The freshman was 16 years old and “scrawny,” says her RA (or head sponsor, as they were known in the ’40s). “She was from the boonies, out there on the ranch,” recalls Jean Coblentz, ’47. “We had a list of people we thought might have trouble adjusting. But when the first-quarter grades came in, her name went off the list.”
It turned out that Sandra Day O’Connor, ’50, JD ’52, adjusted to Stanford life just fine. In the intervening years, the associate justice of the United States Supreme Court has become the most famous alumna of Cap and Gown, Stanford’s women’s honor society. On March 5, she will be the keynote speaker at the group’s centennial event, “Women of Stanford: A Celebration.”
Stanford’s oldest continuous student organization, Cap and Gown has grown from a handful of women meeting under available trees to a group of more than 70 students and thousands of alumnae. The honor society, which accepts applications annually, inducts juniors and seniors with high grade-point averages who have demonstrated leadership and contributed to the community. Applicants also submit essays about women who have been influential in their lives and experiences that have inspired them. The organization occasionally taps female faculty and staff as honorary members. Cap and Gown has established five scholarship funds for undergraduates and soon will announce a $375,000 Centennial Scholarship.
At the March 5 program that Coblentz and others have planned, speakers will discuss Jane Stanford and what life was like for women during the University’s first half-century, and look to future roles that women in the Stanford community may undertake. Results from a survey will reveal perspectives of alumnae across the decades on accomplishments, challenges, relationships and children.
“We hope women will walk away from this day feeling proud to be part of something very big, with some specific lessons about how to meet our goals and make a difference,” says former alumnae board president Ellen Petrill, ’77, MS ’78.
