Franklin and Marshall College

Franklin College had enrolled female students during its first few years in the eighteenth century, to its academy for teenagers. Franklin and Marshall College was an all-male institution. Women were permitted to attend summer school classes at F&M beginning in 1942. Continuing a trend at gender exclusive schools across the country, the Board of Trustees announced on January 17, 1969, that it had voted to admit women to F&M, a decision that was supported by male students. In the fall of 1969, 82 freshman women and 34 female transfer students were enrolled in F&M's first coeducational class.
In 1970, F&M students protested the administration's failure to rehire popular sociology instructor Anthony Lazroe and history instructor Henry Mayer. The protest, known as the "Lazroe-Mayer incident," culminated in an East Hall sit-in on April 30, where students took over the building for several hours.
On September 17, 1970, the Herman Art Center (named after Jacob Leon Herman, Class of 1916) was dedicated as part of Convocation, …