Women's colleges in the United States

Women's colleges in the United States in higher education are American undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations are comprised exclusively or almost exclusively of women. There are approximately sixty active women's colleges in the U.S.

19th century history

Background

Main article: Timeline of women's colleges in the United States

Education for girls and women was initially provided for in the 18th Century by Moravian settlements in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Moravian College, founded in 1742 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania was originally called the Bethlehem Female Seminary. It began to grant undergraduate degrees in 1863 and became the Moravian Seminary and College for Women in 1913. In 1954, it combined with the boys school, Moravian College and Theological Seminary and became coeducational.[1] The Moravians of Salem, North Carolina began what is now Salem College in 1772 in Winston-Salem.

Women's colleges, however, were primarily founded during the early 19th century. According to Irene Harwarth, Mindi Maline, and Elizabeth DeBra, "women's colleges were founded during the mid- and late-19th century in response to a need for advanced education for women at a time when they were not admitted to most institutions of higher education." Early proponents of education for women were Catharine Beecher (Hartford Female Seminary, 1823), Zilpah P. Grant Banister (Ipswich Female Seminary, 1828) and Mary Lyon. Lyon was involved in the development of both Hartford Female Seminary and Ipswich Female Seminary. She as also involved in the creation of Wheaton College, Massachusetts in 1834. In 1837, Lyon founded Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (later Mount Holyoke College). According to the United States Department of Education, "Mount Holyoke’s significance is that it became a model for a multitude of other women’s colleges throughout the country."

While there were a few coeducational colleges (such as Oberlin College founded in 1833, Antioch College in 1853, and Bates College in 1855), most colleges and universities of high standing at that time were exclusively for men. In 1886, H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, a coordinate college of Tulane University, was founded as the first coordinate women's college in the United States.

Historically black colleges

Main article: Historically black colleges and universities

Bennett College and Spelman College are historically black women's colleges which were both developed during the later half of the 19th century (although Bennett did not become a women's college until 1926). Bennett has been described as the Vassar of the South and Spelman as the Radcliffe College of historically black colleges. Oprah Winfrey and Maya Angelou have recently offered public support to Bennett College.

Public colleges

Main article: Public university

In 1884 the legislature of the state of Mississippi established Industrial Institute & College, the first public college for women in the United States. Other states soon followed: Georgia created Georgia State College for Women in 1889, and North Carolina created North Carolina Women's College in 1893. This is similar to the establishment of Douglass College of Rutgers University.

Seven Sister colleges

Main article: Seven Sisters (colleges)

Colleges for women were founded in the Northern United States during the early and mid 19th century. Seven of them (Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, Vassar College, Wellesley College, Radcliffe College, Bryn Mawr College and Barnard College) were grouped under the title of The Seven Sisters in 1927.

Seven Sisters of the South

Main article: Seven Sisters of the South

The Seven Sisters of the South refers to a group of highly regarded American women's colleges in the Southern United States. The moniker is a response to the group of women's colleges in the Northern United States which are known as the Seven Sisters.

20th century history

Adopt coeducation

One debate which developed from the period of the 1960s - 1990s (the time of second wave feminism) revolved around the question of coeducation. During this time, many of the most prominent American men's colleges, including multiple Ivy League institutions, became co-ed.

Two of the Seven Sister colleges also made transitions during this time. Beginning in 1963, students at Radcliffe College received Harvard diplomas signed by the presidents of Radcliffe and Harvard and joint commencement exercises began in 1970. The same year, several Harvard and Radcliffe dormitories began swapping students experimentally and in 1972 full co-residence was instituted. The departments of athletics of both schools merged shortly thereafter. In 1977, Harvard and Radcliffe signed an agreement which put undergraduate women entirely in Harvard College. In 1999 Radcliffe College was dissolved and Harvard University assumed full responsibility over the affairs of female undergraduates. Radcliffe is now the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study in Women's Studies at Harvard University.

Vassar College declined an offer to merge with Yale University and instead became coeducational in 1969. Other women's colleges also adopted coeducation, such as Sarah Lawrence College, which declined an offer to merge with Princeton University and became coeducational in 1969. Connecticut College also became co-ed during the late 1960s.

In addition, due to its status as a public or government institution, the Mississippi University for Women become coeducational after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan (1982). The ruling found that as a publicly funded institution, the university would be in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause if it denied admission on the basis of gender (in this case, men).

Remain woman's college

Other schools responded to the tenets of second-wave feminism by maintaining their single-sex status.

Since 1900, the seven sister college Barnard College has been affiliated with Columbia University, but it continues to be independently governed. In 1983, Columbia College began admitting women after a decade of failed negotiations with Barnard for a merger along the lines of Harvard and Radcliffe. Of the original Seven Sisters, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, Barnard College, Bryn Mawr College, and Wellesley College are still women's colleges.

In 1990, Mills College's tentative decision to become co-ed was met with so much resistance from students and alumnae that the proposal was dropped.

21st century history

Adopt coeducation

Citing decreased enrollment as the primary factor, Wells College (in 2005) adopted coeducation, a move which re-opened public discourse over women's colleges. After making a similar claim, Randolph-Macon Woman's College changed its name to Randolph College and adopted coeducation in 2007. Regis College also announced that it will adopt coeducation beginning in the Fall of 2007.

Remain woman's college

In contrast, according to a 25 December 2006 article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, at Agnes Scott College, "applications for admission are on a record pace." Furthermore, in an 6 November 2006 article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Agnes Scott College "officials say the college's enrollment has increased nearly 70 percent in the past 10 years." The article also states that Agnes Scott had created a special link on their official website for then-current Randolph-Macon Woman's College students after receiving a high number of requests for transfer information.

In addition, both Hollins University and Agnes Scott College have announced that they plan to remain women's colleges.

A 05 November 2006 article in the Boston Globe states that student leaders of the Seven Sisters colleges met to discuss "an obligation to maintain the traditions" of their colleges. The article also noted a correlation between endowment and the decision to move towards coeducation by stating that "although many small women's colleges are suffering financial woes, the schools with larger endowments are seeing more applicants. Mount Holyoke, for example, set an admissions record this year with the most applicants since 2002."

Commentary from presidents of women's colleges

President of Randolph College (then Randolph - Macon Woman's College), Virginia Worden, published an article in the Washington Post on 17 September 2006 which argues that enrollment in women's colleges is decreasing and cites this as the primary reason behind the decision for the college to adopt coeducation.

A number of presidents of women's colleges wrote articles arguing against Worden's editorial. Agnes Scott College President, Elizabeth Kiss, responds in an article published in 2006 that "women’s colleges are extraordinary incubators of achievement." Columbia College President, Caroline Whitson, argues in a 17 October 2006 article for The State that women's colleges produce leaders. Mills College President, Janet L. Holmgren, offers another perspective in an 11 October 2006 article for the San Jose Mercury News. Referring to the period in 1990 when Mills almost adopted coeducation but decided against it, she argues that it is necessary to maintain women's colleges. Simmons College President, Susan Scrimshaw, argues in an 4 October 2006 article for The Boston Globe that women's colleges continue to be relevant. Sweet Briar College President, Elisabeth Muhlenfeld, and Hollins University President, Nancy Gray, wrote in a 14 September 2006 article for The Roanoke Times that "Women's colleges must be an option."

Famous alumnae of women's colleges

See also: Famous Seven Sisters alumnae

Women's colleges in the United States have produced a number of important alumnae in the arts, politics, and science.

Actors, authors, and directors

• Sofia Coppola attended Mills College and is a director.
• Ruby Dee attended Hunter College and is an actor.
• Kiran Desai is a graduate of Hollins University and an author and recipient of the Man Booker Prize in 2006.
• Katharine Hepburn was a 1928 graduate of Bryn Mawr College and was an actress.
• Zora Neale Hurston was a 1928 graduate of Barnard College and an author.
• Jhumpa Lahiri is a 1989 graduate of Barnard College and a Pulitzer Prize-winning author.
• Suzan-Lori Parks is a 1985 graduate of Mount Holyoke College and a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright.
• Sylvia Plath was a 1955 graduate of Smith College and an important American author and poet.
• Meryl Streep is a graduate of Vassar College and a noted actress.
• Alice Walker attended Spelman College and Sarah Lawrence College and is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author
• Wendy Wasserstein was a 1971 graduate of Mount Holyoke College and a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright.

Journalists

• Cokie Roberts is a 1964 graduate of Wellesley College.
• Diane Sawyer is a 1967 graduate of Wellesley College.
• Barbara Walters is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College.
• Paula Zahn is a graduate of Stephens College.

Politicians and university presidents

• Frances Perkins a 1902 graduate of Mount Holyoke College and the first woman cabinet member (U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933-1945 under FDR).
• Hillary Rodham Clinton is a 1969 graduate of Wellesley College. She is the junior United States Senator from New York, serving her freshman term since January 3, 2001. She is a former First Lady of the United States (1993-2001).
• Drew Gilpin Faust is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and is slated to be the first female president of Harvard University.
• Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick first female U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., graduate of Stephens College (then a 2-year institution) and later Barnard College.
• Nancy Pelosi is a 1962 graduate of Trinity College (now Trinity Washington University) and is the Speaker of the House, the first woman to hold this position.

Social/computer science and medicine

• Ruth Benedict a 1909 graduate of Vassar College and a noted anthropologist.
• Margaret Mead a 1923 graduate of Barnard College and a noted anthropologist.
• Virginia Apgar a 1929 graduate of Mount Holyoke College and a doctor who developed the Apgar score for evaluating newborns; anesthesiologist
• Grace Hopper 1928 graduate of Vassar College and a computer scientist who developed the first compiler for a computer programming language

See also

• Hidden Ivies
• List of current and historical women's universities and colleges in the United States
• Sisters' college
• Women's colleges

References

• Harwarth, Irene B. "A Closer Look at Women's Colleges." National Institute on Postsecondary Education, Libraries, and Lifelong Learning, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, 1999.
• ---, Mindi Maline and Elizabeth DeBra. "Women's Colleges in the United States: History, Issues, and Challenges: Executive Summary." U.S. Department of Education National Institute on Postsecondary Education, Libraries, and Lifelong Learning.
• Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research (IUCPR). "New study finds women’s colleges are better equipped to help their students."
• Horowitz, Helen Lefkowitz. Alma Mater: Design and Experience in the Women's Colleges from Their Nineteenth-Century Beginnings to the 1930s, Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1993 (2nd edition).
• Rosenberg, Rosalind. "The Limits of Access: The History Of Coeducation in America." In Women and Higher Education: Essays from the Mount Holyoke College Sesquicentennial Symposia. Ed. John Mack Faragher and Florence Howe. New York: Norton, 1988.

External links

• In Virginia, three elite women's colleges reinvent themselves and find a new mission in a coed world - 06 November 2006 Newsweek article on Sweet Briar College, Hollins University, and Mary Baldwin College
• Women's Colleges Resist Co-ed Trend - Voice of America
• Alumnae of women's colleges - from the Women's College Coalition.