Jean Hammond Otto

Class of 1948: First Amendment advocate

A trailblazer in the field of journalism for women and in staunch defense of the First Amendment, Jean Hammond Otto had a distinguished 50-year newspaper career as a writer, editor and leader of local and national journalism organizations. She impacted the role of women in journalism and free speech.

She was born Aug. 27, 1925, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and grew up in Kenosha and Appleton, Wisconsin. She came to Ripon while World War II was still active, on the advice of her high school speech coach, John Davies, Class of 1925. She participated in debate and oratory, Kappa Delta/Delta Phi Sigma and A Capella Choir, was secretary-treasurer of her dormitory, Smith Hall, and was literary editor of the “Crimson” yearbook.

“I loved it. At last I began to see a future,” she wrote about her college experience. She took a variety of classes, which she said were challenging but not really difficult for her.

“I loved having an array of friends to talk with, to play bridge with, to study with. The days seemed to pass in slow motion, with time for almost everything I wanted to do. … I thoroughly enjoyed college life.”

However, because of the financial constraints of her family, she left college early and married. After a divorce at age 34 and as a struggling single mother of three, she decided to try journalism. She wrote “This is Appleton” vignettes as a freelancer for the Appleton Post-Crescent, “drawing word pictures of ordinary events,” she said in her autobiography, “First Love: Memoirs of a First Amendment Freedom Fighter.”

She began writing for the women’s section, and within a year was the section editor.

In 1966, she moved on to the Milwaukee Journal newspaper where she first wrote for the women’s news department, then in 1972, became the first woman to serve as an editorial writer and one of the few in the country. She later was named editor of the Op-Ed page.

When the Society for Professional Journalists started accepting female members in 1969, Otto registered for membership in 1970. She wrote that discussions in this organization introduced her to journalistic considerations such as ethics, information access, truth and individual privacy.

She became the first female president of the chapter, which was named the outstanding professional chapter in the nation during her tenure. She went on to be treasurer of the national organization, then the first female national president in 1979.

A staunch defender of the First Amendment and free speech, Otto founded and led the First Amendment Congress, a coalition of national journalism organizations that discussed public attitudes toward the media and ways the media could promote better understanding between the public and the media.

“It is basically a conversation with the public about the fact that the free press is a public right,” she once said.

She moved to Denver in 1983 and became editorial and opinion page editor, and later associate editor, of the Rocky Mountain News. She also taught at the University of Denver. After retiring, she moved back to Milwaukee.

Otto said about the changing opportunities for women: “If you take yourself seriously and have some confidence in what you’re doing, and if you accept challenges, you’d be amazed at what you can do.”

Her autobiography, “First Love: Memoirs of a First Amendment Freedom Fighter,” was published in 2008.

“People’s lives are really all of pieces,” she said. “Day by day we weave small parts of the fabric and the pattern that become our identity. My years at Ripon were among the most important of these, because they set me on a level of inquiry that’s never faded or left me. I treasure that time. If Ripon had not put me on this path, I would not have accomplished what I have. Ripon gave me the confidence and sense of who I am that guided me through it all.”

She received the National Broadcast Editorial Association’s James Madison Award in 1981 and Ripon’s Distinguished Alumni Citation in 1992.

She died Sept. 15, 2011, at the age of 86.