Sociology professor and fervent advocate for women in academia. Fund at The Trust supports older adults and their families.
Margaret E. Donnelly (1926-2004)
Margaret E. Donnelly was an associate professor of sociology and social work at Lehman College in the Bronx and an ardent advocate for women’s rights and affirmative action in higher education.
Margaret was born in New York City on October 2, 1926, the eldest of Dorothy and Howard Donnelly’s seven children. The family moved to Albany when she was a toddler. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Russell Sage College, which has campuses in Albany and nearby Troy, New York. After graduating, she moved to Manhattan and earned her master’s and PhD at Fordham University.
She was hired by Hunter College on September 1, 1956, to teach at its Bronx campus, known as Hunter-in-the-Bronx. In 1968, Lehman became an independent college, part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system. Margaret taught classes in sociology and social work at Lehman until she retired in June 1995.
In 1972, the Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Women at the City University of New York held two days of public hearings, and Margaret was among about 30 faculty members who testified on discrimination and prejudice against women in academia. Their concerns were exacerbated by CUNY’s then-recently adopted policy of open admission—free tuition for full-time students and guaranteed admission to every New York City high school graduate. Open admission quickly led to an exponential increase in students and the need for more instructors.
Representing Lehman College’s chapter of the United Federation of College Teachers, Margaret made it clear how sexist attitudes affected the status of faculty women—recruitment practices, positions women were offered, promotion policies, and salary differentials.
“We are in danger of creating an underclass,” she told the committee. “Fifty-six percent of all women faculty are on the assistant professor level or below,” she said.
Margaret further testified. “Undoubtedly, they are locked in …. to the rank of lecturer, with limited salary, to say nothing of promotional opportunities.”
She suggested CUNY consider revising its PhD requirement for promoting lecturers and instructors to assistant professors. Because of family obligations, she said, many women can’t complete their PhDs and thus can’t move from lower faculty positions to assistant professor. She also asked for an end to secret deliberations on male-dominated personnel and budget committees.
Within a few years, the changes she and other women requested were adopted by the CUNY board.
In 1999, Margaret established a fund in The New York Community Trust to contribute to the body of knowledge of the problems and interests of older adults: for policy research and seminars about maintaining the quality of life of older people and for programs that bring the young and old together. Lehman College, of course, is a grantee.
Margaret Donnelly died on July 27, 2004. She was 77.