Abstract
In this 1988 interview with his daughter, Rebecca Krawiec ‘90, Steven S. Krawiec contributes fascinating insights regarding both the social and academic relationships between Brown University men and Pembroke College women in the early 1960s. Krawiec begins by providing a short biography of his parents’ educations and careers, and explains how he came to attend Brown. He goes on to describe his freshman year – including his first day at Brown, his roommate, courses he took, and his dormitory. Krawiec spends the majority of his interview reflecting on the perception of Pembroke women by Brown men, discussing gender divisions in both the academic and social contexts. He considers the dating atmosphere at Brown, and the impression that male students dated Pembroke women for casual companionship while pursuing more established relationships with women from other schools. He speaks on gender rules and regulations at Pembroke versus Brown, and the stricter curfews women were subject to. He then reflects on the Pembroke-Brown merger in 1971, which struck him as very much in the spirit of the times. He ends his interview by considering the gendered environment at Brown in the 1960s.
Recorded on April 2, 1988 in Bethlehem, PA
Interviewed by Rebecca Krawiec
Suggested Chicago style citation: Krawiec, Steven S. Interview. By Rebecca Krawiec. Pembroke Center Oral History Project, Brown University. April 2, 1988.
Biography
Steven S. Krawiec was born in 1941 in Oregon, but spent most of his childhood in Saratoga Springs, New York. He attended public school at Saratoga Springs High School. His father, who received a Master’s degree from Brown University, was a professor of psychology at Skidmore College, which was an all women’s college at the time. His mother was a homemaker. Steven Krawiec attended Brown as part of the Class of 1963, and was president of the Delta Phi fraternity. After his graduation from Brown, Steven went on to receive his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1963. At the time of the interview, Steven taught Biology Sciences at Lehigh University. He has two children with his wife Margaret.