Not just a ‘cunning linguist’

“[They were] talking about them as if they were there only for the pleasure of the men,” Procter recalled. “I was just furious … Princeton does not deserve to be coed if all they think of women is as bits of mashed potato.”

Prompted by this incident, Procter wrote a letter to The Daily Princetonian, describing her outrage and unveiling the tensions inherent in coeducation. This letter and Procter’s resulting role in the debate over Princeton’s treatment of women brought her to the attention of then-Provost William Bowen GS ’58. Bowen offered her a position as his assistant, and Procter was inducted into the small but influential group of actors orchestrating the beginning of Princeton coeducation in 1969.

Procter held a part-time work-study position in Bowen’s office for two years, working on improving campus dining and living conditions, and serving as a mediator in the Princeton day care center.

Working for Bowen in preparation for the University’s first female undergraduates, Procter said she realized the need for Princeton to make modifications for the women on campus.

“My classmates and I were sort of horrified by how it felt to be on a truly masculine campus,” she explained, adding that, in her letter to the editor, she asserted that “Princeton needs to realize that the campus will change [upon coeducation] … It’s not just that women will be treated to a man’s education.”

Procter recalled a female student who was “outspoken and very bright” but was called a “spear-carrying feminist” behind her back by professors.

“She was very gutsy and went on to a very gutsy career,” Procter said of the student. “But you paid a bigger price for that in those days.”

Attending Princeton also affected female students’ dating lives. Women could not be housed with men, so the University conducted massive renovations to Pyne Hall to enable it to house the 100 freshman, 50 transfer and 21 critical language female students.

But the electric locks installed for the women’s privacy — six “peeping tom” incidents were reported and one arrest made in the first six weeks, the ‘Prince’ reported on Oct. 21, 1969 — complicated visiting procedures and helped create a feeling of isolation for the new Princetonians.

And male students’ perceptions didn’t always ameliorate the situation. Peter Kinder ’70, vice president of the Undergraduate Assembly, explained the typical male logic in the ‘Prince’ article: “Why go down to Pyne Hall and get shot down? Every girl is bound to have three or four dates.” This perception of competition may have been more imagined than real, however, as estimates placed dateless Pyne Hall residents at 50 percent on a particular weekend.

Stereotypes of Princeton women also worked against them.

“Women were considered smart and ugly,” Procter explained. “[They] weren’t considered datable.”

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Procter worked with Halcyone Bohen, the first female assistant dean of students, to create areas to facilitate “informal learning,” which she described as the process of learning through conversation and interactions with other students outside of the classroom. Together they advocated for comfortable lounges within dorm buildings, in which they hoped students would convene and learn from each other.

“We felt that in order to keep women from being acutely unhappy, you had to make changes in the way education was being carried out, so there were more opportunities for people to talk to each other,” she said. “This would actually be very good for men [as well].”

Procter also fought for establishing a more effective dining system. Prior to 1969, the only places for students to eat were the eating clubs and the school-wide dining hall, the Commons. Neither facilitated a community feel, she said.

Procter said she believed that a college system would allow for informal learning and a sense of continuity. So, in addition to Wilson College, which already existed, the administration launched the now-defunct Princeton Inn College.

While Procter and administrators were able to make changes to accommodate women on campus, Procter explained that the process was not always smooth.

“I’m … not very diplomatic, and I probably talk too much,” she said. “I probably ruffled more than a few feathers.”

Yet Procter’s efforts to improve women’s lives at Princeton didn’t end in the 1970s. More than three decades after she left Nassau Hall, Procter was invited back by President Tilghman to serve on the alumni selection committee to find a new Wilson School dean.

The committee ended up selecting Anne-Marie Slaughter ’80 — the first woman to hold the post.

Slaughter’s appointment was “very encouraging, very moving for me,” Procter said, describing it as an emblematic moment that demonstrated how far coeducation had come.

This is the second article in a five-part series commemorating the fortieth anniversary of undergraduate coeducation at Princeton.