THE LAST WORD
Resolved to Change
T
o witness history in the making is one thing; to participate in the development of that history is quite another. Entering Providence College in September of 1971 as a member of the first class of women, I, along with 286 other women, was both an observer and a participant in what would soon become a rapidly-changing campus environment. During the years leading up to college, the quest for peace, justice, and civil rights was starkly juxtaposed against riots and assassinations. We witnessed a new wave of the women’s movement and were often startled by the power of the voices that emerged. As we tried to discern what was different from our mothers’ generation, we became increasingly inquisitive about issues of equality for women. All the while, the ravages of the Vietnam War
PROVIDENCE COLLEGE SPRING 2021
BY ANN MANCHESTER-MOLAK ’75 continued to incite enormous social and political unrest that is forever etched in our minds. The world was changing all around us, and we absorbed the chaos, discontent, and restlessness that were so pervasive. While our mothers were inclined to be accepting of their place in society, we were hungry for ways to change it. The confluence of weighty societal issues had not only affected and shaped us, but caused us to pause, to question, and to consider more deeply what we could do to make this world a better place. Ours was a generation of women who sought something different. Entering PC from an all-girls Catholic high school, I found that part of the PC experience would be familiar, as meaningful discussions we had had in high school — about virtue, values, equity, and truth — continued to be foundational to teaching and learning at PC. The
moral dilemma in an ethics class taught by Father James Quigley, O.P. ’60 still resonates with me today, as do the lessons of Auschwitz survivor and political science professor, the late Dr. Zygmunt Friedemann ’08Hon., long remembered for his heady lectures on the perplexities of international politics. A colorful silk ascot tied neatly at his neck, Dr. Friedemann endeavored to explain the often-unexplainable circumstances of world conflicts. The Dominican friars were not too sure what to make of it when we arrived. Clearly, there were some mixed reactions to the College’s decision to go coed. But after a few months, it became clear to the friars that we were here to learn, to grow, to lead, and to re-imagine the world. Most of our male counterparts had come from coed high schools, so there was nothing unusual about having women among them in the
