University of Virginia Library

Restrictive Curriculum

Thirty-five (36%) women indicated that
they did not enjoy their academic tenure at the
University, giving as their primary reasons the
curriculum and courses they were required to
follow and take in their respective schools.

After answering the question about
academic satisfaction, the respondents were
asked if they had enjoyed the University,
socially. Seventy-one (75) indicated that they
had, giving as their primary reason the
opportunity to participate in a variety of
activities and to meet and know a variety of
people.

The primary reason given by the 25 (25%)
women who said they had not enjoyed the
University, socially, was the attitudes held by
the men students about women. One student
wrote "I found the U.Va. 'gentleman'
ungentlemanly."

After answering questions about their own
experiences at the University, the fourth year
women answered questions about the major
academic problems they thought first year
women would encounter in September, 1970.
Thirty-two (33%) students responded that the
biggest problems for the first year women
would be learning self-discipline and budgeting
their time.

Twenty-five (26%) respondents thought that
the first year women would probably be so
bright that they would have no problems,
academically speaking. However, 39 (41%)
other respondents indicated that the major
problem facing first year women students
would be the negative attitudes toward women
held by male professors and students in the
classroom.