When I first started brainstorming, I knew I wanted to look into the dorm life and social life on college campuses during the 1920s until the 1960s, approximately. I have a grandfather, several uncles and many cousins who came to SCU during this time and so I was extremely interested in what they must have experienced.
I wasn’t sure what exactly I was going to focus my essay on, though. Dorm life wasn’t a big enough topic and even adding the time frame was slightly too broad. After following the strategy of visualizing my sources and their connections, I had found it.
Source: Giphy
From the start, I was curious about the changes that occur when women were first admitted into SCU. I knew that there were many co-ed colleges at this point, but it must have been a very different situation considering that the University of Santa Clara, originally Santa Clara College, had been all male since it was founded in 1851. Surely, women suddenly arriving on campus must have had some effect on both the social life and the academic environment.
So, what was I to do? I put them together! Finally, something that made sense to me.
My territory is the dorm life and the social life on campus, more specifically on campuses that were originally men only, during the 1920s to the 1960s. My gap is the effect that introducing women had on the environment and whether or not it had any lasting effects that can still be felt today.
I’m not sure if I’ll be able to find any information on the last part, but if I did find anything I would most definitely include it because it is such an interesting aspect of SCU’s campus history. Regardless, the plans that I have made thus far for the assignment are more detailed than I have ever been able to make them for an assignment. If I didn’t know that I’d had a little nudge in the right direction, I would be pretty pleased with myself right about now.
Source: Giphy