Harvard’s first University-wide Women’s Weekend drew more than 400 alumnae and friends to campus in November to network, get reacquainted with people and places, and educate themselves during often pointed and personal panel discussions and workshops that touched on sexuality, race, work-life balance, public service, and women’s health and rights across the globe.
Addressing attendees at an evening reception in Harvard Business School’s Spangler Center, President Drew Faust celebrated the “once unimaginable” gathering of women at Harvard—or at any number of universities that had barred their entry: “When I was in college I was not allowed to wear pants to class. I would not have been able to apply to Princeton or Yale, or get a credit card without a male co-signer.” (Read more on her remarks and other weekend events at harvardmag.com/womens-weekend-16.)
The three-day program, organized by the Harvard Alumni Association, was developed in partnership with similarly focused Shared Interest Groups. Not on the weekend agenda, but prompted by events, was sharp discussion of sexist behavior by some of Harvard’s men’s sports teams (see page 23).
