4 CommentsWe’ve been back to school long enough to make some history, so what better time for a good ol’ #tbt? Bwog’s Maddie Stearn went deep into the recesses of the internet (a.k.a. The Columbia Spectator Archives) and shares some gems of history (well, herstory, to be more accurate).
“Coed At Last” was the front page headline of the August 29, 1983 edition of the Columbia Spectator. The class of 1987 had just arrived on campus, including 357 women, marking the end of Columbia’s 229-year history as a single-sex institution. After announcing in January of 1982 that Columbia would become co-ed, the university spent the subsequent months preparing for the arrival of the class of 1987. The school renovated Carman to house the majority of female students, formed an athletic consortium with Barnard, expanded health services, and created a “women’s center” in Ferris Booth Hall (before it was home to the infamous staircase*).
The cover page of the “coeducation supplement” in the August 29, 1983 edition of Spec.
A helpful timeline for history buffs.
An advertisement for the new Barnard-Columbia athletic consortium.
*Is the staircase formerly-infamous now that there’s a new, functional staircase?
Clippings via Columbia Spectator Archive
Of course we’d write #tbt on a chalkboard via Shutterstock
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4 Comments
@Anonymous Well, every division including SEAS, was already coed. Only the College remained single sex until fall 1983.
@Anonymous No one reads bwog anymore. Serves bwog right. There should be retribution for all the misandrist shit they post. #DueProcess
@hmmm Seems like you might be right about the readership numbers. Either bwog has fallen out of favor or the freshmen are using some form of communication that the rest of us don’t know about– like a new secret internet.
@Nah With Emma S. graduated, the Reddit Trolls have gone back to the bridges they hang out under, demanding tolls from passing billygoats. That was a big chunk of the “traffic” we got last year.
Gave it a try: Still haven’t missed them, yet.