The nineteen sixties was not a decade when norms for women completely changed but it was the era that initiated the beginning of change. Many women in this era still followed the predictable route of attending college in order to meet husbands and receive an education that prepared them for keeping house and raising children. The goal of domestic happiness was still pursued by most women during this decade. However, women intending to pursue goals outside of this sphere, had many prejudices, discriminatory rules, and glass ceilings to shatter. Women attending Purdue were no exception. One social sphere at Purdue that promoted the cultivation of women within the academic and social setting was the sorority. The Purdue Exponent published an article in October 1965 titled, “Sociologist Explains Problems Facing Sorority’s Existence.”(8) The author expressed concern and the problems that sorority women faced. “But the worst blow of all to the sorority system comes from the effect of increased academic pressure on the dating habits of college men. Academic competition on most campuses is keen and college men no longer have time for the form of courtship that made sororities so exciting. When parents find that sorority membership does their daughter little good, the system as we know it will go into history.”(9) This “concern” had many implications. First, it implied that the fundamental and main purpose of sororities were to congregate eligible women to meet eligible bachelors that were fraternity members. According to this author, without the viability of interested men as suitors, parents would not find sororities a worthwhile investment for their daughters. However, forty-five years later, Barbara Macdougall and her friends, who still vacation together each year, attest to the lifelong friendships, academic encouragement, and involvement in community service as reasons why sorority living was worthwhile.(10) Going even further, the author of this article really questioned the purpose of women on a college campus outside of pursuing a husband. 

     A different article published in the Purdue Exponent asked and answered the question of what was the purpose of a woman’s higher education. Published in 1963, “Why do Women go to College,” the male author introduced the article by stating, “The girl who tells us she is going to college only to get an education is simply giving the acceptable answer, but it isn’t the right one.”(11) This author proceeded to argue that an education was unnecessary for women because most college-educated women became stay-at-home wives and mothers. “’The root of discontent in American women is that they’re too well educated. They do not need college education.”(12) Their education, he argued, was the reason for their apparent discontentment. According to the author, women could be satisfied with a basic education with an emphasis on domestic skills. Anything more than that bred discontent. He concluded the article by writing that education itself does not breed “wifely discontent” but an unused education does.(13) “Education is dangerous for women only when they don’t use it. All over America we have women college graduates who are contributing to the betterment of the communities they live in. They start co-operative nurseries; they spark the local educational systems; they innovate new cultural programs; they use their education to make life better for their husbands, children, neighbors—in fact, for the entire nation.”(14) This ideology on a woman’s education was published in the Purdue Exponent and read by both male and female Purdue students. It revealed the kinds of barriers women would overcome. Societal expectations in the early sixties affected a woman’s academic experience. Culture designated their role to become women who would use their education in ways that improved the lives of their children, husbands, and community. Becoming CEOs, business owners, or politicians was not in this role.  It is pivotal to understand the challenges Purdue women faced as they entered the university setting in the early sixties. Change was not automatic, but slowly achieved.