Everything about Smith College totally explained
Smith College is a
private,
independent women's liberal arts college located in
Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the
Seven Sisters.
Smith is also a member of the
Five Colleges consortium, which allows its students to attend classes at four other
Pioneer Valley institutions:
Mount Holyoke College,
Amherst College,
Hampshire College, and the
University of Massachusetts Amherst. This provides a unique exception to the women only at undergraduate level, as men attending any of the Five Colleges are allowed to attend classes at Smith and Mount Holyoke, and are admitted to 95% of all available classes with the main exception being team sports. Smith is also known for its socio-economic and sexual-orientation diversity and recent efforts to attract more students of color have been reflected in the increased diversity of incoming classes.
History
The college was chartered in 1871 by a bequest of
Sophia Smith and opened its doors in 1875 with 14 students and six faculty. In 1915-16 the student enrollment was 1,724 and the faculty numbered 163. Today, with some 2,600 undergraduates on campus, Smith is the largest privately endowed college for women in the country. The campus was planned and planted in the 1890s as a
botanical garden and
arboretum, designed by
Frederick Law Olmsted. The campus landscape now encompasses and includes more than 1,200 varieties of trees and shrubs.
Smith has been led by 10 presidents and 2 acting presidents. For the 1975 centennial, the college inaugurated its first woman president,
Jill Ker Conway, who came to Smith from
Australia by way of
Harvard and the
University of Toronto. Since President Conway's term, all Smith presidents have been women, with the exception of John M. Connolly's one-year term as acting president in the interim after President Simmons left to lead
Brown University.
Academics
Smith College has 275 professors in 37 academic departments and programs, for a faculty:student ratio of 1:9. It is the first and only women's college in the United States to grant its own undergraduate degrees in
engineering. The Picker Engineering Program offers a single
Bachelor of Science in engineering science, combining the fundamentals of multiple engineering disciplines. Picker students who maintain an overall GPA of 3.5 and a GPA of 3.5 within the major are automatically admitted to graduate study in engineering at
Dartmouth College,
Johns Hopkins University,
Tufts University, and the
University of Michigan.
The
Ada Comstock Scholars Program is a
bachelor's degree program for
non-traditional students.
Smith also has special one-year graduate programs for international students. One such program, the
American Studies Diploma Program, was founded by Daniel Aaron during the early 1960s, the height of the
Cold War, to serve as a counterweight of international misunderstanding and violence. Students can design specialized majors and minors with the approval of the college and related departments. Individuals may also enroll as nondegree students by registering for one or more courses.
Smith runs its own junior year abroad (JYA) programs in four European cities. These programs are notable for requiring all studies to be conducted in the language of the host country. In some cases students live in homestays with local families. The programs are located in:
Paris,
Hamburg,
Florence and
Geneva (students in the Geneva and Paris programs study in French). Nearly half of Smith's juniors study overseas, either through Smith JYA programs or at more than 40 other locations around the world.
Graduate degrees and study options
Smith's graduate programs are open to both men and women. Each year approximately 100 men and women pursue advanced graduate work at Smith.
The Smith College master of social work (M.S.W.) degree is nationally recognized for its specialization in clinical social work and puts a heavy emphasis on direct field work practice. The program is accredited by the
Council on Social Work Education. The school also offers a Ph.D. program designed to prepare MSWs for leadership positions in clinical research education and practice.
The college has a limited number of other programs leading to Ph.D.s, and is part of a cooperative doctoral program co-administered by
Amherst College,
Hampshire College,
Mount Holyoke College and the
University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Traditions
Colors and mascot
Smith College doesn't have college colors in the usual sense. Its official color is white, trimmed with gold, but the official college logo is currently blue and yellow (a previous logo was burgundy and white). NCAA athletic teams have competed in blue and white (or blue and yellow, in the case of the soccer, crew, swimming, and squash teams) uniforms since the 1970s, and selected Pioneers as the official name and mascot in 1986. Popular club sports are free to choose their own colors and mascot; both Rugby and Fencing have chosen red and black.
Smith has a rotating system of class colors dating back to the 1880s, when intramural athletics and other campus competitions were usually held by class. Today, class colors are yellow, red, blue and green, with incoming first-year classes assigned the color of the previous year's graduating class; their color then "follows" them through to graduation. Alumnae classes, particularly at reunion, continue to identify with and use their class color thereafter.
Residential culture
Smith requires all first-year undergraduate students, as well as most other undergraduates, to live in on-campus houses. This policy is intended to add to the camaraderie and social cohesion of its students. Unlike most institutions of its type, Smith College doesn't have dorms, but rather 36 separate houses, built in the style that was popular during the time they were constructed. (A popular rumor perpetuated by students and Smith College Gold Key guides is that Sophia Smith stated in her will that each house be constructed in the style of the period; this is, however, only a rumor.) The campus also boasts a botanic garden that includes a Japanese tea house, a variety of specialty gardens including a rock garden, and historic glass greenhouses dating back to 1895. It is rumored that the staircase in Chapin House was the inspiration for the one in Tara in
Gone with the Wind. (
Margaret Mitchell went to Smith for one year and lived in Chapin House.)
A novelty of Smith's homelike atmosphere is the continuing popularity of Sophia Smith's recipe for molasses cookies. These are often served at the traditional Friday afternoon tea held in each house, where students, faculty and staff members and alumnae socialize.
Academic year events
"Convocation" signals the start of the fall semester. For some students, the annual, often rowdy, event is an occasion for celebration and an opportunity for creative attire (or as little attire as they can get away with.) House communities develop imaginative themes for group fashion, and Smith seniors put special touches on favorite hats to create their own unique "senior hats," to be worn for the first time at Convocation.
Mountain Day is a tradition borrowed from Mount Holyoke College and is observed early in the fall semester. The President of the College selects a crisp, sunny, beautiful autumn day when the leaves are in full color, and announces the cancellation of classes by having bells rung on campus at 7:00 AM on the chosen day. The eager anticipation of Mountain Day leads to intense speculation and an abnormally high interest in meteorology by students in the weeks leading up to the surprise announcement. Traditional observance of Mountain Day by students might involve
New England road trips or outdoor pursuits, and college dining services provides box lunches to be taken off-campus. (Other students take the opportunity to catch up on their sleep!)
Otelia Cromwell Day, named for Smith's first African-American alumna, began in 1989 to provide students with an in-depth program specifically addressing issues of racism and diversity. Afternoon classes are cancelled, and students are invited to participate in lectures, workshops, symposia and cultural events centered around a different theme each year.
In February 1876, the College began an annual observance of
George Washington's birthday. In 1894, a rally became part of the day's events, and the focus of the celebration became primarily patriotic rather than exclusively social—though always with a women's college twist. Students that year staged a mock debate on the subject, "Does Higher Education Unfit a Man for Domestic Life?" In 1906 the celebration was first referred to as
Rally Day (although the name wasn't used officially by the College until 1992). In 1944, seniors made Rally Day the first public wearing of their graduation caps and gowns; since then, mortarboards have been replaced by wacky, often homemade hats. Today, the Rally Day Convocation is centered around a historical theme, and features a distinguished keynote speaker and the awarding of Smith College Medals to accomplished alumnae.
Rally Day is observed in the Spring; an all-college gathering honors distinguished alumnae, and a musical is held depicting life at Smith.
Reunions and Commencement events
The Alumnae Association of Smith College hosts official class reunions every five years, plus a special two-year reunion. All alumnae from all classes are welcome to return in any year; "off-year" alumnae attend campus-wide events as the "Class of 1776."
Traditional reunion and Commencement events are linked, and celebrate the close ties between Smith's alumnae and its graduating seniors and their families. At the conclusion of final exams, most underclasswomen leave the campus, while seniors remain in their houses for a week to celebrate and prepare for Commencement. Alumnae arrive for reunions later in the week, and many alumnae arrange for official accommodations in the campus houses, right alongside senior residents.
Ivy Day, the day before Commencement, is the high point of reunion and a significant event for seniors as well. Junior ushers lead a parade through campus, carrying vines of ivy to be planted by the departing seniors as a symbol of their lifelong connection to the college. Alumnae (and, often, their children), dressed in white and wearing sashes in their class color, line up in reverse order by class along both sides of the route. Seniors line up nearest the end of the parade route, wearing traditional white outfits and each carrying a single red rose. All cheer each alumnae class as it marches past, then fall in to join the end of the parade. Many alumnae classes carry signs with humorous poems or slogans, or hold balloons or wear hats in their class color. Ivy Day festivities conclude in the Quad, where the seniors plant their ivy and speakers address alumnae on the progress of fundraising and the state of the college.
Illumination Night, beginning at dusk on the Saturday evening before Commencement, is a celebration of the campus and a send-off of sorts for graduating seniors. Throughout central campus, electric street lights are replaced for one night by multicolored Japanese-style paper lanterns, lit with real candles. These hang on both sides of every walking path and cast a soft glow over the buildings and lawns. Student acapella singing groups and improv comedy troupes roam the campus, stopping occasionally to entertain the crowds. A jazz band, hired by the college, turns the science buildings' courtyard into a dance floor. Seniors, alumnae, faculty and their families spend the evening on walking tours of the illuminated campus and
Botanic Gardens. The major official event of the night is the
Senior Step Sing: seniors gather on the steps of Neilson Library, where they're serenaded by members of the
Sophomore Push committee, then are physically pushed off the stairs and "into the real world."
Until the early 1990s, all alumnae reunions were held during Commencement weekend. However, as the number of returning alumnae grew beyond the capacity of the campus, reunions were split into Reunion I/Commencement Weekend and Reunion II, held the following weekend. "Significant" reunions (50-, 25- and 10- year, but also 2-year) and the earliest reunion classes (65-year and prior) are assigned to Reunion I; other reunions (5-, 15-, 20-, 30-year, and so on) are assigned to Reunion II.
Campus folklore
Smith has numerous folk tales and ghost stories surrounding the campus and historical events.
One such tale holds that Sessions House is inhabited by the ghost of Lucy Hunt, who died of a broken heart after being separated from her lover, General Burgoyne.
Another tale tells of a girl who haunts the basement of one of the houses near the river, after a tunnel which led down to the pond collapsed as she was sneaking out to meet a lover.
Yet another tale describes the accidental death of a girl who sneaked out her bedroom window to meet a boyfriend, some how fell into a hollow column supporting the portico of her dorm, and suffocated.
One campus legend surrounds the 'whispering woman' who makes circuit calls to students' dorm rooms and calls each room one by one down the entire hall. Students sometimes exploit this legend and pull pranks on their unwitting friends by calling them and talking in a gravelly mysterious voice.
Notable alumnae
A number of Smith alumnae have gone on to become notable in their respective fields and endeavors, including authors:
Barbara Adams, General Counsel of Pennsylvania
Margaret Mitchell
Madeleine L'Engle
Betty Friedan
Gloria Steinem
Catharine MacKinnon
Julia Child
Jane Yolen
Yolanda King
Margaret Edson, author of Wit
Shelly Lazarus, chairman and CEO of Ogilvy & Mather
Ann M. Martin
Sylvia Plath
Joan Lynch
Martha Southgate
Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin,
Sherry Rehman, Minister of Information, Pakistan
Jane Lakes Harman
Molly Ivins
Virginia Euwer Wolff, author of Make Lemonade
Niki Tsongas
Julie Nixon Eisenhower
First Ladies Nancy Reagan and Barbara Bush.
In 2006, 17 Smith graduates won Fulbright fellowships for international graduate study. The Alumnae Association of Smith College considers all former students to be members, whether they graduated or not, and doesn't generally differentiate between graduates and non-graduates when identifying Smith alumnae.
Smith in popular culture
The 1966 movie Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and the 1993 movie Malice were both filmed on the Smith campus. The character Joanna Kramer, played by Meryl Streep in the 1979 film Kramer vs. Kramer is a Smith College graduate.
I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can: an episode of The Simpsons where Lisa Simpson is tempted by the Siren-like representatives of the Seven Sisters (and George Plimpton), who offer a scholarship to the Sister school of her choice (and a George Plimpton hot plate) if she'll throw a Spelling Bee.
Running With Scissors: This memoir by Augusten Burroughs details how the author and his foster-sister, Natalie, used to take walks on the campus.
Cristina Yang, the intern played by Sandra Oh on "Grey's Anatomy", graduated from Smith College with degrees in French Literature and Chemistry.
Ainsley Hayes (played by Emily Procter), the conservative lawyer hired to work in the White House Counsel's Office on The West Wing, graduated from Smith.
The webcomic Questionable Content mentions Smith College (usually referred to as "Smif" in the comic) as the place where one of the main characters, Marten, is employed as library staff, and one of the minor characters, Ellen, studies marine biology. Jeph Jacques, the author, went to Hampshire College, one of the neighboring schools.
In an episode of Mad About You Paul's sister and her girlfriend are referred to as "The Fighting Lesbians." Paul (Paul Reiser) replies, "No, that would be the name of the Smith College Ice Hockey Team."
The fictional Catamount College in the novella Beasts by Joyce Carol Oates is based on Smith College.
Emily Gilmore in the show Gilmore Girls went to Smith and majored in History.
In the movie 'The Nanny Diaries' Mrs. X is a Smith alumna.
The title character in Butch Jamie is a Smith alum. Jamie is a butch lesbian actress who gets cast as a man in a film; in order to keep up her gender-bending charade, he/she manages to convince his love interest that the college allowed him to attend as a man due to the fact that the name Jamie can be either male of female. Three Smith alums worked on the film, including writer/director/actor Michelle Ehlen.
In The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson the character Chenault went to Smith College.
Charlotte York in the show Sex and the City is a Smith College graduate.
In the 1954 film "White Christmas," two of the lead characters reference Smith:
Bob Wallace: You don't expect me to get serious with the kind of characters you and Rita have been throwing at me, do you?
Phil Davis: Well, there have been some nice girls, too, you know.
Bob Wallace: Oh yeah, yeah. Like that nuclear scientist we just met out in the hall.
Phil Davis: All right, they didn't go to college. They didn't go to Smith.
Bob Wallace: Go to Smith? She couldn't even spell it.
Further Information
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