Papers of June Friedman

June Friedman attended Colorado State University (CSU) from 1978 to 1981, graduating with a degree in Agronomy. While at CSU, she was a member of The Feminist Group, a student activist group that raised awareness of women’s equality on the CSU campus. The group’s activities included publishing a newsletter, organizing women’s film festivals, and writing guest editorials in the student newspaper, the Rocky Mountain Collegian. Friedman and her good friend, Kayann Short, were very active in the organization, convincing the administration to shut down the campus Playboy Club and organizing the first “Take Back the Night” march in Fort Collins.

June Friedman was born November 29, 1958. She, her twin sister, and younger brother were raised in New York City by their mother, Roz Friedman. After high school, she attended college in upstate New York, earning an associate’s degree in agriculture. Following her bachelor’s degree at CSU, Friedman moved to Denver, taking a job as an agronomist. On June 11, 1982, June Friedman was brutally murdered in Lakewood, CO. The case remains unsolved.

In Friedman’s honor, Kayann Short donated the Friedman Feminist Press Collection to CSU’s Archives and Special Collections department in 2013. Initially consisting of Short’s private collection and materials from CSU’s Pride Resource Center, the Friedman Feminist Press Collection consists of a collection of works by feminist authors published mostly by feminist presses and continues to accept donations of books and funds for outreach and acquisition.

The Papers of June Friedman consists of one letter written by her to her father and stepmother. In the letter she discusses the status of women in a patriarchal society and the necessity of eradicating sexism.