April 24, 1918 - Last Student Editorial Against Co-education

While the Strode Bill had been passed a month earlier, some students at the College were not willing to let women in. On April 24, 1918, an opinion piece ran on the front page of the Flat Hat entitled "Sine Qua Non," by "A Student." In it, "A Student" explained what a tragedy it was that the College was going to lose its "traditions." At the end of the article, the author suggested to his fellow students to stop co-education by dissuading the young, college aged women in their lives from attending William and Mary in the fall.

As history tells us, this young man's plot failed to keep co-education from the College, and in September, twenty women did enter as part of the class of 1922. Interestingly, this is the last of the Flat Hat articles decrying co-education. This illustrates that compared to other institutions that went co-ed in the first half of the twentieth century, William and Mary students and faculty were rather accepting of the idea of co-education. For example, a college about the size of William and Mary, Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, went co-ed in the fall of 1942. The students at Drew were outraged, as their student newspaper, The Acorn, indicates in April, 1942. The entire front page of that April issue was consumed by the headline "Drew Goes Co-Ed," followed by an article, which attempted to placate an assumed outraged student body by stating that the "girls" who will only be at the college during World War II, will not be allowed to live in the dormitories on campus and will be kicked out once the men come back from the war. This type of strong reaction against co-education is actually quite normal for most colleges in the twentieth century. Reaction against co-education prevented universities and colleges, such as Harvard and Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine; from going co-ed until the 1970s.

So, while some at William and Mary may have had adverse reactions to the idea of women enrolling in the college and meddling with "tradition," these sentiments were rather tame and in the minority compared to other colleges and universities across the country as they thought about and became co-educational.

Additional information about the history of Drew University is available from the Drew University Archives.


For additional information about the first women students at the College of William and Mary see: When Mary Entered with her Brother William: Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945 by Laura F. Parrish; "The Petticoat Invasion": Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945; The Martha Barksdale Papers; and the Women at the College of William and Mary page on the Special Collections Research Center Wiki.

April 19, 1918: News from the Board of Visitors Meeting

The meeting of the Board of Visitors of the College of William and Mary on April 19, 1918, included the typical business of the group related to College infrastructure, faculty, and students. Among the new positions the BOV authorized President Lyon G. Tyler to hire was a Dean of Women who would be paid $2,000 annually-the same amount as the proposed new professor of Chemistry and $400 more than the proposed associate professor of Modern Languages. Click to enlarge.


The BOV also authorized President Tyler and a member of the faculty to visit women's colleges on fact-finding trips to learn more about the education of women and report back to the BOV at their next meeting in June. Click to enlarge.



For additional information about the first women students at the College of William and Mary see: When Mary Entered with her Brother William: Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945 by Laura F. Parrish; "The Petticoat Invasion": Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945; The Martha Barksdale Papers; and the Women at the College of William and Mary page on the Special Collections Research Center Wiki.

March 15, 1918: Strode Bill Approved

Just a quick post to note that the Strode Bill making coeducation at the College of William and Mary official was approved on March 15, 1918.

The bill's sponsor, Senator Aubrey E. Strode of Amherst, Virginia, may be better known for drafting Virginia's Eugenical Sterilization Act (1924), which he later argued in favor of before the U.S. Supreme Court as Buck v. Bell (1927). Strode's support for coeducation, which began in 1910 with his proposal of a bill to bring a coordinate college (a women's college) to the University of Virginia continued as he supported coeducation at VPI after William and Mary brought women to campus. To learn more about coeducation at VPI (Virginia Tech), including Strode's role, see Access and Inclusion: Women Students at VPI, 1914-1964 and for more information about coeducation at the University of Virginia, see Breaking and Making Tradition: Women at the University of Virginia.



For additional information about the first women students at the College of William and Mary see: When Mary Entered with her Brother William: Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945 by Laura F. Parrish; "The Petticoat Invasion": Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945; The Martha Barksdale Papers; and the Women at the College of William and Mary page on the Special Collections Research Center Wiki.

March 13, 1918: The Flat Hat

The Flat Hat article of March 13, 1918, about coeducation at the College of William and Mary, which appeared after the House of Delegates had voted in favor of the Strode Bill, was a bit more optimistic than the article of February 27 (there was no mention in the newspaper's March 6 or 10 issues). The article stressed how the college would benefit from coeducation, with larger appropriations from the General Assembly for more buildings, including "new dormitories, another dining hall, and a new and more commodious gym." The newspaper anticipated the "new social element" that the presence of women would bring to William and Mary and predicted that the "bonds of tradition would be broken" with coeducation. No longer would things have to be done merely because "that's the way it's always been done," and the participation of women in activities would "rejuvenate them with better standards."



For additional information about the first women students at the College of William and Mary see: When Mary Entered with her Brother William: Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945 by Laura F. Parrish; "The Petticoat Invasion": Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945; The Martha Barksdale Papers; and the Women at the College of William and Mary page on the Special Collections Research Center Wiki.

Feburary 27, 1918: The Flat Hat

To again quote from Laura Parrish's M.A. thesis When Mary Entered with Her Brother William: Women Students at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945:

The Flat Hat, the student newspaper and chief forum of student opinion at the College of William and Mary, did not comment on the Strode Bill until after it had passed the Senate. On February 27, the paper discussed the effects of coeducation in negative terms. It saw the necessary enlargement of the physical plant and of the faculty as being of questionable value and as a step that would not "help our tradition in the least." The article, or editorial as it may have been, suggested making another college coeducational or upgrading one of the women's normal schools. It concluded with the hopes that if coeducation became a reality, the students would "make the best of it," and "that our environment--socially and in every other way [would] be benefited by coeducation."

The Strode bill had passed the Virginia Senate by a vote of 19 to 13. The necessary physical plant improvements at the College included expanding certain departments (more faculty) and adding more dormitories and in the short-term completing the remodeling of existing dorms to accommodate "such a new addition to our student body." The Flat Hat's editors seem to have accepted the eventuality of coeducation at their College by this date.



For additional information about the first women students at the College of William and Mary see: When Mary Entered with her Brother William: Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945 by Laura F. Parrish; "The Petticoat Invasion": Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945; The Martha Barksdale Papers; and the Women at the College of William and Mary page on the Special Collections Research Center Wiki.

February 21, 1918: The Virginia Gazette

So what did the local press have to say about coeducation at the College of William and Mary?


The Virginia Gazette included an article about the progress of the Strode Bill on page 1 of the February 21, 1918, issue. About half of the article was dedicated to the "details of caring for women students" such as living quarters for fall 1918 and beyond. Click on the image at right to enlarge the article.

Laura Parrish noted in her M.A. thesis When Mary Entered with Her Brother William: Women Students at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945:

"On 21 February 1918 the Virginia Gazette damned the Strode Bill with faint praise, noting that coeducation would probably turn out well--after all, other states had survived the ordeal. The editorial also noted that women sought coeducation "at the price of the womanhood Virginia had cherished as a sacred thing," thus expressing the age-old belief that higher education was somehow beyond the capabilities of women and would lead to the destruction of their physical, as well as their mental, health."

Here is the complete editorial for your reading pleasure. Click on the image to enlarge the article.













Laura Parrish's thesis is available online as part of the Petticoat Invasion online exhibit and of course you are welcome to visit the Special Collections Research Center to read the paper copy anytime we are open. The Virginia Gazette is available on microfilm on the ground floor of Swem Library. We do have paper copies here in the SCRC, but you might find the longer hours and printer/scanners in the microforms area more convenient.



For additional information about the first women students at the College of William and Mary see: When Mary Entered with her Brother William: Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945 by Laura F. Parrish; "The Petticoat Invasion": Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945; The Martha Barksdale Papers; and the Women at the College of William and Mary page on the Special Collections Research Center Wiki.

February 19, 1918: The Flat Hat

The February 19, 1918, issue of The Flat Hat shared more details of the activities of the previous week's meeting of the College of William and Mary's Board of Visitors, including mention of the endorsement of the Strode Bill. There was no commentary from the student newspaper on the BOV's decision at that time.

The Flat Hat is a rich source of information, announcing events taking place on campus as well as reflecting student opinion. It began publication in October 1911 and, except during the fall of 1918, has been continuously published ever since. Until a few years ago, library staff indexed the The Flat Hat (as well as the Alumni Gazette and the William and Mary News) by subject and personal name. This index is still available as a card file in the Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) for public use. All three of these publications are available in the SCRC in Swem Library on microfilm and in paper format. Contact the staff of the SCRC for further information or search assistance (spcoll@wm.edu or 757-221-3090).

The Flat Hat is available online from the Special Collections Research Center. All issues from September 1939 through May 1950 and most issues from August 2004 through February 2007 are available for browsing and keyword searching online. The remaining issues from 1911 through April 1990 and August 1992 through March 1999 are available for browsing only at present. Current issues of The Flat Hat can be found online at http://www.flathatnews.com/.



For additional information about the first women students at the College of William and Mary see: When Mary Entered with her Brother William: Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945 by Laura F. Parrish; "The Petticoat Invasion": Women at the College of William and Mary, 1918-1945; The Martha Barksdale Papers; and the Women at the College of William and Mary page on the Special Collections Research Center Wiki.