Project on the Status and Education of Women

Bernice Resnick Sandler served as the director of PSEW from 1971-1991. Sandler was also active in the Women's Equity Action League (WEAL), through which she did similar work promoting gender equity in higher education. After Sandler, Caryn McTighe Musil served as director of the successor Program on the Status and Education of Women (PSEW) until 2012.[3]

Margaret C. Dunkle served as the Associate President of PSEW from 1972-1977. Roberta M. Hall and Grace L. Mastalli were also important staff members.[1]

PSEW was founded to aid colleges and universities in developing policies that addressed gender discrimination and sexual harassment. However, their work soon expanded beyond this mission, as PSEW staff began publishing original work on women in higher education.[4] PSEW published over 100 reports, as well as booklets, pamphlets, and their newsletter On Campus with Women.[5] Their publications addressed a range of subjects including recruiting women students and faculty, issues relevant to minority students, sex discrimination in hiring, sex bias in research, Title IX, financial assistance, sexual harassment on campus, and the academic climate for women. Their materials reached college presidents and faculty as well as policymakers, and not only disseminated information about events and research relating to women in education, but also informed women directly about their own legal rights to education. PSEW published the first papers on women of color in higher education and the first national reports on sex discrimination in college sports, hostile classroom environments, campus gang rape, and sexual harassment.[6]

The organization additionally produced publications addressing a term it coined,[6] the "chilly climate" facing women at colleges and universities, a program of discourse which became a defining initiative for the group's contributions to equality in education.[3] The "chilly climate" was illustrated by descriptions of challenges experienced by women students and faculty, from disparaging comments made about women and their academic capacities to the sidelining and interruption of women in class. PSEW's discussion of these challenges to women's experiences in a learning environment contributed to wider dialogue about the unequal learning environments experienced by people from various underserved groups.[4]

The project published several influential works on the topic. In 1982, Hall and Sandler published "The Classroom Climate: A Chilly One for Women?" The paper was funded by a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) of the U.S. Department of Education. PSEW held a conference in November 1982 called "The Chilly Classroom Climate: Sharing Strategies for Change" to publicize and discuss its findings. The final paper distributed at the conference sold over 40,000 copies between 1982 and 1990.[1]

Perhaps PSEW's most prominent publication was their periodical, On Campus with Women (OCWW), which published research and articles on issues pertaining to women in higher education. Founded by Sandler at the inception of the PSEW in 1971, its content focused on women's leadership, campus climate, curriculum and pedagogy, and new research on women's participation in higher education. In the fall of 2002, OCWW moved exclusively online.[7] In 2013, the publication of On Campus with Women as a separate periodical ended,[6] and its mission to cover gender issues in higher education was absorbed by the AACU's other journals, such as Liberal Education and Diversity and Democracy.[1]

PSEW played in an integral role in working with Congressional staff and other organizations on the drafting and implementation of Title IX, interfacing with other organizations and Congress to construct and pass the law. PSEW also acted as a resource for universities to consult on potential implementation and policy between the law's June 1972 passage and the 1975 final report on enforcement and regulations from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.[1] The organization helped colleges and universities to institute policies that limited their risk of violating the Title IX requirements.[4] During this interim period, PSEW often worked with the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education (NCWGE), a consortium of organizations founded to advocate for implementation regulations of Title IX on the enforcement, implementation, and funding of women's educational programs.[1][8]

After Title IX became law, PSEW continued to educate policymakers and government officials about women's issues on college campuses. PSEW staff often visited college campuses to identify issues and to work with administrations on the implementation and enforcement of Title IX. PSEW also created educational materials on rape and sexual harassment as resources for campuses.[1]