To the Editor:
Thanks to Notre Dame of Maryland University President James F. Conneely for his letter to The Chronicle (“‘There Remains a Place for Women’s Colleges,’" January 28). His commitment to women’s colleges and specifically the college that he has been charged with running filled me with both joy and sorrow.
I was one of many alumnae who worked to encourage Wilson College to remain true to her mission of educating women. Responding to a process that was rushed and often lacked verifiable nationwide data and feasibility studies, alumnae took it upon themselves to find the research that would support a growing market for Wilson if she would remain a women’s college.
Across the nation women’s colleges are in a period of steady growth. This information, readily available through every college’s Common Data Set, was also confirmed by directors of enrollment at various women’s colleges across the nation. While it is true that very few 16-year-old women will consider attending a women’s college, this upward trend indicates that by age 18, they will. Rural or urban, large or small, Ivy League or not, young women are enrolling in women’s colleges. Innovative programs, individualized attention, and mission-driven administrations all working synergistically to affirm the place of the women’s-college experience.
Belief in their mission is the thread that weaves all of the constituencies of a committed women’s college into not just a piece of fabric, but a rich and supportive tapestry that preserves the legacy of the past with the knowledge that “the best is yet to come.”
Belief is what Wilson College lacks. In hindsight it appears that over the past few years administrators, some faculty members, staff members, and sadly even alumnae lost sight of their mission. In 2010, the Wilson Board of Trustees created a document, often referred to as the “We Believe Statement,” that reaffirmed their commitment as a women’s college. Two years later it is apparent that the college redirected its focus on a path to justify the erasure of a 144 year commitment.
The current buzzword in higher education is “transformative.” Wilson College transformed itself by tossing out a 144-year dedication to the education of women. Wilson was treated as if she was a disposable commodity easily replaced by a new belief system.
I believe in the future of women’s colleges. I believe that Wilson could have and should have chosen a different path. Belief can change the world, as it did for generations of Wilson College women.
Carol Noon
Chattanooga, Tenn.
