University of Virginia Library

First-Year Coed Expresses Views
On All-Male School, Coeducation

By Stefan Lopatkiewicz
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

"I'm just one of the boys now,"
remarked Michie Gleason with a
smile as she discussed her semester
at the University as a full-time,
first-year student.

The "unique experience" of
being one of the four women in the
College of over 3,500 students was,
according to Miss Gleason, "hard to
get used to" but "turned out to be
great."

As University regulations
dictate, all four girl undergraduates
are daughters of members of the
University's faculty.

Never Sees Girls

"These other girls in the College
I just never see," said Miss Gleason,
who is interested in studying
journalism.

When asked how it was that she
decided to apply for admission to
the University as a regular student,
she replied that this was the last
alternative offered to her by a
member of the administration
whom she consulted. When she
indicated to the official that she
was interested in studying at the
University, he first suggested that
she enroll in the night school
program - which entails taking
courses at a variety of locations,
including one in Louisa - or at the
Madison extension of the
University.

Finally the official said that she
could apply for admission to the
University's main Grounds in
Charlottesville as a regular student,
but that he was not supposed to
recommend this alternative.

Full-Time Basis

Miss Gleason said, "I just
decided I wasn't going to do either
of the other two," but would enter
the University only on a full-time
basis. She said she consulted with
Mary Whitney, Dean of Women at
the University, and was then
informed that there would be "no
problem" with being admitted as a
regular student.

Miss Gleason said that there
"wasn't any real problem" with
getting in; it was left more or less
up to her as to what she wanted to
do.

She noted that her first week at
the University was "really awful."
"Everywhere I would walk I'd get
catcalls and whistles," she said. As a
member of the Page-Emmet
Association, she participated in that
group's orientation program and
found herself the only girl at the
meetings and thus highly
conspicuous.

Accustomed To Practice

She said she also had to adjust
to having to stand outside of
dormitories when she went to visit
friends there, and to "wading
through the boys packed in the
hallways." She added, however,
that she has now become
accustomed to these practices.

Turning to academics, Miss
Gleason said that she "couldn't
have had a better relationship in the
classroom situation." She noted
that before enrolling at the
University, she had heard about a
strong feeling against coeducation
with the student body, and that the
men students "take it out on the
girls in classrooms." She reported,
however, that she had not found
this true at all.

On the subject of coeducation
at the University, she said, "When I
first came here, I was against it
myself, but since then I've changed
my mind. I think a lot of guys here
can't establish a meaningful relation
with girls, and a lot of girls that I've
talked to from other schools
complain about this."

"I think everybody's just
moving toward coeducation," she
added. "The girls in women's
schools are getting tired with the
situation as it is."

Half Environment

She continued, "With no girls
and less than one per cent black
students here, what kind of
environment is that to prepare a
student for the world? Half the guys
come here with no idea how the
'other half' lives, and leave here
knowing no more about it."

"I love this school and I think it
has potentials to be one of the
greatest Universities," she said, but
complained, "They're so slow in
changing things."