in the spring of 1915, noether was invited to return to the university of göttingen by david hilbert and felix klein. their effort to recruit her, however, was blocked by the philologists and historians among the philosophical faculty: women, they insisted, should not become "privatdozenten". one faculty member protested: ""what will our soldiers think when they return to the university and find that they are required to learn at the feet of a woman?"" hilbert responded with indignation, stating, ""i do not see that the sex of the candidate is an argument against her admission as privatdozent. after all, we are a university, not a bath house.""