‘We Were Making History’

First Rutgers College women’s class returns and celebrates its landmark graduation on its 50th anniversary.

Melanie Willoughby will never forget graduating from Rutgers College as one of the first women in the college that had been exclusively for men for more than 200 years.

“When my guidance counselor approached me in high school, she came to me and said, ‘Melanie, I want you to go to Rutgers College because of the fact you'd be in the first class of women to go,'" says Willoughby RC’76.

“First, I wanted to be a pioneer, and I’ve been a pioneer all my life,” she says, adding that she started in high school as president of the Howell High School Student Council and then continued her efforts in student government at Rutgers. 

She was among the first 368 women to be admitted to Rutgers College, which began as Queens College in 1766 and, in 1825 became Rutgers College. The groundbreaking cohort of women joined 822 men who enrolled at Rutgers College in the fall of 1972. (Women had been Rutgers students in other programs before that date—most notably, Douglass College, which dates to 1918.) Willoughby was among more than 45 alumni and friends who reunited to celebrate the 50th anniversary at a special reunion dinner at The Rutgers Club.

Attorney Linda Hoffa RC’76, NLAW’79, a Presidential Scholarship recipient, opened the evening’s program by noting that Rutgers College decided to admit women after 200 years, “during an optimistic and energetic time. And we said, essentially, ‘Well, why not us?'"

At that time, many of the women just thought of themselves as college students, “but unbeknownst to us, we were making history,” Hoffa says. 

“There were some things about being the first women at Rutgers College that we probably didn’t fully appreciate at the time,” she says. “We were walking into an institution with generations of male traditions, generations of male customs, and generations of male expectations.”

This was Rutgers College’s first experiment in co-education, says Hoffa of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. “And I think it is fair to say that the experiment turned out pretty damn well.” 

Reflecting on this 50 years later, Hoffa says, “I think what is most remarkable is not simply that we were the first women at Rutgers College, it is what we did with the opportunity. We became lawyers. We became doctors, educators, and businesswomen. We went into the private sector, and we served in the public sector. We raised families, we built organizations, we led institutions, and we cared for our communities.”

Reunion Dinner Program

At the dinner, Hoffa introduced Juli Wade, executive dean of Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences and a Distinguished Professor of Psychology, who addressed the group. Afterward, Rosemary Gambardella RC’76, NLAW’79, a recently retired U.S. bankruptcy judge with more than 40 years on the bench, led a panel discussion of current female students who are all Institute for Women’s Leadership Scholars, School of Arts and Sciences class of '27, and members of the Honors College. (In 2007, Rutgers College became part of the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences.) With majors ranging from physics and genetics to political science and global studies, Samantha Muller, Hitesha Hatta, and Maryam Ahmed shared their experiences engaging in hands-on learning through research, public service, internships, and community engagement. 

“The current generation of Rutgers women is truly inspiring in their dedication to excellence and to making a difference in their communities,” Gambardella says.

Earlier in the evening, Gambardella reflected on her years at Rutgers. “At that time, I do not think you were really realizing the weight of it,” she says. “Certainly, throughout my career, I’ve always made a point of announcing it, of letting people know that myself and the women I went to college with were the first class.”

Gambardella’s twin sister, Frances Gambardella DC ’76, NLAW ’79, went to Douglass College, which celebrated 100 years of educating women in 2021, she says, adding there were really strong women there too. “I probably wanted to go to Rutgers because of its history and because they were accepting women for the first time, and that had some kind of appeal,” Rosemary Gambardella says. 

Fifty Years of Inspiration

The Class of ‘76 commencement ceremony featured speeches by U.S. Rep. Millicent Fenwick and Willoughby, the first woman president of Rutgers College Student Government, who attended the reunion dinner.

“I was always the one who was looking to improve the lives of the people around me,” says Willoughby, who retired as executive director of the New Jersey Business Action Center this summer.

She recalls working to help all women at Rutgers, including acquiring shower curtains in the residence hall bathrooms, getting a gynecologist hired at the health center, and securing time for women to play sports at the student gymnasium. She also was instrumental in helping to bring the first women’s basketball team to Rutgers.

Willoughby says she was inspired by the late Gloria Steinem, whom she met years later when she helped fundraise for the Rutgers Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair in Media, Culture, and Feminist Studies. “Her legacy was about making the world a better place for women. I did that when I was at Rutgers College, and I have done that in my entire business career, where I have always made sure that I have paid it forward for women.”

After graduating from Rutgers, Willoughby went on to become the first woman president of the Rutgers College Alumni Association as well as the first woman from Rutgers College appointed to the university’s Board of Trustees.

Willoughby is proud that the class of ‘76 is known for its women leaders, and her experience at Rutgers College that continues to inspire her. 

“It is such a big part of who I am, which is to help women and raise them up,” Willoughby says. 

For more about this class, visit this page in the Rutgers Oral History Archives.

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