Associated Women Students, 1942-1973 | Northern Illinois University

In November of 1941, five Northern women attended a state convention of the Illinois Association of Women’s Leagues in Rock Island to learn about the purposes and activities of the group.  Delegates from eight other Illinois colleges attended that meeting whose theme was “Women and the Present Day Crisis.”  On the morning of November 8, the Illinois Association of Women’s Leagues invited the Northern delegation to become members.  After returning to DeKalb, these students spent the winter organizing a local chapter.

The first meeting of the Women’s League on the campus took place March 20, 1942.  The charter members drafted a constitution to establish a group whose objective was “to coordinate women’s activities, to create a spirit of unity among college women, to develop a sense of responsibility toward each other, to encourage the women of the school to make their citizenship operative, and to promote student government.”  All women students enrolled at Northern automatically became members.

The League sponsored many social activities: Women’s Week, Bridal Fair, Big-Sister program of Freshman Week, Christmas Tea, Mom’s Day, and Friday night dances soon became campus traditions.  The League also published student handbooks and promoted the growth of student rights and student government.

In 1947, the Northern Women’s League voted to affiliate with the National Conference of the Intercollegiate Associated Women Students but did not change its name on the local campus until May 17, 1954.  For twenty years the Associated Women Students at Northern continued to pursue the goals set in that first meeting in 1942.  Finally, the group disbanded in 1973 and its role since then has been taken by several campus programs which address the collective problems and goals of women on the Northern Illinois University campus, the Women’s Studies Center and University Resources for Women.