The University of Virginia’s Jefferson Literary and Debating Society admitted its first woman in 1972 after two members skillfully applied their deep knowledge of Robert’s Rules of Order, a dense rulebook that governed how the society conducted its meetings.
The Class of 1974 alumnus Barbara Lynn’s admission into the society took some scheming. Every semester, she applied for the group, knowing they were required to interview her. The interviewers often asked her “vile” questions, she said.
“All that was, I think, designed to deter me from continuing in the effort. But that didn't work. I just kept coming back. And after the first semester, I kept saying, ‘Wow, those questions were bad, but they weren’t as bad as last semester,’ which seemed to make them very mad,” Lynn recalled. “I took great delight in that.”
Barbara’s then-boyfriend and current husband, Mike Lynn, was vice president of the group. Frustrated by the group’s reluctance to admit women, he decided to wait until the society’s most conservative members traveled to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. When they left, he became the acting president and called a special meeting. If every other member on Grounds attended, he would have a quorum and could hold a vote on admitting Barbara to the society.
“I thought it was probably political suicide,” he said.
The society admitted her by just one vote. Her acceptance is just one of many historic moments the society will celebrate on its upcoming 200th anniversary.
Jefferson Literary and Debating Society members gather on the Lawn in an undated photo. The debating society formed in 1825 when 16 disgruntled members of the Patrick Henry Society gathered in a Lawn Room. The Patrick Henry Society is now defunct, but the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society is celebrating its bicentennial this year. (Contributed photo)
On July 14, the Jefferson Society will host a celebration in observation of its bicentennial. It is the oldest continuously existing debating society at any university on the continent. In the society’s 200 years on Grounds, its roster has boasted Edgar Allan Poe, Nobel Prize-winning writer (and UVA’s first writer-in-residence) William Faulkner, President Woodrow Wilson and former Gov. Jim Gilmore. More recently, notable alumni include New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie, and Barbara and Mike Lynn.
To the group’s credit, they did not hold Barbara’s guerrilla-style acceptance against her, she said. They even have her portrait hanging in the building where they hold meetings. And she and her husband gained a lot from it – after all, they went to Jefferson Society meetings as dates.
