Kirstin Delegard coeducation thesis research notes

A College of Social Studies major in the class of 1990, Kirsten Delegard was one of only 5 women in her CSS class. As she notes in her thesis, and as many have noted before and since, CSS is a notoriously male-dominated major in terms of both student population and core theorists-though there are arguments to be made about the increasingly equal distribution of its professorship. As she writes in the introduction to her thesis, her experience as part of a marginal group influenced her decision to write a thesis about the experiences of women throughout the second period of coeducation at Wesleyan, which began in 1968. She wrote that she "felt inhibited, discouraged, and frustrated as a woman in a program pervaded by both blatant and subtle sexism." She offers several anecdotes that illustrate this experience.

"In classes and department social events professors and undergraduates used sexist language and humor that patronized, demeaned, and objectified women students. In classes where aggressive debate characterized discussion, women were more often interrupted, ridiculed for their comments, and ignored by male undergraduates and professors. While I succeeded academically, my confidence in my abilities was undermined by sexist comments. One professor told me, 'I think you did not do well in my class because women think differently, women can't understand power,' while another said he was surprised to find a woman excelling."

Because of her experience, she felt compelled to examine how women at Wesleyan have dealt at various periods with being a traditionally marginalized group. Based primarily on the results to the surveys, which are included in the collection and described in detail below, Delegard wrote her senior thesis for CSS, titled "Mixed Memories: Reflections On Twenty-Two Years of Coeducation at Wesleyan."

Since graduating from Wesleyan, Delegard received her Masters and PhD in history from Duke University. She currently works as a public historian in her hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is noted for creating the Historyapolis Project, which is meant to "make the history of [Minneapolis] accessible," given what Delegard sees as the city's blindness to its tumultuous past and its discomfort with confronting it. The project "seeks to produce a new book-length history of the city," and to "catalyze community dialogue around some of the most challenging aspects of local history."

In 2012, Delegard published her first full-length work-Battling Miss Bolsheviki: The Origins of Female Conservatism in the United States. In the book, Delegard explores why once-respected female reformers lost authority after women won the right to vote, and argues that female conservatives pushed out these reformers with anti-radical agendas. Delegard has also been involved in the writing and editing of several other academic texts, and at time of writing is working on a new history of Minneapolis under the Historyapolis project.