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During a reunion weekend
last year the former "working girls of Chapin Hall" ooohed and
aaahed at the changes that had taken place at the dormitory which
served so comfortably as their home in the 1950s and 1960s.
It wasn't the absence
of the genteel parlor with its mahogany furniture and grand piano
that made the dormitory feel so very different. It wasn't even
the absence of the caring, if occasionally old-fashioned, house
matron who had looked out for their interests and enforced the
many "rules" of the campus residence then run by the Women's Education
Aid Association (WEAA).
No, what made the
dormitory feel so very odd was the presence of, well, men. Why
there was even a urinal in the bathroom, a Chapin Hall returnee
gasped. Chapin, after all, has been a co-ed dorm since 1980.
But house rules
had been strict about the presence of men in the days when the
red pressed brick, three-story dormitory at 726 University Place
was managed by the WEAA. Built at the turn of the 20th century,
the association operated Chapin Hall for "women of slender means"
until 1968.
The WEAA was founded
in 1871 by wealthy Evanston women with an interest in providing
higher education for deserving students at the Evanston College
for Ladies. Their objective, according to Francis Willard at the
group's first meeting, was to assist "women out of whom more might
be made."
Chapin Hall descended
from what in the last three decades of the 19th century had been
known as "College Cottage." A humble home for "young women of
high character, ability and need," College Cottage was leased
by the University to the WEAA for a nominal sum.
In assuming
Chapin Hall's management in 1901, the WEAA continued this tradition
and doubled the number of students served previously at College
Cottage. Over the years, Chapin Hall, like College Cottage before
it, was supervised by "competent matrons" who were deemed to have
a "refining and cultural influence" on the 70 young women who
lived with them.
By requiring the
residents of Chapin Hall to share in the housekeeping of the dormitory
-- what was called the Mount Holyoke plan -- the association kept
room and board charges at a minimum. In 1935, Chapin Hall was
remodeled with the goal of creating "a very beautiful, modern,
artistic building in which no girl will be embarrassed to live."
During World War
II, the association extended its mission to include student nurses
at Evanston Hospital and Chapin residents rationed their use of
canned goods and meats. In 1948, the cost of room and board at
Chapin was half the cost of Willard and other University dorms.
When the alumnae
of Chapin Hall returned last summer, it was clear much had changed.
There was no "rule book" describing the "forces" or jobs the women
students would do in return for reduced room and board. Nor was
there a "kidding book," a list of babysitting requests routinely
made by Evanston families looking for Chapin girls to care for
their children.
But the WEAA continues
to support deserving women scholars in need of financial aid.
Between four and five such scholars are admitted to Northwestern
each year. And, like the residents of the old Chapin Hall, the
approximately 20 scholars meet with members of the WEAA board
who make themselves an available resource for students.
WEAA president
Helen Gagel Squires, a Chapin alum and executive of the Chicago
Manufacturing Center, says today's scholars still comment on the
mentoring and support that the WEAA offers its scholars.
"In the older days,
some women chafed at the amount of supervision (the WEAA) provided,"
says Squires. Today, she adds, the association offers a friendly
presence without being domineering or intrusive. In that way the
Chapin Hall tradition continues.
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Chapin Hall