Sheila Kuehl
When Kuehl was elected as a Democrat to the California Assembly in 1994 a Republican majority was seated for the first time in 20 years. This was due largely as an out-flowing of the enthusiasm stoked up by Newt Gingrich's strategy supporting Republicans for the Federal Legislature. Kuehl recalled "The Republican majority was quite a different kind of Republican, not a moderate, not a Rockefeller Republican. They were primarily Bible-thumpers and very right-wing. So it was not the most welcoming Republican group, though they loved Zelda Gilroy, and it was very difficult for them because they already liked me so much…. And to their surprise, we all got along very well. ...The Republicans were pretty horrible about LGBT stuff. They all virtually said stuff like, 'Well, they're all spawn of the devil, oh, but not you, Sheila….'"
Shirley Adelson Siegel
Siegel attended Barnard in the 1930s, at a time when Barnard had a quota for Jewish students. 
As an undergraduate at Barnard in the 1930s, Siegel became committed to the cause of affordable housing. Her interest in housing developed after she served as an intern with the New York Legislative Service in 1936 and was assigned to become knowledgeable about the field of housing. During her internship, Siegel encountered Charles Abrams and Langdon Post of the New York City Housing Authority. Siegel studied government at Barnard and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. After graduating from Barnard in 1937, Siegel was voted the recipient of a student-funded fellowship available to one graduating Barnard student to study abroad. Siegel attended the London School of Economics, where she continued to develop her studies of housing. Siegel entered Yale Law School in 1938 as the only woman in her class.