"Wartime Hollins," by Associate Professor of History Peter Coogan
"Women as Leaders," by Associate Professor of History Ruth Doan
Amanda Jacobson '98 was only a freshman when she and Elizabeth Thornton '98 started an ad hoc committee on campus to increase student social life-and ended up receiving a small grant from the college to promote events on campus that were alternatives to drinking parties.
"We were surprised when we asked for money, and they gave it to us. We were just two freshmen at the time. I'm sure that another college would have said, 'Get away from us.'"
Her sophomore year, Amanda and her classmates started a revolution. It was a textbook case, straight from the lectures of history professor Andre Spies. She was taking Spies's Socialism, Communism and Anarchy, and the students decided that having to take the final exam was "bourgeois"- and against the philosophy of the class. "So we created the Feminist Socialist League of Hollins," Amanda says. "And we got arm bands made up and wrote a philosophy, using quotes from Marx and Lenin."
The students called Spies to meet them on the last day of class at the appointed hour-outside, on the Front Quad.
"We were holding signs and waiting for him in the next building, and then we rushed out, and we just bombarded him," she recalls, chuckling. "Some students from other classes came out on Front Quad to show support for the revolution."
"He just stood there, completely flabbergasted but yet somehow utterly impressed by our organizational skills. There were 10 of us, and our premise was that, after taking his class, we had reached enlightenment. We said we thought it would be antithetical for him to impose an exam on us."
Amanda and the other students presented Spies with a five-page manifesto outlining their demands, which they read aloud.
In the center of the quad, Spies cautiously stepped atop the rocks to address the revolutionaries. "I was thinking, He's going to say something profound and totally shoot us down," Amanda recalls. "And then he quoted Marx, who said that when the revolution comes, we can either join the people or be run over by the revolution.
"He said, 'I'm going to join the people.' We gave him an arm band, and there was no final exam."
Spies said he couldn't have come up with a better test if he'd tried. Amanda says that anecdote exemplifies the two best things about attending Hollins: the ability to hone your individual voice as a person and a scholar, and the laid-back yet challenging nature of the faculty.
"The professors genuinely love teaching, and they care about you," she says. "Even now, two years later, they want to know what I'm doing, and we keep in touch. They're like my second family."
Amanda n
ow works as an assistant editor for Publicom Inc., a textbook publisher in Acton, Mass. She lives in her hometown of Billerica, Mass., 20 minutes away. "I got this job because of my background in history at Hollins," she says. Primarily a social studies book editor, she began her career at Publicom as a publishing assistant-a gopher, basically-but worked her way up quickly to a position of major responsibility.
"I think the entire Hollins experience-the way you carry yourself, the way you articulate your thoughts-helped me get this job. At Hollins, you're trained to be independent."
She interned at the Institute of Early American History and Culture at the College of William and Mary, where she did research and editing. She also spent a Short Term working for the Tsongas Historical Center in Lowell, Mass., teaching historical programs. Her senior year, she worked for the Roanoke Valley History Museum, writing educational programs for children.
"That experience of working with kids really helped me in getting this job, too. Writing textbooks, you really have to be able to think like kids and come up with creative approaches to teaching things."
A long-term goal is to attend graduate school, get a Ph.D. i
n history, and teach at the college level. "The history department really challenged me to think and go the extra mile on things. We had oral exams where you had to think on your feet, and it was expected that you'd do your best all the time. That's definitely carried over into my career now, and I always give 150 percent to whatever I'm doing. That's why I've done so well here."
PHOTO: The Feminist Socialist League at Hollins (FSLH). Amanda Jacobson and Professor Andre Spies are at far right.
Updated:
