Coordinate College for Women

From KCpedia

Members of the first class of the Coordinate College for Women

Initially considered an alternative to coeducation, the Coordinate College for Women was founded at Kenyon College with the goal of allowing women to attend Kenyon while maintaining an atmosphere of single-sex education. The aim of creating an institution for female education that existed outside the College was eventually discarded, and the Coordinate College became a means of transitioning Kenyon College into coeducation.

Founding

The Coordinate College for Women first opened at Kenyon College on September 4, 1969. Plans for its founding were set into motion by President Franze Edward Lund, who had been successful previously in shifting Alabama College at Montevallo from an all girl's school to a coeducational institution. With Lund's retirement in 1968, it was left to his successor, President William G. Caples to implement the plan for expansion. Women would take classes with men, and might participate in extracurricular activites with male students, but would live in separate residence halls and eat in a separate dining hall.

A brochure advertising the Coordinate College's founding claimed that Kenyon "fail[ed] to provide for a dialogue between the sexes," and describes the new Women's College as creating an academic community where "men and women will have equal but distinct identities."

"They will come together in classes, laboratories, and studios. They will share social occasions and facilities. Yet at appropriate times they will be able to enjoy the company only of members of their own sex." - Kenyon College Announces A College For Women

Approximately 160 women registered for the Coordinate College's first term in 1969. Doris Crozier was hired as Dean of the Women's College, and was a key figure in maintaining the institution's identity as separate from that of the original Kenyon College.

Architecture

A rendering of the new Coordinate College buildings

In order to accommodate the increased number of students as well as maintain separate men's and women's institutions, new buildings were constructed on Kenyon's campus. These included Gund Commons, Samuel Mather Hall and McBride Hall, and were constructed with the intention of providing residence and dining facilities that would be entirely separate from the men's buildings.

These buildings were designed by Perkins and Will Parternship of Chicago with the express intention of creating an atmosphere that would be distinctly apart from the masculine, Gothic architecture of the original campus. The design plan for the new buildings describes the "rigid formality, heavy stone, and Gothic style of the existing buildings" as "inappropriate for the women's college." In contrast, the new buildings were meant to be "oriented inward and centered on a beautiful natural meadow surrounded by trees." The Kenyon College Announces A College For Wome brochure suggests that the architecture indicates "the college's contemporary and separate identity, constrasting effectively with Kenyon's traditional ivy and stone."

Although its construction was not begun until the 1970s, Caples Hall was also a part of this plan for the Women's College, and was intended to be an "incentive residence" with occupancy based on "a student's proven ability and performance." Like the Coordinate College itself, this intention quickly dissolved.

Initial Response

Reactions to the arrival of women on campus

The arrival of women on campus was greeted with mixed reactions. Thomas Boardman Greenslade writes in Kenyon: Its Third Half Century that "the actual settling-in of the new women students ...went fairly smoothly" and that "some [Kenyon men] thought that it was great to have women on the campus." The event nevertheless caused some worry, particularly among the seniors, that "an important tradition had been lost." Greenslade notes however that "one of the most vocal of the senior critics was seen helping a woman carry her luggage to her room."

A September 22 article of the Mount Vernon News suggested that "most of the girls had mixed feelings about entering the college...but after their arrival and experiences with the congenial faculty and other students they were eased of their anxieties." The article goes on to describe in great detail the women's desire to decorate their new rooms with "brightly colored pillows," "a college pennant," or "a picture of a favorite singing star."

Several publications throughout Ohio carried dramatic articles covering the Coordinate College's opening, with headlines such as "Male Citadel Falls," and "Kenyon Falls Into Hands Of Invaders." Kenyon's own publications gave more measured responses, although one satirical article published in Hika provided an alternative viewpoint.

"Due to the coming of the girls, two major additions were made to the curriculum. As is already done in many co-ed schools, a course in sex, with the added incentive of a four-hour lab will be offered to all who are interested. At press time, seventeen professors, including the entire English department had offered to teach the course. A course in charm, taught by Mrs. Roller will also be offered. Director of Athletics, Dr. F. M. Falkenstine announced that wrestling will be added to the intramural program."

Integration

President William G. Caples holds the Matriculation Book for Terry and Christine Henry, the first women to ever sign it.

In February 1972, the Kenyon College board of trustees unanimously voted to end the separation of the Coordinate College from Kenyon, announcing the school to be fully coeducational. According to then-provost Dr. Bruce Hays, the women of the College "have been working to create their own Kenyon identity and now have a permanent place in our community." In the fall of 1973, the beginning of Kenyon's first full year of coeducation, 650 women enrolled. On October 30 of that same fall, Founders' Day and the day of the Matriculation ceremony, women repeated the matriculation oath beside their male peers, as "faithful sons and daughters of Kenyon College" and added their names to the Matriculation Book. The right to matriculation also extended to the upperclass women who had been in the previously-separate Coordinate College.