In the fall of 2001, with posters, tote bags, speakers, and balloons, the University of Pennsylvania launched its celebration of "125 Years of Women at Penn." Exhibits illustrating the experiences of women students appeared around campus and on the Web, while banners trumpeting the contributions of Penn women waved from lightposts. The festive anniversary, more than two years in the making, celebrated, in the words of University Trustee Judith Berkowitz, "the foresight of a great university to take in women when others did not." The legacy of women at Penn was important to remember, Berkowitz added, because "it's very empowering to know one's history." This article presents a case study which analyzes the significant expansion of educational opportunities for women at the University of Pennsylvania between 1913 and 1940. Challenging a literature that focuses on pioneering leadership and self-conscious activism as the cause of wider educational access for previously marginalized groups, this study argues that such opportunities were a by-product of primarily other considerations. (Contains 80 footnotes.)