How Women's Colleges Will Survive the Future
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FALL 2007 How women’s colleges will survive the future. also inside: Annual Report of Donors president’s MESSAGE Small World; Big Tent oncordia University, Wisconsin President Patrick variety of reasons - from plain old politeness to the creeping Ferry must be very proud. Two professors at the epidemic of political correctness that threatens academic Csmall liberal arts college made national news be- freedom on even the largest campuses. cause they’re running for Congress. We can’t let that happen at Brenau. I’m not suggesting On the surface, that may not seem to be a big deal. that we abandon good manners and good taste, but we must We need look no farther than former faculty members from openly and honestly engage one another over bold ideas, Young Harris College or the University of West Georgia to examine issues from every possible point of view and, yes, unearth the names Zell Miller and Newt Gingrich. What intellectually test our principles and beliefs – or risk becom- makes this story more compelling is the fact that these ing intellectually stale. More importantly, we have a respon- gentlemen are from different political parties; they’re known sibility to ensure that intellectually active and competent, on campus for arguing passionately over issues where they expressive people with open minds lead our students into a differ; and they’re running against one another. world that grows smaller each day, a world those students But, wait. There is more. Political Science Professor must engage with open minds and boldly articulated ideas. Jeffery Walz and History Professor James Burkee are literally Future Brenau alumni must have total access to this ever- best friends. Their campaigns share the same headquarters, morphing and instantly communicating world. The univer- yard signs and speaking engagements. If the Federal Election sity must prepare them to communicate and do business Commission approves, they’ll divvy up contributions as well. with peoples from the opposite side of the globe with ease That approach swings refreshingly away from the divisive, and intelligence. rancorous politics we’ve all endured in recent years and This fall term presents us with opportunities to put this harkens to the days of Lincoln and Douglas. Despite rancor- into practice. We will immediately encounter two topics that ous, divisive politics of their day, and despite their having raise people’s hackles by our mere mention of the words: ter- both courted the woman Lincoln eventually married, the two rorism and abortion. Both present themselves not in forums remained steadfast in their friendship until their deaths – all for political or religious debate, but through art exhibits the while expounding on, examining and proposing very dif- designed to do nothing more than get people thinking about ferent ideas on critical issues for the nation. these extremely polarizing subjects in a neutral setting – in a The Burkee-Walz campaign also sets up a great para- university art gallery – and talking about their true feelings. digm for what “the university” ought to be about: intellectual Likewise, this fall many Brenau stakeholders and others in curiosity, testing principles, pushing ideas to their limits – all our community will engage in discourse over whether the in a forum conducive to exploring ideas from every possible university should consider launching a medical school or point of view and talking openly and candidly about impor- other entrepreneurial health care program. At this point, tant things. we have only commissioned a feasibility study that will not Those of us involved with small liberal arts institutions be completed until early 2008. Critically, two major compo- often harbor a conceit that we are part of an intimate cadre nents of that study must be thorough, open discussions con- of intellectual colleagues so comfortable in our relation- sidering the practical, educational and philosophical aspects F A L L 2 0 0 7 ships that no subject is taboo, no point of view stiled. Truth of this unique new opportunity. is, usually the opposite is the case in these institutions for a Debate need not only divide. It can heal, too. Let’s talk. Ed Schrader, Ph.D. BRENAU WINDOW [email protected] 2 WILL SUCCESS SPOIL SINGLE-GENDER EDUCATION AT BRENAU? FALL 2007 FALL Women’s College enrollments increased 50 percent in four years, counter to FALL 2007 FALL the national trends of declining enrollments of other single-gender institutions, BRENAU WINDOW many of which are ‘going coed’ or shutting down altogether. Once marketed as nurturing, safe havens for young women, many institutions are ‘re-inventing’ themselves to deal with real-world imperatives. by David Morrison BRENAU WINDOW 2 3 hen Helen Ray made plans dents and parents are willing to pay for. That is to leave her Tulsa, Okla., particularly true of private institutions because high school, she wanted they so heavily rely on tuition, fees and room irst to go to a women’s col- and board revenues to pay the bills. For single- irst woman to receive lege. “That was where all gender institutions it means students have to Asian American woman Scientiic Achievement appointed to a president’s Award for cancer research. Wthe smartest, cleverest women went,” says the enroll and graduate in consistent, adequate cabinet in U. S. history, Roslyn Wallace, Brenau University provost and vice president of numbers and that’s the major problem. Secretary of Labor, 2001. Brenau University Elaine L. Chao, academic affairs. “I wanted to be one of them.” According to the National Center for Education Mount Holyoke She picked Randolph-Macon in Lynch- Statistics, total enrollments for all women’s col- burg, Va., from more than 300 Women’s College leges in the United States totaled 93,430 in the irstwoman to become a choices. This fall, only 58 all-female higher edu- fall of 2001 but dropped 13 percent to 81,208 irstfemale judge in the South. tenured full professor of cation institutions in the United States opened two academic years later. By 2005, the last year Mary Kerr Morehead neurosurgery in the U. S., for business. Ray’s alma mater was not among for which data is available, enrollments rose Harris, Peace Frances K. Conley, Bryn Mawr them. It is now Randolph College, and the 115- slightly to 84,977 for a net decrease of 9 percent year-old institution admitted about 100 males. in a ive-year period. Larry Griffeths “It just… just… agghhh!... irritates me,” Brenau Women’s College, however, hears Senior nursing students in the new Brenau nursing facility. Technically part of the Women’s College, the nursing program is open to male students but remains largely populated by women. the usually unruflable Ray says. “I am really no such warning knell. After some low-point irstwoman secretary of the irst concerned about this trend we’re seeing across enrollments a few years ago, the Women’s Col- environmentalist institutions like Georgia Tech and Emory, where unsettling demographic trends in higher Democratic National Party. who awakened public the nation.” lege braced for close to 930 students for the Dorothy Vredenburgh Bush, numbers of women in the student body increase education in general. Close to 60 percent of Mississippi University consciousness through The trend began in the 1960s when insti- 2007-08 academic year, a 50 percent increase annually, but there are also many attractive op- all college and university applicants today are for Women her book, Silent Spring tutions like all-male Yale and all-female Vassar in four years. The all-time high introduced in 1961. tions in all-female institutions. Although, Vassar women. Since 1982, women have outpaced “went coed.” Although at least partially rooted some women’s college students to a fact of col- Rachel Carson, Chatham went coed, other prestigious “Seven Sisters” men in college graduation rates. In 2004, in the politics of the day, that “visible” reason lege life they’d never encountered: roommates. institutions did not, including Bryn Mawr and women received 58 percent of all bachelor’s de- for the changeover masked the realities that still Residence halls are at near capacity. institutions Brenau aspires to be mentioned in grees in the United States, compared to only 35 dog women’s colleges in 2007: tough inancial “So far as we are able, we are committed irstwoman to command a the same breath with. According to Newsweek percent in 1960. Experts predict that by 2009 irst issues that compel heart-wrenching decisions. to long-term growth, strength and vitality of the naval base and highest woman and only the magazine, schools like Mary Baldwin, Sweet only 42 percent of all baccalaureate degrees ranking woman in the third person to complete It’s the same for men’s colleges, too. Only four Women’s College,” says President Ed Schrader. Briar College and Hollins University are rein- awarded in the United States will be given to U. S. Navy. a 2,700 mile run all-male liberal arts institutions remain. “It is the core of Brenau University.” Rear Admiral Louise around Australia. venting themselves and aggressively recruiting men and by the 2013-14 academic year, women Just as a company must sell the prod- Keeping that commitment won’t be an Wilmot, College of Sarah Fulcher, Salem students in high-cost, sometimes academically receiving degrees will outnumber men by more St. Elizabeth ucts it makes to stay in business, colleges and easy job. First, there’s still plenty of competi- radical, initiatives. than 300,000. universities survive by providing education stu- tion. Not only is there the allure of larger coed Sweet Briar College, for example, played Although that fact pretty much estab- irst against the “pink is for girls” stereotype in its lishes that women have overcome the prejudice irst woman to win the Nobel 50 expensive, ironic, pink-tinted “Think is for that existed in their access to and acceptance in woman manager in Prize in literature.