Exclusiveness Among College Women, What Can We Do About It?

Edith Rickert

Ephemera

Rickert, Edith. Exclusiveness Among College Women, What Can We Do About It? 10 pages. 9.5" x 6.5" inches. [1912] Loose pages taken from Vassar's student journal. An editorial by Edith Rickert on the elitism of Greek life on campus. In the piece she considers whether the system might be reformed or whether its aristocratic foundations are too flawed to be made more democratic. Edith Rickert graduated from Vassar College in 1891 and went on to be a prolific writer, World War I cryptographer, and medieval scholar at the University of Chicago. This editorial marks her tenure as an undergraduate just developing her distinct worldview, one informed by a commitment to democratic principles and collective good. An editor's note mentions an earlier article by Rickert in which she established Greek life as aristocratic and against the common rights of all. In this editorial, Rickert expands on her earlier position, describing various reforms while wondering if the system can be reformed. She concludes, "We need a new religion to teach the subordination of personal good to communal welfare. We believe in it theoretically, we are anxious that our neighbors should practice it; but when it cuts home, we falter and fail." Editorial includes 5 attractive illustrations of sorority girls in common scenes. The last page includes a poem by Shaemas O Sheel titled "The Pitilessness of Desire".Women's Education.

Item #17938

Price: $125.00