Celebrating 50 years of women graduating from Lehigh

In 1975, Lehigh gave diplomas to 169 women in its first co-educational graduating class. 

Now, women comprise 48% of Lehigh’s student body. This year’s commencement ceremony, when these graduating women receive their diplomas, marks the 50th anniversary of co-ed graduations at Lehigh. 

When women in the graduating class of 2025 cross the stage on May 18, they will not just be starting their own post-grad journeys. They’ll also be carrying the legacies of the classes before them.

One of the first female graduates from Lehigh, Karen Stuckey, ‘75, said she and the other women in her class were part of a “co-ed experiment,” meaning they were admitted through a trial stage that hadn’t been permanently enacted by university officials. 

She said the female students in her class weren’t aware that admitting women was an experiment until The Brown and White reported on it during her junior year. 

But in 1973, two years after the first cohort of women arrived, the Board of Trustees voted in favor of making Lehigh permanently co-ed. 

Stuckey said the women in her class were asked to wear coats and ties to their first-year rally. She also said there were no sports available for women to play except for intramurals at the time.

“I guess no one had gotten the message that there were females in the class,” Stuckey joked. 

Marilyn Blacher-Reich, ‘75, said prior to starting classes, she received an orientation in August that discussed what to expect from the male students at Lehigh. She said in this orientation, she was told to expect some men to be shy and keep to themselves, while others would be welcoming. 

Julie Griscom, ‘75, also said Lehigh made an effort to help the female students acclimate through this orientation. 

However, she said this didn’t stop some implicit biases, and there were instances in class when professors would reference jokes they were no longer able to tell because women were attending.

“We were singled out, but sometimes not always in a positive way,” Griscom said. “We were different, and we knew we were different.”  

She said the Carothers, Stoughton and Palmer houses in Lower Cents were the three residence halls women lived in during her first year at Lehigh. She said she lived in Carothers her freshman and sophomore year and Richards House her junior year, as each year passed the university opened up another residence hall for female students. 

Beyond the separate living spaces, Griscom said there was also a newly hired dean for female students to help with the transition. She said Ruth Hurley Vihon was the associate dean of student life for the women, and she oversaw all female students.

Stuckey said Vihon was a steady support system for the female students at this point in Lehigh’s history. 

“She was doing more behind the scenes that we didn’t really appreciate at the time, but we certainly felt she was supportive,” Stuckey said. 

According to an October 1973 article within The Brown and White’s archives, Vihon said the “co-ed experiment” worked at the time, and she hoped Lehigh would establish protocols that would continue to support the women on campus. But Vihon then left Lehigh in November 1973, according to the archives. 

Griscom said throughout her time at Lehigh, the co-ed learning environment normalized as more women attended.    

“I think as there were more females admitted to the school, it started to normalize,” she said. “But it was still a ways to go.”

Despite a few challenges, Stuckey said she holds many fond memories of her time at Lehigh, particularly from the bonds she formed with her fellow female classmates.

She said one of her favorite memories was when she and other female students came together for a powder puff football game against Lafayette College — the first intercollegiate sport available for women to play at Lehigh. 

Throughout her post-grad path, Stuckey was appointed the first female president of the Alumni Association in 1991, and she served as a member of the Board of Trustees for 14 years. In 2021, she returned to Lehigh to hand the class of 2025 its flag at its convocation ceremony.

While the women in attendance didn’t have to wear coats and ties, Stuckey was a reminder of the 50 previous classes who paved the way for women in Lehigh’s class of 2025.

Emily Rosenberg, ‘25, witnessed Stuckey hand her class its flag at her convocation four years ago. She said she recognizes the milestones the women in the class of 1975 made during their time on campus.

Rosenberg, a psychology major and women, gender & sexuality studies minor, said working at the Gender Leadership and Empowerment Center as an equity representative has helped her form an understanding of the alumnae who have come before her.

“This is an (academic) institution, and so gender stereotypes and biases are deep-rooted,” she said. 

Rosenberg also said if she could go back in time, she would tell the women in the class of 1975 to recognize they are a part of a bigger, ongoing story about the empowerment of women at Lehigh.

As the class of 2025 prepares to cross the commencement stage, Stuckey said she hopes the graduates make use of Lehigh’s extensive alumni network. She also encourages the class to take part in different alumni events across the country, particularly after they may leave South Bethlehem. 

Blacher-Reich said the women in her class were tied by their passion to make the co-ed experiment a success. She also said she believes the women in the class of 1975 have paved the way for the classes following them.

“The women that went to Lehigh in that first class, they were definitely pioneers,” Blacher-Reich said.