In 1880, forty-three women walked into the president's office at the University of Kentucky (UK) and signed the student register, becoming the first female students at a public college in the commonwealth. But gaining admittance was only the beginning. For the next sixty-five years -- encompassing two world wars, an economic depression, and the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment -- generations of women at UK claimed and reclaimed their right to an equitable university experience. Their.