Records of the Dean of Women, Washington Square College, Dorothy McSparran Arnold
Arnold, Dorothy (Dorothy McSparran Arnold)
Materials are in English.
The Dorothy McSparran Arnold Papers describe the evolution of the counseling and programming system Washington Square College developed to coordinate students' intellectual growth with their development as social and moral beings. The papers also reveal the growth of strong women's organizations at the college and present some insights into the attitudes toward women and their roles. Washington Square College, set in an urban environment with a large commuter student body, valued and promoted the extracurricular customs of undergraduate life. Societies and sororities, athletics, undergraduate class loyalties and clubs were community builders. Student activities created the illusion of a society in miniature, preparing the student for citizenship and building loyalty and friendships at the college.
As the College grew in size, the Dean's Office became formally responsible for assuring the academic and personal advisory roles faculty had handled. These responsibilities were gradually divided. The academic counseling, remaining under the authority of the Dean's office was assigned to teaching faculty. The 'official' social and personal counseling became the preserve of faculty (and later student affairs specialists) removed from active teaching. Student activities and counseling became the business of the administration rather than the faculty. Dorothy Arnold switched from teaching to student affairs administrator in 1924, and her career spanned the next 43 years.
The papers have rich material on women's organizations at the College. The League of Women and the Eclectic Society records cover more than thirty years (1920's-50's), giving early organizational information on the group's activities, membership and selection. The Junior Advisory Committee and Faculty Advisory Corps records offer a view of the college's academic and peer counseling programs. There is limited material on fraternity/sorority relations and freshman orientation in the thirties and fifties. Information on the decline of women's athletics is in several folders of the Faculty Advisory Board (1929-1958).
Records of the Student Committee on Educational Policy (1947-59) indicate the shift to give students a more important role in college governance. An important theme throughout the papers is the constant fight Dean Arnold waged for money for adequate facilities and programs for women. The annual reports, the building office file, and the athletic files reveal the struggle. Mrs. Arnold's interest in linking college women to national organizations and interests appear in the American Association of University Women and Mortar Board files.
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Language: Finding aid written in English
New York University Archives