DIAMOND DAYS
thoughts of majoring in mathematics went by the board. One year of geology put me on the road, and I wasn't going to study anything else. [Dr. Lloyd A.] Speedy Nelson * was teaching the class. Speedy didn't mind having me in his classes, so he let me go on. At that time you had to take geology to be a mining engineer. By the time I finished my sophomore year, why there weren't any girls [left] in my classes. Myjunior year, there just weren't any girls taking topography, pathology, and mineralogy. I have a story about Captain [John W.] Kidd". I can't remember what course it was, but I registered for it, and the professor was not gung-ho on having me. He reported to Captain Kidd that he had a female in his class, and he wasn't really interested in having her. I went to Captain Kidd, and he couldn't see any reason why a girl should be in that class. I went to the president, Dossie Wiggins *, and I said, "I want to take that course. It's a geology course, and I'm going to take every [geology] course you've got." He looked up at me, and he said, "Well, 2.2., I can't think of any reason why a girl can't register for that class; there's no rule against it." So I got into the class. I never did hear any more from Captain Kidd, but I got dirty looks. He wasn't too fond of the women coming into the College of Mines, but as long as they stayed over in the history, English, and social studies end of it, that was fine. But when they wound up on the engineering campus. . .. I had a little trouble with Norma [Egg*), who was the dean of women, for wearing pants on campus. She ate me out but good. Ladies didn't wear pants [in those days]. In fact, they didn't even make pants for women. I had to take the buttons off the front and put them on the side to get by with it. She complained about it. I said, "Look, what can I do? I cannot go on these field trips in a skirt." I couldn't climb mountains [or] get [lab] specimens on the top level off a tall ladder [in a dress]. You just couldn't do it, so I wore pants to school. I wore a brand new wool suit to school once. [I] went into the chemistry lab, sat down, started working, got up, and felt something funny where I had sat on the chair. Somebody had put sodium hydroxide in the seat, [which] ate right through my brand new wool skirt. I never wore a dress to school after that. [The engineering students] were great about playing pranks on me. I was the butt of all their harassment. They'd take up for me against the academics, but among themselves they worked me over. They would open a window [in the classroom] in the Centennial Museum and set me out 68