In Appreciation of Sally Frank ’80

Regarding the recent article in The Daily Princetonian, “How the Eating Clubs Went Coed,” (July 13, 2020), I am hoping you will permit me to use this forum to address Sally Frank ’80.

Dear Ms. Frank, 

Like you, I graduated from Princeton in 1980. Unlike you, I took the path of least resistance. I studied, played sports, and bickered successfully at Cap and Gown my sophomore year. I did not know you, but I certainly knew of you, as we all did because of your attempts to bicker at the all-male clubs. My silence spoke volumes, and for that I apologize. How I wish the thought to recognize injustice had even occurred to me back then in those seemingly carefree days of the late 1970s. Fighting for gender equality is similar to fighting for racial equality; if one accepts the benefits of the status quo, one is complicit in injustice. 

It wasn’t until after your brilliant legal victory that I fully understood the enormity of what you had taken on. I am 40 years late here, but nevertheless I want to go on record as saying thank you. Generations of women, Princeton students among them, have benefited from your passion to fight for gender equality.