A Message from Stephanie Cooper '65, MFA '76, Your Alumnae/i Board President

Despite the presence of World War II vets on the GI Bill (including our legendary teacher Joe Papaleo), SLC was back to being a women’s college well before I began my freshman year in 1961. One day that fall, though, I looked out of my second floor window in Gilbert and to my astonishment-and glee-saw a gorilla chasing a woman across the roof of the new dorms; it turned out to be a shot for the first horror film by Brian De Palma MFA ’64, evidence of men from Columbia pressed into service as actors and directors in the SLC theatre department. Although men did not matriculate fully until 1972, we felt their presence even then.

And even then there was debate about the relative virtues of the single-sex learning environment-the empowering atmosphere that many of us felt was such a great intellectual advantage alongside the social "unnaturalness" that came with the absence of men. Undoubtedly, life at the College is far different now with men on campus, and the debate goes on about what the "ideal" number of men might be. But whatever our gender, I am sure that the most meaningful aspect of our experience remains the extraordinarily high quality of learning that we found, the dialogue among and between teachers and students, the emphasis on all forms of expression and the opportunity we had to develop our expressive abilities.

Now we can experience the Sarah Lawrence difference in a coeducational setting, whether as undergraduates, graduate students or alumnae/i. We on the Alumnae/i Board are making a conscious effort to fill our ranks with graduates of both genders, and as president of the Alumnae/i Association, I hope that we will be able to welcome more men as we make the association both more responsive to the needs of all alumnae/i and more effective in supporting the health, wealth and continuity of this unique institution which has set all of us on our varied paths.

Male or female, I urge all of you to get in touch with me or anyone you know on the Board and let us know if you would like to be involved and how you might like the association to help you.

Stephanie Cooper can be reached at scooper@stephaniercooper.com

Alumnae/i Association Board Members 2005-2006

Stephanie R. Cooper ’65, MFA ’76 President Estha Weiner ’72 Secretary Abigail Canfield ’66 Treasurer

Jeffrey B. Engel ’84 Alumnae/i Trustee Yvonne R. Isaac ’71 Alumnae/i Trustee Molly Caldwell ’93 Senior Co-Chair, Young Alum Committee Nancy Callaway Fyffe ’88 Member at Large Beth-Ann Fischer Gentile ’65 Member at Large Madeline L. Goldfischer ’89 Co-Chair, New York Metro Region David S. Kessler ’75 Member at Large Michele Kotler ’90 Chair, Career Counseling Jeannine Lally-Jones ’98 Chair, Admission Committee Jeffra Lyczko ’94 Member at Large Jacqueline Peu-Duvallon ’97 Chair, Eastern Region; Chair, Nominating Committee Jennifer Rhodes ’01, MFA ’03 Chair, Graduate Committee Wendy B. Samuel ’71 Member at Large Michael Sartisky ’73 Member at Large Barbara Schecter ’74 Faculty Representative Jane Murphy Shimamoto ’88 Member at Large Haila Strauss ’74 Member at Large Marilynn Glick Talal ’59 Member at Large Harriet Pogul Wohlgemuth ’59, MFA ’79 Co-Chair, New York Metro Region

Honorary Board Members Carlotta Damanda ’48 Patricia R. Frederick ’61, CCE ’92 Barbara Kolsun ’71