When the university opened in 1891, about 20 percent of the 440 undergraduates were women, five were Japanese nationals and one was Japanese-American. Undergraduate minority enrollment did not increase significantly until eight decades later, when it rose from 4.6 percent in 1968 to 11.7 percent in 1972. And it has grown steadily since. This fall, for the first time, half of Stanford’s freshmen are members of ethnic minority groups. But the road to diversity hasn’t always been perfectly smooth. Some milestones:
Spring 1892
Mary Sheldon Barnes, the first woman to join the faculty, is appointed an assistant professor of history.
April 4, 1896
Stanford beats UC-Berkeley in what is believed to be the first collegiate women’s basketball game. Shortly afterward, the Stanford team is disbanded due to objections from the Faculty Athletic Committee.
May 31, 1899
Jane Stanford amends the Founding Grant to limit female enrollment to 500. The limit is reached in 1903, revised to 40 percent of the student body in 1933 and eliminated altogether in 1973.
1931
Undergraduates Harry Hay and Smith Dawless publish poetry about their gay relationship. Hay leaves campus in 1932, partly in response to ostracism. In 1950, he founds the Mattachine Society, the United States’ first long-running gay-rights organization.
May 26, 1942
The last Japanese and Japanese-American students remaining on campus are sent to an internment processing facility at Santa Anita racetrack. In all, 34 students are interned, along with history professor Yamato Ichihashi.
1949
H.J. Belton Hamilton becomes Stanford’s first confirmed African-American graduate.
March 6, 1961
The Alpha Tau Omega fraternity rescinds Stanford’s chapter for pledging four Jewish men. The chapter continues without national affiliation.
April 8, 1968
At a colloquium in Memorial Auditorium called “Stanford’s Response to White Racism,” 60 members of the Black Student Union take the stage and microphone from provost Richard Lyman. They make 10 demands, largely about increasing minority admissions and staff devoted to minority affairs. The next day, the University agrees, at least in part, to nine of the 10 demands.
March 2, 1972
The ASSU Senate votes to accept President Lyman’s recommendation to eliminate the Indian mascot.
September 1972
Barbara Babcock becomes the first woman to join the Law School faculty. The Business School appoints three women: Francine Gordon, Linda Sprague and Myra Strober.
1978
The first curb pavement is cut to allow wheelchair access.
March 31, 1988
The Faculty Senate approves the replacement of the Western Culture freshman course sequence with Cultures, Ideas and Values.
April 5, 1989
The University Committee on Minority Issues makes 100 recommendations, including the addition of 30 minority faculty over 10 years, doubling minority enrollment in doctoral programs and establishing a program in ethnic studies.
May 15, 1989
Fifty-six students are arrested after they occupy the president’s office. Within a week, the University agrees to several of their demands, including the hiring of minority faculty and installing full-time directors at the ethnic community centers.
October 1990
Stanford extends benefits to employees’ same-sex domestic partners.
May 2001
The largest incoming group of Native American undergraduates ever—40 freshmen and two transfer students—is admitted.
