Kirkland’s Last Graduating Class

Takeover. Appropriation. Acquisition. Consolidation. Seizure. Absorption. Merger. Whatever you call it, Kirkland officially closed after the conclusion of the spring semester in 1978. As a result, the senior class—my class—holds the ignominious distinction of being known as the last graduating class of Kirkland College. For some, this epithet is a badge of honor. For others, it’s a painful reminder of the bruising process that students and faculty endured during the unexpected merger of two coordinate educational institutions. 

Let’s back up to set the stage. It was spring in Clinton, when snow had finally melted and apple blossoms dotted the landscape. On May 9, 1977, students were summoned to an important community meeting at 4 P.M. in the Kirner-Johnson Auditorium (not the Red Pit as Sam Babbitt’s account in Limited Engagement asserts).

Until this point, many of us had no idea that there was a problem. Others had heard whispers of financial pressures, but it all seemed vague. Besides, as students, were were consumed by exams and plans for summer. Ironically, Kirkland was about to launch The Campaign for the Second Decade! So the meeting in which President Babbitt outlined the financial predicament Kirkland faced and the potential outcome if Hamilton did not agree to support the college financially was a gut punch. You could hears the gasps and see the worry and confusion etched on the faces of the men and women who attended the meeting. Students wondered, Should I transfer to another college? Fight back and save the college? Wait and hope for the best?

In Limited Engagement, Sam details the complex chronology of failed negotiations and the eventual merger on pages 316—392. Following an anxiety-riddled summer, Kirkland students continued protest efforts that had begun in spring 1977 after the proverbial cat had been let out of the bag. We circulated petitions, wrote telegrams and letters to Hamilton trustees, raised money, and wore green armbands and T-shirts with clever slogans like “Living Together is Better Than Being Married.” Many of us organized or attended on-campus protests, and alumnae held meetings in various cities around the country. Can you imagine how distracting this was for seniors trying to complete final course work and “capstone” senior projects?

Ultimately, the best efforts of students, alumnae, faculty, administration, trustees, parents, and fans of Kirkland did little to persuade Hamilton to preserve our ten-year coordinate system. Before the two colleges officially parted ways, the class of 1978 had its graduation with all the pomp and ceremony we could muster. Our families and friends joined the celebration, and then we were off to explore the world. As Sam put it in his last Kirkland commencement speech:

In every course, and in a variety of ways, it was our aim to sharpen your perceptions—to sharpen what you see and how you see it, be it a physical object or a sequence of words in type. The name of the game is to raise your perceptions by giving you a greater and deeper context in which to see, or hear, or feel, and then to give you the scholars’ tools so that by ordering and by comparison and by evaluating, you can understand past judgments about the materials you study and make the first forays into judgments of your own. . . .Finally, in the Senior Project, which you have cursed and loved alternatively, you have been given a solo flight. If you and we did well, that project was process checked out, product produced, and certification that you are what we hoped you would be—your own person.

Over time, the foundation of what so many had carefully constructed was gradually dismantled and relics—physical, curricular, cultural, spiritual, architectural—of what was Kirkland disappeared seemingly into thin air. As we heard from a handful of classmates and staff years later, some bore witness to photos, files, and other materials documenting the existence of Kirkland being tossed into a dumpster. Several bravely dove in, rescuing these vitally important remnants of a bold decade in women’s education. As a consequence of the 1978 merger, some alumnae felt such anger and disappointment that they refused to engage with Hamilton under any circumstances, whether that meant traveling back to the Hill for reunions or receiving alumni-related mailings and emails. Others tried to forget and move on, often resorting to the practical option of listing Hamilton as her college, rather than naming Kirkland. Whatever your own feelings are about the ending of Kirkland College, women and men in the classes of 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, and 1981 lived through it. Perhaps more importantly, they were impacted and forever changed by the experience. 

In recent years, I’ve wondered about the clunky way the merger was handled by Hamilton and its trustees. Could the bitter fallout that to a certain degree persists forty-five years later have been avoided? Was there a more sensible way to have joined the two colleges and to have addressed the traumatic impact of the merger on students? Looking back, we didn’t have support groups, social workers, mediators, or psychologists to guide us through what was happening. We didn’t have an advisory council, as Pembroke did, to create its own center and conduct an oral history project after being merged with Brown University. In 2023, it seems to me that there’s still much to learn about mistakes made in the process by studying the care and conduct with which other coordinate colleges such as Rutgers/William Douglass, Urseline/Bellarmine, Harvard/Radcliffe, and Tulane/Newcomb handled their splits.

Despite conscious or unconscious attempts to expunge Kirkland from the Hamilton campus, Kirkland alumnae have persisted. In small and significant ways, we’ve found ways to keep Kirkland’s legacy alive by celebrating its innovative curriculum, commemorating its campus architecture, and continuing its commitment to women. Indeed, there is much on the Hill that reflects how Kirkland’s students, faculty, and administration contributed to make Hamilton the institution it is today. When you are there, ask a current student about the college’s open curriculum, concentrations, American studies, creative writing, and senior projects. Ask about the campus literary magazine Red Weather, the Womxn’s Center, and the all-women Special K a cappella group. All of these are Kirkland carryovers. And check out the Kirkland Gate, the Kirkland Wall, the Kirkland Alumnae Authors bookshelf in the Hamilton College bookstore, and the Kirkland Green. These are initiatives suggested, created, and carried out by our alumnae. 

What was your class year, and how did the merger affect you?