In the latest installment of its podcasts with Class of 1980 members, the Princeton Alumni Weekly spoke with Edie Canter about the push for a program in Women's Studies. The interview's introduction says, "As undergraduates, Edie Canter ’80 and her friends had many discussions about women’s issues, but rarely in an academic setting. That realization led them to push for a women’s studies program." Canter recalls the organizational efforts:
After a lot of reluctance, the University did respond to some of the advocacy by creating a student-faculty committee to examine whether or not to have women’s studies. They populated the committee on the faculty side, at least in part, with a bunch of faculty members who were known to be in opposition coming into it – either in opposition to women’s studies or generally negative about interdisciplinary programs. It wasn’t completely stacked, but there were definitely people known to have a negative opinion that were on that committee, which meant that it felt to those of us who were advocating for it like a bit of a set-up. Nevertheless, it wasn’t exclusively that, and there was the opportunity for students to have a voice in this committee.
After Princeton, Canter attended law school and practiced commercial litigation before shifting her focus to the nonprofit sector. She is the executive director of the Chicago Debate League and Chicago Debate Commission.
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