26 Facts About Virginia Gildersleeve

Virginia Crocheron Gildersleeve was an American academic, the long-time dean of Barnard College, co-founder of the International Federation of University Women, and the only woman delegated by United States to the April 1945 San Francisco United Nations Conference on International Organization, which negotiated the charter for and creation of the United Nations.

Virginia Gildersleeve was born in New York City into a prominent New York family.

Virginia Gildersleeve's father, Henry Alger Gildersleeve, was a jurist who served on the state Supreme court.

Virginia Gildersleeve attended the Brearley School and following her graduation in 1895, went on to attend Barnard College, a member of the Seven Sisters affiliated with Columbia University.

Virginia Gildersleeve completed her studies in 1899 and received a fellowship to undertake research for her master of arts degree in medieval history at Columbia University.

Virginia Gildersleeve taught English part-time at Barnard for several years.

Virginia Gildersleeve declined a full-time position and took a leave of absence to undertake her Ph.

Virginia Gildersleeve campaigned for Al Smith and Franklin D Roosevelt.

Virginia Gildersleeve was involved in the reconstruction of higher education in Japan.

Enrollment of Jewish students at Columbia College had reached 40 percent before World War I Gildersleeve opposed religious exclusivity and refused to openly categorize Barnard students, but reportedly took steps to reduce the number of Jewish students.

Virginia Gildersleeve was an early and strong supporter of the formation of the League of Nations.

When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Virginia Gildersleeve was a strong interventionist.

In 1942, early in World War II, Virginia Gildersleeve was instrumental in founding the WAVES.

Virginia Gildersleeve was the only woman named to the delegation.

Virginia Gildersleeve was respected in Japan for having been the only American woman delegate at the San Francisco founding conference.

Some historians consider Virginia Gildersleeve to have been "the most influential leader" of the Christian "anti-Zionist lobby" of her era.

Virginia Gildersleeve wrote that "after retirement from the Deanship at Barnard, devoted self mainly to the Middle East", describing herself as "struggling ardently against" the creation of and, later, the continued existence of the Jewish State.

Virginia Gildersleeve was a trustee of the American University of Beirut and a leading figure in the Christian opposition to Israel's statehood in 1948.

Virginia Gildersleeve helped found and chaired the Committee for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land, which merged into the American Friends of the Middle East.

Virginia Gildersleeve was an early advocate of paid leaves of absence for women faculty members to take maternity leave.

Virginia Gildersleeve then persuaded the Barnard board of trustees to enact a maternity policy that provided one term off at full pay or a year off at half pay for all new mothers among the faculty.

Virginia Gildersleeve asserted that in the modern world women could have the same ambitions as men.

In broadening women's scholarly horizons, Virginia Gildersleeve laid the groundwork for some of the most innovative scholarship of the twentieth century.

Virginia Gildersleeve attributed this trend to "the less responsible psychologists and psychiatrists of the day", who voiced "disrespect for spinsters in the teaching profession as 'inhibited' and 'frustrated'".

Virginia Gildersleeve imagined an organization built on the model of the American Association of Collegiate Alumnae and the British Federation of University Women.

For two decades, between World War I and World War II, Virginia Gildersleeve worked through the IFUW to keep alive the spirit of international understanding, even as isolationism gripped her country.