Back in the less-enlightened 1970s, nervous male chauvinists might have assumed these uniformed women were plotting world domination. Not so. They’re actually newly minted ROTC cadets, looking over a standard topographical map and operating the same kind of two-way FM radio the U.S. military used to coordinate troop movements.
In 1973, only two Northeastern women took ROTC courses—and they couldn’t officially enroll in the all-male officer-commissioning program, despite the fact that they planned to join the Women’s Army Corps after graduation.
But by 1974, after ten U.S. institutions ran test programs, Army ROTC finally accepted women into its ranks. Across the country, women cadets participated in field maneuvers, classes, and social activities alongside their male counterparts. At Northeastern, twenty-four women cadets donned their ROTC uniforms, complete with skirts.
As any student today could tell you, the key is having a choice of experiences.
— Magdalena Hernandez, MBA’02