Celebrating 50 Years of Coeducation at Boston College
School of Education sophomore Virginia Meany spent hours in the Eagles Nest at McElroy Commons in October 1966. She was not alone. If you had something to sell or something to say on campus that fall, you did so at the 800-seat snack bar that was Boston College’s de facto public square. This was the place to buy bus tickets to the BC-UMass football game, order your yearbook, and vote for homecoming queen. It was the place to read, play cards, practice French, and flirt. By the end of each day, the tables were littered with empty coffee cups, overflowing ashtrays, and discarded newspapers.
For Meany and her two classmates Martha Ann Brazier and Katherine Mongeau, the Eagles Nest was also the place to persuade. There were lots of petitions on campus in 1966: That year, students were asked to support a new lounge in Lyons Hall and institutional recognition of the activist group Students for a Democratic Society, and to oppose a tuition hike and the Vietnam War. But the petition that the three sophomores from the School of Education had drafted had the potential to be the most consequential for the campus. It urged Boston College to admit women into the all-male College of Arts and Sciences.
role: Author outlet: Boston College Magazine publication date: Summer 2021 category:Other
