Check out Celebrating the Campus Suffragists digital exhibit prepared by University Archives!
Equal Suffrage League Poster, 1919, CWRU Archives
The adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution was an important event in U.S. history. A group of students from Western Reserve University established a chapter of the College Equal Suffrage League (also called the Equal Suffrage League) in 1908. What did the campus think about women’s suffrage or contribute (or not) to the cause?
Search the Student Newspaper Archive! This collection consists of digitized versions of nine student newspapers from the University Archives.
What was the College Equal Suffrage League? "The College Equal Suffrage League was organized at the College for Women…. It is a live organization of 55 members and is trying to carry on in college just what the Equal Suffrage party is trying to do in the state; that is, to bring before the people and keep before the people the many and weighty arguments in favor of woman suffrage. There are no valid arguments against it. The only existing opponent is popular sentiment which has failed to keep pace with the rapidly social and economic conditions."
"W.R.U. Equal Suffrage League," The Reserve Weekly, Volume IX, Number 13, 19 December 1911
The College Equal Suffrage League organized events and awareness about women’s issues like “Ohio Laws of Interest to Women”
“Alumnus Reports on Ohio Laws,” The Reserve Weekly, Volume 11, Number 14, 13 January 1914
What did the campus community think? Charles Thwing, president of the WRU from 1890-1921, expressed "The change in the political status of women has worked for disruption of families."
What did some students at The Case School of Applied Sciences think?
“Women's suffrage may be all right, but it should be confined to afternoon teas.”
“Fraternity News Sigma Chi,” The Case Tech, Volume IX, Number 27, 19 April 1922