviet Union.

[1] “Countess to lecture here. Daughter of Leo Tolstoy To Speak on Russian Revolution”. Davidsonian [Davidson, NC] 17 March 1937.- p.1.

[2]“Russian tells of revolution. Countess Tolstoy, Daughter of Author, Talks on Soviet Regime”. Davidsonian [Davidson, NC] 24 March 1937.- p.1.

[3] Tolstoy, Alexandra et al. Out of the Past. New York: Columbia University Press, 1981.-p.114.

[4] “Russian tells of revolution. Countess Tolstoy, Daughter of Author, Talks on Soviet Regime,” 1.

[5] Tolstoy, Out of the Past, 352 – 353.

[6] Tolstoy, Out of the Past, 349 – 350.

Filed Under: Events, Guest Blogger, Student Life, Women

Guest blogger: Alexa Torchynowycz, Systems and Cataloging Librarian, “Metadata and Embroidery: Producing Sense, One Record at a Time”

April 19, 2022 By 1 Comment

At the end of my last blog post, I was stitching away as part of a project called “Unseen Labor” created by Ann Kardos at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Catalogers and metadata librarians were asked to create a needlework piece that represented their work and experiences in libraries during the pandemic. People from 20 states contributed to the project and there were even some international stitchers from Canada and the UK. In the Spring of 2022, the works were exhibited in the Science and Engineering Library at UMass. An exhibit catalog was also created where every piece is featured and the artist got to describe their work. I was lucky enough to visit the exhibit in person and see everyone’s incredible work.

The author on the left and Ann Kardos on the right at the “Unseen Labor” exhibit

Catalogers and metadata professionals often don’t get the chance to describe their work, or if they do, what they do is not well understood. When I talk about my cataloging work, I usually say that I am deconstructing an object (book, DVD, board game, etc.) into its smallest, most individualized parts. All those little bits are then stitched together (pun intended) using a metadata structure and standards. What you end up with is a digital, textual representation of the object which makes it more easily shared across the web. The better I am at reassembling the data and making it understandable to both computers and humans, the more likely people will find the item that they are looking for.

Here’s an example:

The book Painted with Thread: The Art of American Embroidery

Some of the pieces that describe this book are:

  • Salem, Massachusetts
  • Color illustrations
  • Exhibitions
  • Embroidery 

On their own, any one of those words doesn’t have a whole lot of meaning. Put together, I have an exhibition in Salem, Massachusetts on embroidery which contains color illustrations. And there you have it! Making sense where there was none before. 

This is what inspired my piece for the “Unseen Labor” exhibit. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I thought my needlework was non-existent before this project. But that wasn’t entirely true because I have been sewing for close to 20 years. I thought about what I do when I construct a garment and how it was very similar to what I do when I construct a metadata record. I start out with an idea or a picture or a sketch and I break it down into its individual pattern pieces. If you’ve ever seen a single pattern piece you know how it doesn’t look much like anything. I then stitch together (literally) my pieces using a set of skills and standards I’ve obtained and end up with a completed garment.

“A Pattern of Anonymity” (image on the right) shows the finished product representing metadata in stitches. The 1960s era pattern (image on the left) was the inspiration for the piece.

My embroidered work “A Pattern of Anonymity” is a convergence of the two: metadata and sewing. I used a 1960s era pattern packet I had as my guide when designing my piece. There is a book, a vase, and a streaming video to represent all the kinds of things that I have cataloged and how they are before the translation into metadata. The odd looking objects the original items are attached to represent the individual pieces of metadata or pattern pieces. I told you they didn’t look like much of anything. Once you start putting them together, you start to get an idea of what the final piece looks like. Is that a skirt with delicate detailing I’m seeing in the lower left corner? And once all the threads come together, ta-dah! A finished record/garment that is easily recognizable and discoverable.

I’ll end this post with a quote I came across while doing some research on stitching (yes, I had to research my project before beginning; I am a librarian after all):

That embroiderers do transform materials to produce sense – whole ranges of meanings – is invariably entirely overlooked.

            –Rozsika Parker, The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine

Replace “embroiderers” with “catalogers and metadata professionals” in Rozsika Parker’s sentence and you’d still have an accurate statement. I hope the extraordinary works and words in the “Unseen Labor” exhibit bring to light the kind of sense-making cataloging and metadata librarians produce in an increasingly non-sensical world.

Unseen Labor, the exhibit, runs through May 2022 at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Filed Under: Behind the Scenes, Guest Blogger, Library, Staff, Women Tagged With:

Guest blogger: Samantha Ewing, C’23 English Major “Attitudes Toward Sexual Assault”

November 23, 2021 By Leave a Comment

Originally from Atlanta, GA, Samantha Ewing C’23 is an English major and Communication Studies minor. She transferred to Davidson in 2020 after spending her freshman year at the University of Georgia. On campus, she is Vice President of SGA, Co Editor-in-Chief of Libertas Magazine, Treasurer of Student Against Sexual Violence (SASV), and a Senior Staff Writer for The Davidsonian.

As the treasurer of SASV for the 2021-2022 academic year, I have become immersed in the fight against rape culture as it plagues college campuses. I would imagine that sexual assault has been prevalent at Davidson since the institution began admitting women in 1972. Yet, it seems that 1990 was the year students began to reckon with the issue as “Rape Awareness Holds Campus Forum” details the founding of the Rape Concerns Committee. 

Excerpt from “Rape Awareness Holds Campus Forum” by Frances Morton (C’ 1993) in the Davidsonian, April 8, 1991.

Encountering this piece in the Davidsonian was disturbing, as it illuminates the history of victim blaming at Davidson. According to the article, the committee showed a film as a part of a forum to increase rape awareness on campus. However, Frances Morton (C’93) describes the film as a narrative fixating on how women can avoid rape, rather than addressing the actions of perpetrators.

Excerpt from “Rape Awareness Holds Campus Forum” by Frances Morton (C’93) in the Davidsonian, April 8, 1991.

Frances Morton, 1991 Quips and Cranks

Women are advised “not to prop open doors,” to “avoid isolated areas and walking alone,” and to “avoid mixed signals.” Each of these instructions frame rape as a consequence for women failing to prevent it, rather than the fault of the rapist; it seems that the committee was not bringing awareness to the issue of rape, but rather, was conditioning women to learn how to avoid it. I was astounded to find such rhetoric from a female student, especially as she was discussing the actions of an organization purposed to combat sexual assault. Additionally, I was shocked to see the word “co-eds” used to refer to female students. Even 20 years after women began to be admitted, they were demarcated into a separate category from the male students, indicating perpetuated division and exclusion. 

The language in this article provides insight into what it must have been like to be a woman on campus in the 1990s. The burden of protection placed on female students is much clearer, as I can now grasp how the community perceived and addressed rape: purely a women’s issue. I can empathize with the trepidation that must have accompanied women, knowing that if they were assaulted, they were the ones that would be held accountable. Being a female student at Davidson in 1991 entailed being othered not just as a student, but as a human being.


Filed Under: College governance, Guest Blogger, Student Life, Student organizations, Women