Lynne Farrow played a pivotal role in founding the Ramapo College Women’s Center. At just twenty-four, she was the college’s youngest professor when she began teaching Women in Contemporary Society in 1972. Required for all returning adult women students, the class used feminist epistemology to inspire and radicalize a generation. Reflecting on that time, Lynne later noted that the success of the returning adult women’s program helped establish Ramapo’s reputation as an institution that prioritized women’s educational experiences.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, women’s studies was emerging as a formal academic field, with a Master’s degree as its terminal credential. Lynne earned her MA in women’s studies from Goddard College and went on to teach a course on women’s experiences at the New School. A formative moment in her journey came when she met Alice Paul — the suffragist and original author of the Equal Rights Amendment. Over a plate of vegetables, they discussed Paul’s hunger strikes and the struggles of the suffrage movement, a conversation that deeply influenced Lynne’s commitment to feminist teaching.

While teaching at Ramapo, Lynne was also active in the Rockland County Feminist group, which published the feminist journal Aurora. Among her colleagues there was Phyllis Frank, another prominent local activist.

As the semesters passed, Lynne began collecting resources for her women students. What began as a single folder grew into an overflowing file cabinet filled with information. She began offering guidance and referrals to women students and the broader college community. Some of her students interned with her, helping to compile local and national resources on issues that were largely unpublicized at the time: domestic violence, sexual assault, divorce, sexual harassment, childcare, women’s shelters, abortion access, and reproductive healthcare.

As demand grew, Lynne saw the need for a dedicated space on campus where women could find support, resources, and engage in consciousness-raising. With help from the college’s night maintenance crew, the walls separating the offices of three faculty members — Lynne, Ros Petchesky, and Jackie (last name unknown, an artist) — were torn down. Chairs and couches were reappropriated from the Student Center, and the Women’s Center was born.

Initially housed in the Human Environment School, possibly in room D101, the Women’s Center moved to its current location next to the Fishbowl in the late 1970s. Although the physical space was created in 1972, it became an official campus office in 1974 when Lynne secured funding for a part-time director and an operating budget. The center was supported by student volunteers and interns, as well as engaged faculty, including founding professor of Psychology Dr. Carole Campana, who joined the college in 1971.

— As told by Lynne Farrow, January 2010

In 1974, Lee Sennish became the first official Director of the Ramapo College Women’s Center. From the beginning, the Center served a wide range of campus groups: consciousness-raising circles, a Lamaze group for activist mothers, a lesbian women’s group, and many returning adult women eager to put feminist theory into practice. Lynne Farrow described the Center as a welcoming space for those who felt like outsiders — people she saw as kindred spirits — where everyone could find community and support.

The early Women’s Center also had unconventional allies, including an anarchist cafeteria worker who provided students with food at wholesale prices.

Two of the most urgent issues the Center addressed were domestic violence and sexual harassment. As the first Women’s Center in Bergen County, it became a vital resource, fielding calls from women in abusive situations and helping them find shelters and medical care.

The Center also played a role in a landmark 1983 sex-bias case. During a meeting at the Center, several women realized they had all been sexually harassed by the same assistant vice president. One of them later filed a lawsuit for sex discrimination, arguing that the harassment had cost her tenure. The case ended in a $230,000 federal court settlement after a six-day trial. Reflecting on this, Lynne emphasized how the experience reinforced the feminist principle that “the personal is political” — showing how shared truth and solidarity can drive real change.

Lee Sennish

—  As told by Lynne Farrow, January 2010

The Women’s Center could not exist as it does today without Lee’s vision, contagious passion, and love of sisterhood. She was a fierce advocate for civil rights who raised feminist consciousness daily, and raised hell when needed.

Long after she retired Lee continued to support the mission of the Women’s Center with her mentorship and an annual scholarship, and even in her late 80’s Lee came to the College to support student events. Her fierce sense of humor and keen insight will be missed, but her legacy will continue for many generations to come.

— Kat McGee, ’06, “A Remembrance of Lee Sennish (1927-2018)”

Over the years, the Women’s Center has hosted some of the most eminent advocates and activists for feminism, women’s rights, women’s liberation, and LGBTQ+ justice, including:

• Bella Abzug
• Rita Mae Brown
• Charlotte Bunch
• Lt. Dan Choi
• Dorothy Dinnerstein
• Hope Giselle
• 

  Gloria Steinem, feminist journalist and activist, speaking at Ramapo College in 1980.

  Vivian Gornick

• Florence Howe
• Flo Kennedy
• Jean Kilbourne
• Coretta Scott King
• Audre Lorde
• Robin Morgan
• Grace Paley
• Gloria Steinem
• Sarah Weddington
• Chris Williamson
• Ellen Willis