Women have been an intrinsic part of TCU’s legacy from the very beginning.
Addison and Randolph Clark established AddRan Male and Female College in 1873 as one of the first coed institutions west of the Mississippi, setting the stage for generations to learn, teach and lead for years to come.
Co-education was so important to the founders that the college’s first catalog dedicated two pages to addressing their beliefs:
“Fifty colleges in the United States have already admitted young ladies to their class halls…and we may safely predict that at no distant day they will be admitted to every college and university…And why not? The time has come when…the male college should be abolished or converted into one where both sexes have equal privileges and enjoy common advantages.”
Explore key milestones, memorable moments and historical highlights of women at TCU.
A. H. Harle, a teacher of drawing, painting, wax work, embroidery and cutting, was the first and only female faculty member in AddRan Male and Female College’s inaugural academic year. (Hettie Clark, mother of Addison and Randolph, served as a matron, overseeing students who lived on campus.)
By 1875, Harle was joined by another female faculty member, and by the turn of the 20th century, several female faculty taught various subjects, including English, typewriting, music and elocution (speech).
Today, nearly 50 percent of faculty members across all fields of study are women — an increase from as recently as 25 years ago, when women comprised less than 40 percent of faculty.
Lou Bass (née Carr) from McKinney, Texas, a cousin of the Clarks, was the first female graduate of AddRan Male and Female College in 1879. Several of Bass’ descendants followed in her footsteps and attended TCU, according to the fall 1958 issue of TCU Magazine.
Bass was the only female graduate in her class — a far cry from the 1,723 women who graduated in 2022.
In the institution’s earliest days, campus living arrangements varied between genders. Often, male students lived off campus with local families or even teachers, while female students boarded together with a matron in a girls’ home.
As the student body grew in the 20th century, so did the need for more on-campus living quarters. TCU built numerous residence halls, but male and female students largely lived in separate buildings until the late 1970s, when Sherley became the first coed dorm.
Today, almost all TCU residence halls are coed; Colby Hall and the sorority houses in Greek Village are female-only halls.
Jarvis Hall, now a building for classrooms and offices, was a women’s residence hall from 1911 to 2008. Explore Jarvis and other residence halls of the past in the undated pamphlet, “Glimpses of Girls’ Dormitories.”
By 1976, female students started to outnumber men on campus, mirroring nationwide trends. Enrollment experts speculated that the end of the military draft, expiration of veteran’s educational benefits and increasing family incomes were the catalyst for the change.
Early catalogs noted all students should dress for “comfort, simplicity and neatness.” But, as fashions evolved, so did expectations for women’s clothing on campus.
In the wake of the Vietnam War and the women’s movement of the 1960s and 1970s, cultural change raged on college campuses. Yet, TCU largely leaned into traditional gender roles. Students formed the Association of Women Students (AWS) and worked to establish new standards, such as a dress code and curfew.
Not all students agreed with the policies put into place. Some tried to organize against the AWS and the university administration, while others campaigned for student government to loosen restrictions. The AWS eventually disbanded in 1970, as it continued to fall behind the changing times.
A dorm curfew for first-year women wasn’t lifted until the fall of 1973, after the campus approved a student bill of rights and Texas passed a law recognizing 18-year-olds as adults.
Activist Gloria Steinem gave an on-campus lecture in 1971, offering recommendations for TCU to participate in the feminist revolution. Among the suggestions: establish a women’s studies program.
Faculty members Jean Giles-Sims, Ph.D., and Priscilla Tate, Ph.D., worked for years to formalize the program, now known as the Department of Women & Gender Studies (WGST), which explores the intersection of gender with race, ethnicity, class and sexuality in today’s world.
In the early 20th century, female students played club sports, including tennis and basketball, and even established the Women’s Athletics Association to formalize membership.
After Title IX of the Civil Rights Act was enacted in 1972 to prohibit discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities, tennis and rifle became the first varsity women’s sports at TCU. Today, TCU offers 13 women’s sports.
Women’s sports have thrived at TCU. Notably, the 1983 golf team became the first TCU women’s team to earn a NCAA championship title. In more recent years, the rifle team — the only all-women’s team in a coed sport to win a national title — won a three-peat in 2010, 2012 and 2019.
In the fall of 1973, six women became the first to join the ranks of cadets in TCU’s Reserve Officer Training Corps. Four years later, Air Force ROTC cadet Gayle Remaly, a criminal justice major from Bethelehem, Pennsylvania, became the first woman to achieve the rank of cadet colonel, becoming a role model to more than 100 cadets at TCU.
Today, women make up nearly one-third of TCU’s ROTC cadets.
While female faculty were part of TCU from the beginning, it wasn’t until 2019 that Teresa Abi-Nader Dahlberg, Ph.D., became the university’s first female provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs.
The role, created in 1972 when the Board of Trustees reorganized the administration, was held by six men prior to Provost Dahlberg.
Today, TCU’s student body is 62 percent female. That’s 7,902 female leaders. Women at TCU are shaping the university for the next generation as they study across all disciplines and remain highly involved in all aspects of campus life — from sports and student organizations to community service and leadership roles.
Discover more history about TCU women in TCU Magazine’s special Sesquicentennial issue.
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