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Randolph-Macon Woman's going co-ed...Many Students and Alumnae not happy
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Although this is a sad occasion for many alums, if this is the only way the school can survive, they should be happy that their alma mater can even remain operating--males or no males. My school went co-ed in 1989, and although many alums were upset about the change, they would have been more upset if their school closed altogether. It is very difficult to run a single-sex higher educational instituation these days, because most teenagers make their own decisions on where to go to college, unlike high schools, where their parents can decide for them. No teenager who is away from their parents for the first time would want to go to an all-girls or all-boys school--it's just not feasible in today's society, although it would probably be beneficial to their learning experience. I teach at an all-girls' high school, and they are definitely more focused than at the co-ed schools I have taught at before.
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People are always upset when the status quo changes. Think about when the first women were admitted to the Military Academies. How about when Harvard became co-ed.
If, given the choice between admitting members of the opposite sex, or going out of business, what would you choose? If it's the latter, you might want to take a harder look at your priorities. At least that's what I think. |
Apparently, single-sex education was not sustainable for RMWC. They obviously did not have the alumnae support or financial backing to remain single-sex, and they were obviously not academically rigorous enough to attract enough capable women to bolster their ranks.
I do not, however, think that single-sex education is going anywhere. Most of the Seven Sisters are still single-sex; schools like Smith, Wellesley, and Barnard are attracting more women than ever before. In this week's New Yorker, there was an article about Deep Springs College, a 2-year school in the southwest that regularly sends its men to Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Attempts to make it co-ed have met with threats of revoking funding from very wealthy alumni. |
I live a block from R-MWC, and things have been crazy for a few weeks around here. I feel badly for the women at the school, especially the freshmen. R-MWC's big admissions pull has always been getting a traditional, all-female education. I read today that the school does not have a development office. Many alumnae apparently stood up on Friday with their checkbooks and said, "If you'd asked for money, we would have given it." Apparently many people are upset with the president because she had said last year that they wouldn't even think about going co-ed. It's sad because there are so many great traditions at the school.
I guess the one decent thing that may come from them going co-ed is perhaps Greek life will make a comeback. I know many sororities had chapters there in the early 1900's. |
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I was just impressed that the writer used "alumna" and "alumnae" properly.
I have no opinion on the article otherwise. |
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-Rudey |
Interesting story...A friend of mine who is an alumna told me today that she has written her last check to the school. Her husband went through the same thing when he was an undergraduate 20 years ago at the formerly all-male Washington and Lee University about an hour away.
There are a LOT of moderately selective women's colleges in that part of VA all competing for the same "type" of student. Sweet Briar, Hollins, and R-MWC (and to a lesser extent Mary Baldwin)are fairly interchangable in terms of admissions stats and NOTHING like the Seven Sisters schools. I am surprised to read that R-MWC has no development office as the school has a decent size endowment ($140 million) as compared to the number of women it educates. There are still many more all-women schools as compared to all-male schools. The only BA/BS granting, single-sex men's colleges left in the US are Wabash College (IN) and Hampden-Sydney (VA, ironically in the same vicinity as SB/R-MWC). Morehouse in Atlanta is all-male officially although I heard that Spelman women take classes there and vice versa. Deep Springs is a 2year school. |
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A large percentage of the students are protesting. I can hear them outside right now. They've been sitting outside for a long time. Many have had their transcripts sent to Hollins or Sweet Briar. The whole situation is just a mess.
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Hollins' undergraduate is all-women. The graduate programs are co-ed.
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oh, okay. :) thanks for clearing that up |
I'm just wondering what they're going to call it, since there's already a Randolph-Macon.
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The school decided this week to add 4 men's sports next fall in addition to adding them to the riding team. There's a huge sign on the walls of the school right now that says, "Football tryouts. When: Hell freezes over." |
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Mary Baldwin has 1 or 2 graduate programs now, and they are also co-ed. |
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I guess it really means, live with change or die without it.
More and more Womens Colleges are changing or they will wither and die. Now, where would that put the Alums?:eek: |
As a development/alumni relations professional, this makes me feel much, much better about my office, lol.
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There are so many single-sex schools that have had to go co-ed. Women-only colleges outnumber men-only colleges by a good number. I have heard that a lot of the Randolph girls will be transferring to SBC, Hollins, and MB (all in that area of VA). Agnes Scott is aggressively recruiting R-MWC students and has a page devoted specifically for them on their admissions website.
I do find it interesting that some of the remaining women's colleges are among the strongest LACs in the country (Wellesley, Smith, Mt. Holyoke...) while the 2 remaining male colleges (Hampden-Sydney (also in that south-central area of VA) and Wabash (IN) are not attracting the same caliber of young men. Apparently R-MWC used to have several NPC orgs. While not unprecedented, this was somewhat unusual for a women's college. I wonder if they will be allowed to/ be interested in recolonizing once the guys get there? |
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I know that a lot of the women's colleges in the area used to have NPC groups. Pi Phi had two such chapters, one of which was at Hollins. I forget where the other was. Mary Baldwin definitely had NPC groups as well, but these (like the others, I believe) in the first third or so of the 20th cent. They were certainly long-gone by the time my mom got there. I had some friends from MBC in undergrad who would have been interested in Greek Life but it's definitely not allowed there now by any means! I know that at least part of the rationale was "we're all sisters here;" it's meant to discourage cliques I think. Also, if I remember correctly, many of the women's colleges established student government at the same time they banned Greek Life. |
I certainly can't speak for the success of any women's colleges but as usual I have a couple of opinions.
I think part of the success of Wellesley is that it has always been loosely connected with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Wellesley College (a stunning campus in its own right) is in a gorgeous Boston suburb with easy access to other colleges in the greater Boston area. In terms of Mt. Holyoke and Smith, they are both member of the 5-College Consortium. Amherst and Hampshire Colleges and UMass Amherst make up the rest of the 5. There is a cross-registration agreement amongst the consortium When I ws in college in the early '80s, Vassar had recently turned co-ed. A boy a couple of years ahead of me in prep school was one of the first male students at Vassar. W&L was undergoing the "Better Dead than Co-ed" debate. Not that Washington and Lee was ever on par with Hampden-Sydney in terms of student caliber, but they would not be the school they are today without the addition of women. To be perfectly blunt (and when am I not?). H-SC is somewhat regarded as a men's finishing school. Instead of bringing your horse to college, you can bring your hunting dog and weapon. Still, they fill a niche for certain students. Quote:
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I had friends from high school who went to Wells College, a small all-womens college in Aurora, NY. They had to go co-ed and no one was happy about it. I visited them over spring break when they were back home and was wearing a letter hoodie. My friend steph looked at it and said 'eeeeuwww' and I just replied with, "um...your college is one giant sorority, I wouldn't be talking." Wells couldn't survive without going co-ed, as much as it pained them to do so. |
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I know a little about Wabash- two gentlemen that I work with attended college there. Wabash is a HUGE greek school. It is almost assumed that all freshman will join a fraternity. The one thing about Wabash that struck me as funny is that ALL freshmen are required to wear little freshmen beanie-cap things. If a particular fraternity would require that, it would be hazing, but since it is the entire school that requires it, apparently it is okay. :rolleyes:
Wabash is also located about 45 minutes from DePauw so there are females in close proximity to the school. |
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beanies? seriously? LOL How 1950 |
I don't think it's fair to characterize all-female schools as "one big sorority". I went to an all-girls schools from 4th grade through 12th, and looked at some women's colleges (after 9 years of it, it wasn't something I was anxious to do, lol). Granted there are a lot of traditions, and some rituals (depending on the school) but it's nothing like sorority life, given the diversity of the women involved (especially at Smith).
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25 years ago, there were fewer than 10 all male schools in the country, and at least two of them were state military academies (VMA and The Citadel). Most all male schools, public and private, went co-ed in the 60s and 70s, and they did so not because it was that hard to persuade smart young men to go to an all male school but because society as a whole was demanding that the advantages of these schools be available to women as well as men. I'm not saying that going co-ed was a bad thing altogether, although I can wish that more of the all-male private schools had stayed that way. But the reality is that there was never the societal pressure on all-female schools to go co-ed that there was on all-male schools. |
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In the case then there should be nothing going the other way around. Male schools being forced to go Co-Ed and Female schools going Co-Ed? It cannot be just a one way street and in many cases it is do, die, or survive. |
The federal and state service academies as well as state schools were pretty much forced to go co-ed because of anti-discrimination laws AND the fact that they are public institutions funded in part through the public coffers. W&L and other privates have Boards of Trustees that vote on this decision. In the Amherst, Williams, W&L cases, the Board voted to go co-ed. H-SC actually took a vote sometime in the 90s and opted to remain all-male.
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Article about the beanie at Wabash The husband's alma mater was all-male until 1995. They voted to become co-ed in 1991, with the first class of freshmen allowing women in 1995. I don't know exactly why they decided to go co-ed; it's an extremely selective, small private school that is well-known for its engineering degrees. I don't think lack of academic talent was an issue, nor was recruiting students. Plus, with Indiana State and St Mary's of the Woods also in Terre Haute, there was not a shortage of women in the area. Most likely, as MysticCat said, the school voted to do so due to increasing societal pressure. Wabash is also their sworn enemy. I'm assuming it's a carryover from the all-male days... |
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I'm not saying Hampden-Sydney isn't a good school, but to compare it with other similar schools that once attracted the same population it did and made late-in-the-game decisions to go co-ed, it's clear that H-S doesn't attract the level of students that comparable institutions did and I'm guessing its student body isn't as high-caliber as it was in the past. As comparable institutions, I'm thinking Washington and Lee and Davidson, which are both traditionally conservative southern LACs who decided to go co-ed long after many other major institutions did. It also amuses me as someone who knows a little bit about H-S student life, but that's a whole 'nother thing. For what it's worth, Washington and Lee required freshmen to wear beanies as well, up until maybe the 1940s. |
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There are a few insitutions that escaped this problem: Morehouse, because of its location in Atlanta and the proximity of Spelman, and the military institutions, some (all?) of which are still predominantly male, because of their special missions. It's VMI, not VMA. |
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