Milestones in Coeducation
1837
Oberlin Collegiate Institute (now Oberlin College and Conservatory) admits women. Oberlin is already a multi-racial campus, and some of the women admitted are African American.
1848
First National Women's Rights Convention advocates coeducation for women.
1855
University of Iowa admits women.
1856
Wilberforce University admits women (the first HBCU to become coeducational).
1867
Indiana University admits women.
1870
University of Illinois admits women.
1873
Dr. Edward Clarke of Harvard publishes Sex in Education, or A Fair Chance for Girls, opposing coeducation. Clarke argues that coeducation at the college level is harmful to women, especially to their reproductive organs. He believes that "coeducation is a sin against man."
1874
Mrs. Julia Ward Howe publishes Sex and Education: A Reply to Dr. E.H. Clarke's "Sex in Education," a collection of essays by women and men who had taught or administered at coeducational colleges. "Despite Dr. Clarke's prominent position in this community, we do not feel compelled to regard him as the supreme authority on the subjects of which he treats," says Howe.
1878
The University of London admits women.
1880
Australian universities are opened to women. Bridgewater College admits women, becoming the first coeducational private college in Virginia and one of the first in the south.
1882
Virginia State Normal and Collegiate Institute (now Virginia State University) is established in Ettrick, and soon admits women. Thus Virginia State becomes the first coeducational public college in Virginia.
1893
University of Alabama admits women.
1910
A bill is introduced in the Virginia General Assembly to create a "co-ordinate college" for women, to be located in Charlottesville. Resistance is strong. One University of Virginia professor protests that college women would become "familiar, boisterous, bold in manners . . . rudely aggressive, and ambitiously competitive with men." The bill is defeated.
1912
Co-ordinate college bill defeated again.
1914
Co-ordinate college bill defeated again.
1916
Co-ordinate college bill defeated again.
1918
Co-ordinate college bill defeated again. The Virginia General Assembly authorizes coeducation at William & Mary. William & Mary admits women. University of Georgia admits women.
1920
University of Virginia co-ordinate college bill defeated again.
1921
Virginia Tech admits women.
1969
Georgetown admits women. Princeton admits women. Yale admits women. Vassar admits men.
1970
University of Virginia admits women.
1976
USMA, USNA, USAFA and USCGA admit women.
1985
Washington & Lee admits women.
1996
Virginia Military Institute admits women.
2018
William & Mary celebrates 100 Years of Women.
