2008 Woodie Awards
Fifty years of coeducation at Muhlenberg
Diane Koch
Issue date: 9/20/07 Section: Life!
- Page 1 of 2 next >
This year, Muhlenberg celebrates its 50th anniversary of coeducation. In September 1957, the first women were admitted to campus as full-time regular students. Until that point, the College had been all-male for 109 years. Of course, this change didn't happen overnight, and it didn't happen without controversy and resistance.
Coeducation at the College was first proposed in 1933 but opposition on campus - from the Board of Trustees down to the Student Body - was so great the idea was dropped. The idea arose again in 1942, and was again rejected.
In 1953, with the College in serious financial trouble, coeducation was again proposed, and this time accepted, as a way out of financial hardship.
The College adopted a plan to raise funds to enable admission of female students beginning in September 1957. Dorms had to be refurbished to accommodate female students and reception areas created for visiting males; a gym for the women had to be constructed, as physical education classes would not be integrated; female professors and a Dean for women needed to be hired; and the campus, in general, needed to be "spruced up" to create an atmosphere suitable for young ladies.
Today, more than half the student body is women. Fifty years ago, 123 females enrolled, joining a student body of 809 males. With the ratio so in favor of men, you'd think women wouldn't have been a threat, and would have been welcomed cordially, if not enthusiastically.
But in September 1957 many of the men on campus still resisted coeducation, and their taunting and hazing was almost unbearable to many of the women. However, most women persevered, and it wasn't long before they were accepted as a (mostly) welcome addition to campus life.
However, that's not to say that they were treated equally. There were separate councils for male and female students, with different rules and different governing bodies. Regulations for women included a dress code and curfews far more stringent than those for males. At meals, a single woman was positioned at each table to serve plates and fulfill the role of "hostess." Gradually, the women were able to modify the inequities. Even by 1961, with the first graduating class of coeds, the feeling was that "women have come a long way in the right direction," according to a coed at the time.
Coeducation at the College was first proposed in 1933 but opposition on campus - from the Board of Trustees down to the Student Body - was so great the idea was dropped. The idea arose again in 1942, and was again rejected.
In 1953, with the College in serious financial trouble, coeducation was again proposed, and this time accepted, as a way out of financial hardship.
The College adopted a plan to raise funds to enable admission of female students beginning in September 1957. Dorms had to be refurbished to accommodate female students and reception areas created for visiting males; a gym for the women had to be constructed, as physical education classes would not be integrated; female professors and a Dean for women needed to be hired; and the campus, in general, needed to be "spruced up" to create an atmosphere suitable for young ladies.
Today, more than half the student body is women. Fifty years ago, 123 females enrolled, joining a student body of 809 males. With the ratio so in favor of men, you'd think women wouldn't have been a threat, and would have been welcomed cordially, if not enthusiastically.
But in September 1957 many of the men on campus still resisted coeducation, and their taunting and hazing was almost unbearable to many of the women. However, most women persevered, and it wasn't long before they were accepted as a (mostly) welcome addition to campus life.
However, that's not to say that they were treated equally. There were separate councils for male and female students, with different rules and different governing bodies. Regulations for women included a dress code and curfews far more stringent than those for males. At meals, a single woman was positioned at each table to serve plates and fulfill the role of "hostess." Gradually, the women were able to modify the inequities. Even by 1961, with the first graduating class of coeds, the feeling was that "women have come a long way in the right direction," according to a coed at the time.