- Dean of women, welcome to A Feminist Perspective. This weekly radio broadcast is sponsored by the Women's Resource and Career Planning Center, a program and information service of the Dean of women's office, 222 Strong Hall. Tonight's broadcast is one in a series on the exceptional woman. Our topic on this commencement evening is outstanding senior women. A Feminist Perspective provides a forum for women themselves to speak publicly on issues of concern to them, and helps inform other women and men of the movement which is remaking the shape and substance of women's and men's lives. The Women's Resource and Career Planning Center contains large amounts of information, news clippings, government documents, magazine articles, research studies and books pertaining to the many aspects of the women's movement. We would like to invite you to come in and browse or take advantage of the materials which can be borrowed. That's in 222 Strong Hall at the University of Kansas. Tonight, we'll be talking with three women who fit very well into the category of outstanding senior women. I would now like to introduce each of our three participants. They are Pamela Troop, who has been named outstanding woman in the field of equal rights and or human awareness. And Miss Cindy Hurd, who has been named outstanding senior woman and Miss Judy Long, also named outstanding senior woman. They were formally recognized at Women's Recognition Night, one of the programs of the Commission on the Status of Women, April 22. And tonight is their graduation night. And so we have a little bit to say about some of the things that they have done at the university and some of their plans for the future, and how the women's movement has been involved in their lives. Pam, would you begin by telling us a little bit about yourself and some of your activities here at the University of Kansas? - Okay. First of all, I lived in Residence Hall as a freshman and I became involved with Residence Hall government and with various racism workshops, as a freshman. At the end of my freshman year, I pledged a sorority and was voted on our initiative majority the following year and served as vice chairman for a year. Following that, I was elected President of the Panhellenic Association, the governing body of the case sorority system. And as that I chaired the President's Council of the Panhellenic Association, represented Panhellenic at the Intercollegiate Association of Women students convention in 1973. And went to innumerable meetings and spoke many places about the case sorority system. Also, throughout my college career, I've worked with the KU Commission on the status of Women working for three years with the beyond high school program, where we invite senior women in high school to KU to tell them the kinds of alternatives that are available for them. And this last year, I worked on the women's recognition committee. I've also served on Student Senate and the homecoming committee. So I think that's about it. - Okay, thank you, Pam. Next, Cindy Hurd, would you tell us some of the things that you've done here on campus and elsewhere? - Well, I came to KU as a freshman and lived in Residence Hall. I think that's where I got my first exposure to the women's movement in depth. I have worked throughout my college career in the Dean of women's office and have become very active in some of the various aspects of campus which, as President, the Commission on set as a women, my senior year, I was able to go throughout the state of Kansas representing the commission. Was very interesting because you hit upon a lot of different sorts of women, older women, younger women, people that are pretty traditional that you wouldn't normally consider involved in the women's movement, but it's been an experience. As President, the commission I was the official delegate to the Intercollegiate Association Women's students convention in Baton Rouge, Louisiana this year and also attended last year at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A little bit, IWS is the only national organization of women students in existence. I also served on the Student Senate my senior year, and was involved in some of the committees there, helped put together the platform very successful slate of women candidates for this year's Student Senate elections. And I've received some very nice honors lately. One being named an Honorary Queen. And also I received University Women's Club scholarship. I think that's . - Okay, thank you, Cindy. Judy Long, would you tell us some of your activities, honors? - Okay, my initial activity was my sophomore year, I think as assistant vice chair in my house was led to my exposure to Panhellenic, and my resulting election as Panhellenic vice chairperson, which was responsibility for chairing vice Council and working with Pam and Panhellenic and administrating and carrying out all those functions for KU. I've recently been involved in Students Senate and has served this year's president and mortar board, through which I was official delegate to the mortar board convention at Ohio State University last summer. Most recently, I was involved with the commission as board member and chairperson of the Women's Recognition Committee. And, as you said, received Outstanding Senior Woman Award and the Class of 1913 Award as a result of that. I've also been involved in dramatic and performing arts through Rajab review and various vocal ensembles. - Okay, there's one thing that you didn't touch on at all. And I'm sure it's just a function of I ask if your activities and honors but would you like to say a little bit about what your academic life was like in terms of what were your major, Pam? - Well, I'm graduating in speech communications in human relations, which is kind of an interesting field that touches on both the influence of speech on our society and rhetoric and social influence, and also on the human relations aspect of speech. And this is kind of a new field, and KU has an excellent department in it. And I think it's been a very good liberal education for me, and I think it will be useful in my career. - And you've also taken a rather large number of courses in religion and studies. - Of course. Cindy, what is your major? - I'm graduating with a BS in Business Administration, which has also been very interesting. There are a few women in the School of Business. One thing I forgot to mention earlier was that I belong to Phi Theta, which is the National Honorary for women in business and economics. And that group was really interesting because a bunch of women got together, who had a common interest in business and economics. And we were able to grow as a group and expand in different areas, particularly concerning women's issues. - Judy? - My degree is in social welfare, which I selected as a background for any other career I might choose. And not particularly as a career in itself, I think it's interesting to note in that we all left at our majors. And at least for me, although the classroom experience was important, it definitely was not the place where I learned more than 50% of what I learned at college, it has just been through the other kinds of things I've been involved in. And I'm not replacing value on my college degree. But I think that we all recognize how much value there is in the things we've done outside of our classrooms. - I think from these outside activities, that it should be obvious that all three of these women are certainly well qualified to be considered as outstanding senior women from both their contributions to campus, and in some cases, even national organizations and their involvement there. They are all three excellent students. And the fact that they didn't mention their majors, it's not something to say that academics are not important. All three of them have above a 3.0 cumulative GPA as they graduate, which I think is of interest also. Now let's explore a little bit about yourselves and your issues, your concerns and how they relate to those of the women's movement. Pam, you mentioned a little and I know Cindy, you touched on when you moved into Residence Hall, that you thought that was where you got your first exposure to the women's movement. Would you like to each elaborate a little bit about that? - Well, ever since I can remember, as a child, I wanted to be a nurse. And my father was really pretty instrumental in helping me think as a young child that maybe I had a little bit more to offer than that, and that he always encouraged me to be a doctor rather than a nurse. He's also a doctor. So I think that my child has been a little bit unique. And then I was taught that I could achieve, you know, something that was a little bit non traditional in that sense. But when I moved to the Residence Halls a freshman, was the first time I'd ever been exposed to living with a group of women. And my hall director at that time was extremely active in the women's movement. And through working at the desk and getting to know her and lots of other women and also taking a few courses in the area of women's studies. I think I really for the first time began thinking in depth of just what sort of impact the women's movement was going to have on my life and what I wanted out of life as a woman. - Okay. - Well, as a freshman, as I mentioned before, I became rather involved with racial issues when I was living in Ellsworth, and I think that's just very instrumental in me becoming involved in the women's movement. I know many feminists who worked for Civil Rights for Blacks in the '60s who now are quite involved in the women's movement. And the same kind of thing happened to me. Also, when I was a first semester freshman, I was selected to attend by state, IWS convention in Fort Hays. And that was my first exposure to the dean of women's office and the commission. And from there, I met some women who were commission officers and I began to work on committees. And in my sorority, as a sophomore, I found a nucleus of women in that group who were very involved in the women's movement, very supportive, with many, many long hours talking about all sorts of areas in the women's movement, and I think majority was also another great input in my growing awareness. Since then, I've been working in the Dean of women's office, both in the areas of Panhellenic and working in the Women's Resource and Career Planning Center in the maintenance of that center, and quite obviously, reading articles every single day and filing them and helping other people with their projects. And this kind of thing has definitely increased my awareness. So it's been a number of things that begin right away when I first arrived at KU. - What about you, Judy? Was it when you came to school ? - No, I think mine was a little different in that it was kind of a all at once in the face thing. My election as Panhellenic vice chairperson meant my working in the dean women's office every day. And before that, I had almost no exposure directly to the women's movement. Except that I remember I have a really KU oriented family. And I remember hearing about Dean Taylor and about the woman's Career Planning Center and about the dean women's office at KU when I was really young. And found it most interesting to reflect on that after I became involved. I think a lot of what also had to do with my own independence and my own career orientation is probably my mother's role as head of our household. So that probably would have been my earliest exposure to anything concerned with it. - Okay. Well, would each of you comment just briefly on what was probably the first thing you did, involving yourself in the women's movement, or the first really activist thing or the first kind of public involvement, your first commitment. - I remember in high school, we had to do term projects for an American history class. And I chose to do mine on a subject that was kind of strange at that time for our particular high school, and that was the underutilization of women, and learned a whole bunch then. So that was my first real big project that I took the time to find things on my own. - For me, it was more, at first, it was just more of a personal thing with my friends, and my sorority and outside of my living group. The first, I guess you could call activist thing that I did was to work on the beyond high school committee as a freshman. Following that, my sophomore year, I did take several women's studies courses, and did a lot of research in those areas. And then since then, it's just been kind of gradual, and oftentimes every day trying to raise someone's consciousness in a classroom or in a house meeting or in the office, you know, wherever I go. Once you become really interested in feminism is it's with you all the time, and you don't forget it. Sometimes it can even be a bother, you know, everything you read, you know, you notice all these , yeah. - . But once you're there, you're there. - I think the attitude that you know you're talking about is probably the thing that qualified you for the award in the field of human rights, equality, human awareness. Judy? I think the thing I can say, as a first public participation was probably attending the Intercollegiate Association, the women's students convention, my junior year in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. And since then, it has been kind of similar to what Pam said, just in my sorority in my living room, the kinds of questions people now direct to me. And the kinds of information they want from me have completely changed as they realize my attitude about the women's movement and come for me as phentermine kind of as a resource in that area, whereas it didn't before. - That brings up a good point in terms of what reactions you found from people at KU, in terms of your views are publicly known, I would assume. They certainly seem to be a part of your daily life. Do you find people to be friendly to the ideas that you share? Or would you say that at times, you've had negative reactions. wanna give some instances? - Oh there have definitely been negative reactions but doesn't by any means overweigh the positive reinforcement. - I think your house has accepted this change in you. - There's still a lot of people that are skeptical and it depends a lot on your approach with people. I know there are certain people I know who I cannot force it on, or who particularly don't care to ask me about it. But I hope that just by living, the kind of feminism that I stand for, that will show them more than I need to explain to them. - I think there there have been negative reactions. On the other hand, I found that I've done a lot of public speaking as President of the commission. And as I said, this is not only to peer groups, like on campus, but as well as to professional women's groups. I think that when people hear that the President of the Commission on SAS women is going to come they expect some monstrosity, you know, to appear in front of their face. And so it's really strange to go there, I think it throws people off when you're very polite, you know, and they don't quite know how to take that. But I haven't found that people in general are very close minded. I think if you approach it as a rational sort of person, they can accept a lot. And there have been many times when you have to correct or you have to say you're overlooking this and I think that if you develop that sort of climate, then they can appreciate it. - Probably the most negative experiences that I've had, have been in classrooms situations. I've had some real reference this past semester. - This is with students, faculty? - With students, I've only had one very poor experience with a faculty member and did confront him. And if you know they'll, but you know, you're, I think that one has to accept that you're always gonna run into that kind of thing. One thing that I've thought about, quite recently, I said, it's sometimes hard to remember that I'm in a pretty sheltered environment at KU. I work in the Dean of women's office. My friends, and my living group, and my friends outside my living group, understand me and accept me, and most of the times agree with me. And it's kind of frightening sometimes when you think that thanks, maybe we're not all that idyllic on the outside. - I'd like to say one other thing. And that is, one time I was giving a talk with a class here at KU. And it was a question and answer time and one guy stood up and just started really getting on me about how I'd only talked in terms of the traditional marriage, you know. So you can get comments like that back telling you that, you know, you have your head in the sand or something like that. And I apologized, of course, and said that most the question been directed that way, but I thought it was interesting that someone else was ready to stand up and say a few words too. - I think one thing important about the college environment is just that people are a little more open minded and a little more willing to be challenged by your opinions instead of immediately criticizing you. Like I know there are people, like in Student Senate who realize what you stand for, but still respect you because they know how much thought you've put into it and how much actual work you've done in that area. - Well, what advice would you give to other young women? Do you feel that what you have done would be, you know, do you think that your roles have been something for them to emulate? Do you find your involvement has been rewarding? Do you think there are other channels that can be more effectively used in what you've done? - I received a note from a freshman woman that really made me feel very good. And that was the, seeing the things that I had done, and seeing that I had tried to help get her involved in different things. She appreciated that and she took the time to write it on paper and send it to me. So I think that there are lots of ways that people I guess, and certainly we three to represent the you know, entire number of people that are exceptional here at KU but through the sorts of things we do, and keeping in mind that we're gonna be gone. And it is extremely important to continue the sorts of things that we've been involved in, and therefore it's important to encourage other people. In that way you can get them involved and start thinking about a lot of different things that, you know, maybe they hadn't considered before. - Yeah, I think the advice that I would give a high school senior woman right now is that is to get involved as soon as she possibly can. I know coming from out of state and I didn't know anyone here in KU when I arrived, and had, I had been very active in high school, and I thought, you know, how does how does a little freshmen get involved, in a great big, huge state school? And it's not that difficult if you just put yourself forward a little bit. On the other hand, I think that Judy and Cindy and I have to be realistic enough to realize that perhaps there are people who would want to devote more time to academics, individual research and this kind of thing than perhaps we did. And there are certainly a place for those kinds of women, a very definite plan and infinite need. - I think the important thing with them is that at least they take the chance to share it with someone. - Okay, I think those are three good comments. Now in terms of thinking of yourself as role models, and some of the feedback that Cindy mentioned that other people do view you as that, I'd like to tell them a bit about what each of you will be doing next year, briefly. And then have you kind of comment on, you know, what do you anticipate this is going to change about your identity with the women's movement, feminism, etc. I'll start with Judy. Next year, Judy will be working as a marketing representative trainee for the IBM Corporation in Kansas City, Missouri. She will be a marketing trainee for approximately a year to a year and a half. And then after that time, she'll probably become an assistant marketing representative and eventually a marketing representative. And in this position, Judy will be working with computers and other kinds of large equipment, and will handle the entire account of firms in the Kansas City area, in all phases of marketing, which would include some public relations, tied in with it. And Judy, in your work, a change from the college environment, how do you think this is going to fit in to your ideas about feminism? - Well, luckily, I found IBM to be really conscientious about the potential of women. In fact, they really bend over backwards to do all they can to include women. And I've talked to women in the company who feel they've been treated very fairly, which is definitely supportive. I think, it'll have to be a lot more of an individual thing, because you won't have the constant support and the constant pat on the back that you get in the university environment. So in that way, I'll take a little more extension of what I actually want people to know. - And next, I'll go to Pam Troop. Pam is a little unusual in that she is graduating and will continue on at KU in a professional capacity, she will be assistant women. And will be working both as being responsible for the Women's Resource and Career Planning Center, and also advisor to several student groups, commission committees, Panhellenic Queens, things of this nature. So although Pam's role is changing in some ways, you still will be involved in the supportive academic climate? How do you think that the change in going from a student to a professional staff member is going to change your influence or your attitudes about feminism? - Well, I don't think it will change my attitudes very much. Right now I'm going through a process of kind of changing my own self image because I will be staying in the exact same environment with basically the same people. And it will be I think, somewhat difficult to convince myself and others that I am now a professional rather than a "student leader." And but I'm not very apprehensive about it. I think there are a number of people who have a lot of confidence in me and I have a great deal of confidence in myself. I do have plans to expand the Women's Resource and Career Planning Center, which is to me, I feel like kind of my baby. But it's a very exciting part of the university and I hope that it will become more utilized. And this will be one area I'll be working in feminism. Another thing I would like to do is to try to encourage more women's programming in the sororities with queens to top writers group with waterboard and other student groups that I'll be working with, this is another area I plan to work on. - And there's one thing too that none of these women have mentioned and the only one that's appropriate for is Pam. She also has plans to be getting married next month. So that will be a change in your lifestyle. Cindy Hurd, next year, will be an executive management trainee for General Telephone electronics in Tampa, Florida. Cindy will be involved in six weeks training program. And after that time she will be moved to one of the operating divisions in the Tampa Bay Area. And at that time, she will be involved with a one year on the job training and then could be placed in any one of the management divisions as a division manager or higher level executive type person, with the corporation. Cindy, how do you think this new role is going to affect the way you view the women's movement and your participation in it? - I'm really excited to find out what women in Tampa think. Because I don't know and kind of get involved in the now organization down there. But I think that some of my feelings is that I hope to become influential enough within the company at some point in my life, to encourage the employment of more women and the promotion of women from within, so that perhaps the organizational chart won't be virtually all male. I found that General Telephone in Tampa is a really great place. It's full of young people. The training program that I'm going to go into, it consists of four people, two of which are men and two of which are women. So that ought to be exciting, too. And we're looking forward to seeing how the front of action plan is carried out in spirit as well as being written down. So it'll be experienced, and I hope that I can go with the tied. - Okay, we have just a very brief amount of time left. So here's my surprise question for you. What do you think each one of you will be doing 10 years from now? - That's not surprise okay, quickly. - Well, I hope to be working in student personnel. By that time, I will have had at least my master's degree in student personnel or counseling, and working at some large state university, probably not in Kansas at that time. But in some kind of state personnel office . - 10 years from now I'm probably will have my master's degree. And I hope to be in that sort of influential position where I can get more women in the company. I intend to keep on working until I retire. And I might be married at that point, I really don't know. - I hope by then to have incorporated marriage and family into my career, which I think, indeed will be one of the most difficult things, one of the most challenging things to do as far as holding a career. But I do, as Cindy said, plan to work as long as I can. And as long as I'm able and constantly moving up capacity. - Well, I think you can see, from all the things that we've talked about that these three women before us are truly exceptional women, they have all been extremely active and influential in the KU campus. They have definite immediate career goals. And it sounds like pretty well thought out long range future goals. It's interesting that all three have chosen a career as part of their lives. Some have more definite plans, and others about incorporating a family marriage. But nonetheless, they don't seem to think very much that their ideas about feminism are going to change. And they all seem to want to continue their very active involvements. They see themselves as role models, in the daily things that they do, they hope to influence women in subtle ways. And they also hope to influence both men and women in more direct ways so that they can continue to work for the things, for the issues and concerns of women that they feel are very important not only to themselves, but also to society as a whole. I think that this is very commendable in terms of that we have three women who are so articulate and so outstanding, and that they are going to continue to be so and I think those of us at the University of Kansas, expect to be hearing more, both from them, and more about them in the future to come. I'd like to thank each one of you three for being with us this evening, and wish you continued good good luck and success in your future plans and goals. I think we all have a great deal of confidence in you. And you have proved very worthy of this trust. And I think that it's going to be really new and exciting world for you, and you have a lot to contribute to it. I'd like to invite the listeners to tune in next week, when A Feminist Perspective will present their last in a series on the exceptional woman. The topic next week will be the young feminist. And for those of you who read news magazine, this month's issue happens to be have a large section involving young women and their views about the women's movement. So we invite you to tune in again next Monday evening for A Feminist Perspective. Thank you and good night.