Student Experience

‘We Knew Immediately We Were in for a Wild Ride’

September 20, 2024 • By Mike Mather, mike.mather@virginia.edu Mike Mather, mike.mather@virginia.edu

A line drawing and graphic illustrating two students posing with a statue in front of the Rotunda

In 1970, 350 women enrolled as first-year students at UVA, ending 150 years of male-only education, and a pair of students marked the historic occasion for a photographer in what has become an iconic image. Another 100 arrived as transfer students. Many are returning to Grounds this week for two days of discussions on the historic class and its legacy. (Contributed photo; illustration by Tobias Wilbur, University Communications)

When Betty Shotton traipsed to Charlottesville in the spring of 1970 for an admissions interview, remnants of posters, flyers and banners littered the Lawn.

A days-long anti-war rally had canceled classes and brought at least 1,500 students to the steps of the Rotunda where then-President Edgar F. Shannon Jr. – who also stood against the Vietnam War – addressed the students. President Richard Nixon had expanded the conflict into Cambodia. Ohio National Guard members had killed four Kent State University protesters. Student dissent, even unrest, had descended on more than 700 colleges nationwide.

The University of Virginia admissions officer scarcely noted the recent tumult or the significance of Shotton’s interview. She would be one of 350 pioneering women to end 150 years of all-male education at UVA. Another 100 women gained admittance as transfer students.

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“As a young 18-year-old from Lynchburg, I had little idea about what I was stepping into,” Shotton said. “I had no context for understanding the potential consequences or challenges of what this choice would mean.”

She added: “It felt like jumping off a cliff and growing wings on your way down.”

Soon, Shotton and many of her classmates will return to the University, 50 years after graduation, for the “Spirit of 1974” symposium and two days of talks about their legacy as history makers. On Wednesday, the University will unveil a recent photo of the class as part of the President’s Portrait Series honoring UVA community members who have shaped the institution.

Betty Shotton and Ann Brown portraits from 1970

Betty Shotton, left, and Ann Brown arrived at UVA in 1970 not fully knowing what awaited them or how they’d fit in. Now a half-century later, they’re helping organize a symposium about the experiences of the trailblazing Class of 1974. (Contributed photos)

“In retrospect, I have learned that challenge, difficulty, rejection and discrimination can be great teachers and character builders,” she said. “UVA in all its wisdom, its goodness and its foundation of enlightened excellence was the perfect place for me to begin the journey of my life adventure. I am grateful.”

In 1970, when she decided she’d join the first co-ed University class, Shotton had no idea what the experience would mean or how it would change her. But even then, she could feel the world shifting.

Ann Brown, who came to Charlottesville from Mobile, Alabama, sensed it, too.

A printed and framed portrait of the Class of '74

The Class of 1974 portrait taken during a recent reunion weekend sits in a storage room ahead of its debut Wednesday when it will be officially unveiled and hung in Shannon Library. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)

“There was certainly interest in the arrival of women but generally it seemed more inevitable than revolutionary,” she recalled. “That said, the atmosphere around the Observatory Hill dorms where all of the first-year women lived during orientation and the early weeks of the semester was a revelation to us. Large numbers of male students from the upper classes roamed the balconies of Webb, Tuttle, Watson and the other then-new dorms peering into the suites where we were meeting with our resident advisers.

“We immediately knew we were in for a wild ride.”

Student radios played a mix of anti-war protest songs, rock, funk and hints of the approaching disco era. “There was a lot of music going on that spoke to the times,” Shotton said. “Crosby, Stills and Nash, Marvin Gay, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, The Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin.”

The breakup of the Beatles, the end of Simon and Garfunkel and Janis Joplin’s death all marked significant events in 1970. On Grounds, Shotton sensed most of her classmates and professors accepted the University was progressing, but it wasn’t universal.

“There were barriers. Mostly upperclassmen who wanted the school to stay all male, and some professors who shared the sentiment,” Shotton said. “I was usually one of a few women in a large class full of men. When I spoke up, I felt a lot of eyes on me and was very self-aware. It didn’t stop me. It actually taught me how to stand up for myself in uncomfortable situations.”

Many clubs were still male-only, and there were no women’s sports. Shotton, a high-school tennis player, founded a club tennis team for women. Other classmates created swimming and field hockey clubs. The yearbook, Corks & Curls, recruited women, and Shotton became an editor. Brown joined the Cavalier Daily, the student newspaper, and later was one of 14 classmates to earn the honor of living on the Lawn.

Brown, on the left, in a team photo for the Cav Daily newspaper

Many of the clubs and organizations remained male-only in 1970 but the Cavalier Daily student newspaper recruited women to join the staff. Brown, left, signed up. (Contributed photo)

Neither Shotton nor Brown knew it at the time, but that’s exactly what the Office of Admissions expected.

Ernie Ern, then the dean of admissions, understood the first women would be tested. According to Brown, Ern once confided he was looking for “joiners and doers, student council leaders, yearbook editors, theater and band kids, cheerleaders.” Ern contacted the students’ high school counselors to ensure these teenagers were ready for the historic moment.

“Many years later,” Brown said, “he told a gathering of us that he was looking for ‘gritty women.’”

He found them.

Shotton, left, and Brown, right, pose with University President Jim Ryan at a recent reunion weekend. Both credit the University, and the challenge of being pioneering students, for making them competent, fearless, independent businesswomen. (Contributed photo)

Brown stayed at UVA and graduated with a law degree and practiced for more than four decades. She once led the legal department for Louisiana’s World’s Fair. Shotton went on to receive her MBA, became a commercial pilot and a serial entrepreneur in real estate and aviation. The class roster also includes university professors, corporate executives, school principals, government leaders, federal judges, doctors and architects.

“The experience of being a trailblazer at UVA gave me the self-confidence, the education, the exposure and the character that propelled me into a rewarding and meaningful professional career and life,” Shotton said. “I have been ‘the first’ throughout my career as a female in a male-dominated world of business, leadership and aviation. UVA gave me the tools to be successful in that world.”

The two-day event is free. Current students are encouraged to register and attend.