This essay recontextualizes the Yale Report of 1828, arguing that the report's advocacy for classical liberal education should be understood alongside the racial concerns of its authors, some of whom were well-known colonizationists who viewed African American education as a threat to New Haven's social and economic stability. The Yale Report's…

The history of coeducation in U.S. higher education is explored through an analysis of a database containing information on all institutions offering four-year undergraduate degrees that operated in 1897, 1924, 1934, or 1980, most of which still exist today. These data reveal surprises about the timing of coeducation and the reasons for its…

The global community, from UNESCO to NGOs, is committed to promoting the status of women in science, engineering and technology, despite long-held prejudices and the lack of role models. Previously, when equality was not firmly established as a key issue on international or national agendas, women's colleges played a great role in mentoring female…

Women's colleges in the 1970s and 1980s faced highly uncertain futures. Soaring popularity of coeducation left them with serious enrollment downturns, and challenges from proposed equal rights legislation threatened to render illegal their single-sex admissions policies. These perilous external conditions drew together the presidents of U.S.…

Examines Supreme Court decisions in two cases (Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan, United States v. Virginia), addressing the constitutionality of single-sex public colleges. Describes a tool for evaluating equality (the "capability approach") that fills out and lends clarity to underdeveloped aspects of the Court's inquiry. The…

A study of 18 women's colleges relatively successful in maintaining enrollment strength suggests that endowment size and market sensitivity are the determinants of success. Well-endowed colleges should plan to maintain large endowments, with some adjustment for changing conditions and educational needs among women. Less-well-endowed colleges must…

A freshman seminar offered at a women's college includes activities designed to enhance individual academic responsibility by assessing academic goals and evaluating progress toward them. Faculty advisor evaluation and student evaluation of the course indicate its usefulness. The exercises can be used in any developmental academic advisor-advisee…

At two women's liberal arts colleges, freshman (n=127, n=140) perceptions of academic advising style were measured. Although students reported developmental advising at both institutions, the mean score at one college was significantly more developmental than at the other. Frequency of contact and an academic planning component were significant…

Explores why women's colleges, and the education provided by them, are different than coeducational settings. The article explains how women's colleges provide students with value and respect and give them a sense of ownership. It also discusses why women's colleges excel at preparing students for the future. (GLR)

This book examines the many popular representations of student life at women's colleges produced in the United States during the Progressive Era. According to the book, in hundreds of college novels, newspaper accounts, popular periodical essays, and scientific treatises, the "college woman" was described and defined in a period when…

Lessons learned while reforming the core curriculum at the College of Saint Catherine (Minnesota) are outlined, including: broad ownership of the curriculum by faculty is essential; sometimes curriculum issues are more about faculty than students; a means for arriving at consensus must be devised; planning should take the curriculum through its…