The idea for the film, which is tentatively titled “Champions and Change: 50 Years of Women’s Intercollegiate Athletics at Brown,” was born from a conversation during an alumnae dinner with Brown President Christina H. Paxson, Vice President for Athletics and Recreation M. Grace Calhoun recalled during the panel discussion. 

“We thought it would be really powerful to tell the story of women’s athletics at Brown through the documentary process, particularly in honor of this 50th anniversary,” Calhoun said.

The project launched in early 2024, when filmmaker and Visiting Assistant Professor of the Practice Teddy Bogosian began leading Brown undergraduates through a series of documentary filmmaking courses in collaboration with the Division of Athletics and Recreation, the Brown Arts Institute and Class of 1986 alumna Christy McGill, a filmmaker who played on the lacrosse team as a student. The project will share the stories of trailblazing athletes, coaches and administrators, and offer reflections from leaders in women’s athletics. 

“One of the really fun pieces of Brown female athletics is that they are as important as the male athletics,” said Taylor Virtue, Brown women’s volleyball head coach, in a clip from the documentary that was shown during the screening. “Some of our flagship programs are women’s programs, and it’s been incredible to watch Brown pour resources and support behind female athletics, knowing that this is important. Brown is ahead of the curve.” 

During the documentary preview and panel discussion, attendees watched three in-progress chapters of the documentary that highlighted the rise of club rugby, the history of Title IX at Brown in regard to athletics opportunities for women and men, and the achievements of some of the most legendary coaches and players from the last half-century. 

“It was really cool to see Brown student-athletes that we know personally featured in the film next to all of these women with incredible legacies,” said senior Sara Barrett, a competitive swimmer who is enrolled in Bogosian’s course this semester. “I have two friends on the swim team who are Olympians, and highlighting them alongside these legends made me realize that they — we — are the next generation of women doing incredible things.” 

Having students, especially women athletes, play such an important role the film’s production is integral to the editorial vision, Bogosian said during the panel discussion. 

“I think there’s an authenticity that comes through here that is the hallmark of the films that we’re trying to create,” said Bogosian, who expects the finished film to debut on campus next fall. 

A legendary legacy for women’s athletics

Marcia Hoffer, a Class of 1971 alumna who attended the celebration, said the screenings brought up fond memories of her time playing with the Pembroke Pandas, the nation’s first intercollegiate women’s ice hockey team. 

“We were complete pioneers,” Hoffer said. “We didn’t have a coach. We didn’t have much equipment. We had terrible ice time. We had no one to play in this country. But we loved hockey, and we were so thrilled with having the opportunity to just play… I hope women at Brown continue to have these great opportunities and reap the benefits of being part of a team.” 

Hoffer will be cheering from the stands as they do so: As an ice hockey season ticketholder, Hoffer said she’s tried to make it to as many games as possible since her graduation from Brown 54 years ago. 

Women’s competitive teams had existed at Pembroke College (the women’s college at Brown that merged with the men’s college in 1971) since 1903, but official Ivy League competition began in women’s sports in 1974 — a move spurred in part by the enactment of Title IX, a landmark civil rights law that protects people from sex-based discrimination in education programs or activities that receive federal funding. 

The impact of Title IX on women’s sports was massive. Before the law was passed, women made up just 15% of all NCAA athletes; now, that number closer to 44%, according to the Women’s Sports Foundation. 

“The benefit of what we learn through our athletic experience is what truly makes us better leaders,” said Class of 1995 alumna Lisa Kaplowitz during a Saturday discussion. “It makes us better parents, it makes us better coworkers, and it makes us better friends.” 

Kaplowitz joined fellow alumnae Amy Cohen and Jennifer Todd in a panel discussion on Saturday that explored the history of Title IX at Brown and the legacy of the Cohen v. Brown case from the early 1990s, in which the three Brown gymnasts were among the plaintiffs. The case led to a 1998 agreement specifying that the fraction of varsity athletics opportunities for women at Brown must be within a fixed percent of the fraction of women in the undergraduate student body. The influence of the case extended across the nation, Kaplowitz said, and it’s clear that the future of women’s sports at Brown will remain bright.

Barrett, the competitive swimmer who is working on the documentary, echoed that sentiment. As she prepares to graduate in May, she’s eager to see what women-athletes at Brown will achieve over the next five decades and how they’ll inspire the next generation of girls in sports. 

“Brown is such a creative place, and we’ve historically been trailblazers in so many ways,” Barrett said. “And in 50 years, we’re going to be somewhere incredible. I just know that the energy on this campus will carry the next generation of women athletes someplace really cool.”