Quote: “That there is no more exhilarating and intellectually fertile place in the academic world today than a woman's college”

Adrienne Cecile Rich was an American poet and essayist. Highly influential, her words spoke volumes  . . .  ". . . the student sees herself engaged with her teachers in an active, ongoing struggle for real education. But for her to do this, her teachers must be committed to the belief that women's minds and experience are intrinsically valuable and indispensable to any civilization worthy the name; that there is no more exhilarating and intellectually fertile place in the academic world today than a woman's college--if both students and teachers in large enough numbers are trying to fulfill this contract.

The contract is really a pledge of mutual seriousness about women, about language, ideas, methods, and values. It is our shared commitment toward a world in which the inborn potentialities of so many women's minds will no longer be wasted, raveled-away, paralyzed, or denied.”

A fellow classmate of mine Kendal Hopkins responded to these words by writing, “EXACTLY! Those of us who have experienced this phenomenon of women's education (most of us already have under our belts 12 or more years of coeducation) know the power of learning in a community dedicated to educating and responding to women's learning styles and energy. It is sometimes a subtle difference and sometimes so very unique to be life-changing. It was for me!”

In 1951, Ms. Rich received a bachelor’s degree in English from Radcliffe College. One of the original Seven Sisters, Radcliffe College, became fully integrated with Harvard University in 1999.

Learn more about Adrienne Rich from the Academy of American Poets, The Poetry Foundation, and/or The New York Times.