The Girl Who Broke the Glass Ceiling at Whitman College
In 1903, Miss Worthington became the first woman to run for an executive office in the Associated Students, challenging a male-dominated political machine.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
WHITMAN POLITICS Annual Election Associated Students Wednesday POLITICAL POT BEGINNING TO BOIL Students Becoming Adept Politicians and Something Is Expected to Be Doing at the Polls.
The political pot is boiling at Whitman college just now. The annual elections for the Associated Students take place next Wednesday. At this election a president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer will be chosen. These officers together with all faculty member make up the executive committee which has control of students' affairs, appointing all managers and having general charge of everything controlled by the students, both athletic and literary work. By the constitution the president must be a member of the senior class.
Nominations were made yesterday in a mass convention and next Wednesday polls will be open from 11 o'clock until 2 o'clock p.m. Thursday noon the academy students held a caucus. They nominated Marion Kees for president and Price and Perringer of the academy ran a close race for the office of vice-president. Perringer won. For secretary they endorsed a college man Guy Galloway of the junior class. They claimed the right to put in the vice-president. In the mass convention Kees was the only nominee for president, Hez Brown declining to run. For vice president Perringer was put up and Price, besides Louis Sutherland, a college man. The "Cads" say that this is a deep-laid scheme on the part of the college men to split the academy vote to elect a college man, while the college men disavow any such intention, pleading the greater fitness of Price for the position.
For secretary, besides the caucus nominee Mr. Galloway, Charles Robinson, Hez Brown and Miss Worthington were placed in nomination. This will be the first girl who has ever run for the place on the executive committee and it is an interesting speculation as to how large a vote she will poll, whether all the girls will support her or not. For treasurer, who must be an alumnus, Phil Winany was renominated by acclamation.
This 1903 account captures a pivotal moment in gender politics at Whitman College, where Miss Worthington’s candidacy for secretary of the Associated Students broke a long-standing male monopoly on student governance. It mirrors modern ongoing efforts to increase female representation in student leadership and administrative roles, highlighting that the struggle for equitable political participation on campus is not a new phenomenon but a historical constant.
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