Blanche A. Verder, Dean Emerita, was the dean of women at Kent State from 1922 to 1938. She received a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College and a master’s degree from Columbia University in 1922, as well as a diploma of dean of women. She also attended both Harvard University and Oxford University in England. Originally from Rutland, Vermont, Verder taught high school courses in her home state and New York before coming to Kent State.
As dean of women, she was responsible for the well-being of women students at Kent State, both on and off campus. The 1923 Chestnut Burr describes Verder’s responsibilities as including oversight of women students’ living conditions, social relations and religious life. During her 16 years as dean, she was an integral part of implementing several organizations aimed at improving the social and scholastic life of women students.
In 1922, she formed the Off Campus Women’s Club to better serve the needs of women students living in the neighboring communities surrounding the Kent Campus. The club was a resource for women, helping them locate appropriate off-campus housing and develop camaraderie with fellow students through social functions.
Verder also was responsible for the introduction of a Pan-Hellenic Council at Kent State in 1925. By 1935 (when Kent State College became Kent State University), nine sororities were active on campus. Verder penned the national installation services used by many Pan-Hellenic groups throughout the country, according to a Feb. 8, 1938, article in The Kent Stater.
She introduced a chapter of the National Cardinal Key, a national honor society for women, at Kent State in December 1933. This group, of which Verder was an honorary member, was comprised of women students who had demonstrated accomplishment in the areas of leadership, scholarship and character through their extracurricular activities. The members of Cardinal Key began the tradition of crowning a May Queen in 1934, and they once featured Amelia Earhart as a speaker at one of their events.
In addition, Verder was the former president of the Faculty Women’s Club, former chairman of Kent State Council and faculty advisor of the YWCA and the Women’s League. She was a frequent guest of honor at teas and luncheons hosted on campus and throughout the greater Kent community. She also began a university tradition of caroling during the holidays in 1926.
Verder was strict about behavior for women students, however—especially during the Roaring ’20s. A Jan. 16, 1974, Kent Stater article refers to an undated pamphlet that was in circulation during her tenure. It provided guidance for young women on topics such as curfews, room inspections, restrictions on automobile riding and entertaining men, and advised against smoking or drinking “intoxicating beverages.” Women could not leave campus after 6:30 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays and had to be in their rooms by 7:30 p.m.
She met with first-year women students to impart her expectations of their behavior while at Kent State. One of her famous sayings, according to the 1925 Chestnut Burr, was “Don’t toddle here.”
Verder was dedicated to her students, particularly to improving their minds and expanding their worldview.
While such reports may give the impression of a rigidly traditional figure, Verder was dedicated to her students, particularly to improving their minds and expanding their worldview. In 1929, she sponsored a series of five field trips to visit the Cleveland Art Museum, the “slums of Cleveland,” Oberlin College, Hiram College and the College of Wooster, according to a Kent Stater article dated March 8, 1929.
Verder was granted the title of Dean Emerita for her dedication and service to Kent State. She died in 1953.
