Over the years, Whitman College has evolved in many ways.   For alumni returning to campus after only a few years, the most obvious changes are always the new buildings.   But much more has changed about life at Whitman over the past several decades.   Visiting alumni from the classes of 1959, 1967, 1989 and 2001 reflected:

Theodora Geokezas ’59 recalled the inequality between men and women that she encountered during her time at Whitman.

“When I was at Whitman, women could only run for [ASWC] Vice President and Secretary.   All of the other jobs that had the money and leadership attached were not trusted to women.”

Another shift involved the Mortar Board National Honor Society, which is still in existence today. Geokezas said that this award was given out to female students during her college years based on their grades and overall good citizenship.   The Whitman administration decided to take away this award because it was not offered to men, which Geokezas felt was unfair.   Today both men and women can be Mortar Board recipients.

In the 1950s, women were also not allowed to wear pants around campus except when it snowed. They also had to be in their dormitory rooms at a certain time each night and were not allowed to leave until a specified time the next morning morning.  

Despite instances of gender discrimination, Geokezas said she used the grounding and life lessons Whitman provided in her later career as a stay at home choice,” she said.

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“Whitman gave me the confidence to take on volunteer jobs that required a lot of responsibility. I ended up using the same kind of skills as jobs in the work force would require.”

Tom Oldfield ’67  noted the difference in Whitman’s social environment as the most prominent change since his time as a student.  

“Social life centered much more on the greek system.   The greek system provided an important social fabric for the school, which is very different today.”

Oldfield’s memories of being a student at Whitman, like Geokezas’s, also reflect the era in which they attended.   Oldfield was struck by many recent graduates’ decisions to take a year of two off before continuing on to graduate school or a career, a choice that contrasts dramatically with what most students were doing in the 1960s.    

“If you didn’t continue on into grad school after undergrad, you would end up in the Vietnam War.   There was certainly more on-campus recruitment for employment after college.   The decisions that you made had an obvious difference on post-graduation experience.”

Though Oldfield knows that the school has undergone many changes, he believes it is still fundamentally the same with regard to its dedication to liberal arts values.  

“The biggest part of the liberal arts education’s objective is to teach you how to think,” said Oldfield. “Whitman does a pretty good job at that…basically you get an education that allows you to think and apply things to a lot of different areas. The good social interaction also provides an excellent background for the future.”

Kottayam Natarajan ’89 said that the greatest visible changes to Whitman since his time at school have been architectural. Not only have the facilities improved, he said, but the grounds and sculptures on campus also greatly enhance the atmosphere.   However, the most significant difference is in the standard of education.  

“The quality of the Whitman education also continues to get better and better,” said Natarajan. “Students who are coming in are better and better. I have an immense degree of appreciation for the success of the students who graduate from Whitman.”

Events and activities on campus remain similar to the ones offered when Natarajan was at Whitman.   He said that when returning to campus he still enjoys attending events such as Coffeehouse, which he was not able to attend as much as he would have liked to while at Whitman.  

When asked about how his Whitman education impacted his life, Natarajan expressed appreciation for the liberal arts education that Whitman offers.  

“Twenty years later I still have vivid recollections of milestone events that happened at Whitman and shaped who I am today.”

The Core curriculum in 1989, which was then titled “Great Works,” was taught to incoming first-years, but a third semester was also a required senior year course. Natarajan said that this allowed him to see how students had progressed through college, and he still remembers the discussions.

“At Whitman, I learned many lifetime lessons; some are intellectual about how to be a critical thinker and others are social lessons about how to interact with people,” said Natarajan.  

Another memory that Natarajan shared is of the Sigma Chi fraternities’ political campaign to get a hot tub. This process, he said, was a way to quickly learn about the democratic process through direct experience.  

Sara Lindsley ’01 was amazed by the increase in technology on Whitman campus.

“When I was in school, Whitman was nowhere near wireless, only about 75% of students had computers and a lot of my friends didn’t have email addresses,” she said. “Very few people had cell phones and in order to get reception, you had to stand in one spot.”

Today, Whitman relies on e-mail and the internet for quick communication with the student body, class scheduling, student payment and much more. Lindsley, who graduated only eight years ago, noted the speed with which Whitman students became dependent on technology as a primary means of communication.

“One of the primary reasons that I chose Whitman was that I felt welcomed when I visited,” she said. “The people made eye contact and said hello even if they didn’t know you.   I can’t imagine how it has changed with the increase in technology. Now you look out on Ankeny Field and so many students are walking around on their cell phones.”

Lindsley felt that she was on the edge of a college generation that did not see much technology use.   However, she does enjoy the benefits of technology today.

“I was hesitant at first to get Facebook, but it has been really fun to connect with friends that I lost touch with after college,” Lindsley said.

Like older alumni, Lindsley said that Whitman taught her how to write essays, and develope beneficial time management skills, and to write a thesis, which made writing her graduate school thesis a less daunting task.  

“I am passionate about liberal arts education and never regret my choice,” she said.