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• 1 2020-10-30T15:39:03+00:00 1935 Offsite Season and Exit from Campus 10 plain 2021-03-08T15:38:09+00:00 ​​​​​​   Aware of the ways in which the public eye was damaging both the reputation of the Summer School and the reputation of Bryn Mawr College itself for hosting a program that might condone socialist ideology, the College announced that it would not be hosting the 1935 summer session, and the future of the program would be determined over the coming months. While the College did not list a definite reason for this severance, tensions were clear on the relationship between the College and School, no longer seen as two wholly separate entities, but instead as groups that greatly influenced each other. Many members of the Summer School’s community were furious; the idyllic campus and the resources it provided were essential components to the School. While discussions were held with other college campuses that may have been willing to host the program for a summer or longer, the announcement has ultimately come too late in the year to secure a different institutional sponsor. It is also worth noting that by refusing to release a statement on exactly why Bryn Mawr College was not hosting the Summer School for the upcoming season, the program was effectively blacklisted from other academic institutions, for fears of grievous misconduct occurring without their knowledge. 
  
  
  
  
     The 1935 summer session was held at Mt. Ivy, a campground in New York state while talks continued on the future of the program. It was clear what the School had lost by losing its connection with Bryn Mawr, now only being able to run at half-capacity, and often reaching out to various institutions for materials or supplies that otherwise would have been available to them without issue. There doesn’t seem to be evidence of any turn away from socialist or Marxist ideology on the part of individual students, with several signing autograph books with remarks in support of large, systemic change in America by any means necessary. The School’s year at the campgrounds was in stark contrast to the ways in which the Summer School flourished for its connection to Bryn Mawr, but it exists as an important turning-point in the history of the program. 
  
     Talks among the heads of the School, College administration, and committees of Summer School alumni eventually came to a consensus, and allowed the School to Bryn Mawr for a probationary two year period, with a revised constitution and closer eye on activity. For many, this was the beginning of the end of the Summer School, but for others, it was a chance to get to remake the School in a way that would extend its lifespan as long as possible, to continue to teach students in whatever way they could. After two more summers on Bryn Mawr’s campus, the School was ultimately moved to Hilda Smith’s converted family home in New York, where it was able to run year-round and did not have to answer to a host institution. 
  
     One should not discount the two year probationary period as simply a time prior to the end; several significant strides were made in those final years of the program, including the expansion to allow workers outside of the manufacturing sector, allowing women in industries such as domestic housework, tailoring, and waitressing to participate in the program. These sectors, predominantly staffed by women, gained a legitimacy among unions and organized workers while mainly male-dominated fields had prevailed.