Today, 133 years after it began, Bryn Mawr continues to be a leader in girls’ education. However, many other things about the school have changed, including, most importantly, its perspectives on diversity and inclusion. The Upper School History Department recently launched an ongoing project to examine the history of the school and its founders, in order to better understand how the school has evolved into the diverse institution it is today, and to acknowledge the ways in which our founders’ beliefs diverged from the values that Bryn Mawr holds today. In lieu of a keynote speaker this year the ceremony, new Head of School Sue Sadler reflected on the ways that Bryn Mawr’s founders shaped the school at its inception, and the changes that have come since then. The full text of her remarks is below.

While reflecting on the mission of the school is an important part of Founders Day, the highlight each year is the presentation of faculty and staff awards, as well as the recognition of years of service to the school. We honor and thank all of our faculty and staff for the innumerable ways in which they contribute to making Bryn Mawr an incredible place for our students.

Remarks by Head of School Sue Sadler on Founders Day 2017

In 1984, 99 years after the establishment of The Bryn Mawr School, we began the tradition of celebrating Founders Day, an annual opportunity to recognize both the history of Bryn Mawr and the educators who make this school truly exceptional. One day each fall, we celebrate the school’s birthday, which was September 21, 1885.

At the time of the school’s beginning, the idea of girls getting an education was actually taking hold around the country. About 50 percent of the nation’s 5- to 19-year-olds were in elementary school, and about the same percentages of girls attended as boys. However, only 10 percent of children went beyond grammar school to high school, and many of those students were boys.

Even though other schools were popping up around the country specifically for girls, Bryn Mawr’s founding was exceptional because it was an education that prepared women for college, just like their male counterparts. It was a radical idea. It was widely assumed that girls were not capable of the same kind of learning as boys. Five smart young women knew from their own experience and ambition that this wasn’t true, so they put their minds and their money together to begin a college preparatory school especially for women. Their vision was exceptional for this country at that time.

In my short time at Bryn Mawr, I’ve learned that we are a community who frequently celebrates our founders and honors their revolutionary and unique vision for girls’ education. And we should be proud of being one of the first college preparatory schools for girls in the country! But, prompted by student questions, we realize that we need to understand this history more fully, to acknowledge our whole past, and to learn from it.

Upper School faculty members spent time this summer digging into our past, hoping to better understand the complex legacy of Bryn Mawr’s founders, their place in history, and how Bryn Mawr has changed over time. On behalf of the entire Bryn Mawr community, let me thank Kim Long Riley ’79, Karen Cullen, Kevin Yeager, Irina Spector-Marks ’04, Clare Hruban, and Patti Rickert-Wilbur for your time and dedication to this important project and your ongoing work with students – work that will continue into the future.

Indeed, this research uncovered far more than the happy story that we’ve been telling about Bryn Mawr’s five founders. Some of the founders’ views – on race, religion, and what kind of women were worth educating – firmly contradict our values of equity and inclusion that Bryn Mawr stands for today. And those views were not limited to our founders. Sadly, it was a time in our country’s history of deep inequality and oppression for women, minorities and poor people. While 60 percent of the nation’s white children went to school, far fewer, only 30 percent, of children of other races were in schools, some of which were vastly inferior to the exclusive schools available to wealthier white children.

While we continue to honor the founders’ novel vision for girls’ education, career potential, and independence, we also need to remember that it was exclusive to only some girls. Our founders were prominent leaders in academia, as well as the suffrage and equal rights movements, brave women who were speaking up to be recognized under the law as individuals rather than their husbands’ or fathers’ property. While their initial vision was limited to girls like themselves, they ultimately opened doors for all of us. Honoring our founders’ breakthrough thinking about girls’ education doesn’t automatically align us with their beliefs on race and religion. But we need a real understanding of who they were. Some women advanced by the opening of this school, but some did not.

A founding, however, is only a beginning, and like people, institutions have the power to grow and learn. Our founding is only part of the school’s identity and history. The school has changed many times in its 133 years and it is even changing right now. Bryn Mawr is a living institution and each of us is part of its ongoing evolution. The people who make up the school influence the mission of Bryn Mawr, so I’d like to introduce a few other important people from our past.

Several heads of school were very influential in ensuring that students of all races and religions were welcome here at Bryn Mawr. Edith Hamilton, our first official head of school from 1896 to 1922, began offering scholarships to open up access to the school for girls from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Katherine Van Bibber, head from 1939 to 1963, encouraged the school to sign an equal opportunity statement, which it did in 1962, toward the end of her leadership. This was the beginning of the school’s move toward a more diverse student body. However, it wasn’t until 1965, under the leadership of Diane Howell, head of school from 1963 to 1973, that our first African-American student, Erselle Datcher, enrolled. This spring will mark the fiftieth anniversary of her graduation from Bryn Mawr. As an adult, Ms. Datcher worked for the Urban League of Baltimore and went on to be a trustee of this school. All of these women – and many others that followed – have influenced the evolution of Bryn Mawr toward becoming a more equitable place.

Today, creating and honoring a diverse school community is one of the school’s top priorities. Learning in a diverse community makes us smarter, better citizens of the world, and better people. Learning environments are more productive and dig deeper into ideas when we are exposed to many cultures, traditions and perspectives. We value that here and believe that our founding women would agree with our mission as we live it today.

On this Founders Day, I believe that, together, we’ll carry forth the best of the founders’ mission and spirit as we look forward to our future. Instead of thinking about the founders as heroes or demons, let’s think of them as ordinary people who made some good decisions, and some bad decisions. History will look back upon us in 130 years, and certainly we’ll be judged for some of our beliefs as well. A good deed doesn’t erase a bad one; nor does a bad deed erase a good one. We will have to live with our founders’ complicated legacy. They will always have a place in our history, even though today we don’t agree with all of their views. Let us remember, the past cannot define us or limit us. But, we must learn from it. And we have a duty each day to make the school a better place.