University of Virginia Library

Co-Education

The following is the text or a
letter sent to Dean Woody last year
(12 February 1968) at his invitation.
It expresses my views on
co-education at the University, a
controversial issue calling for major
decisions this year.

"This letter is prompted by
your kind invitation of 26 January
to state my views regarding the
admission of women to the College.

"As I understand it, the only
apparently viable argument against
the inclusion of women is that it
has always been that way, that it is
tradition. But, to my mind, there
are two kinds of traditions, those
which encourage the retention of
certain valuable practices established
over the years, and those
which inhibit progress and blunt
the reality of twentieth-century engagement.
Clearly, the tradition
which excludes women from the
College belongs to the latter type.

"Moreover, how long can a publicly-supported
institution like the
University continue to flout all
recent legislation regarding equal
rights for all Americans, regardless
of sex? I do not question our right
to discriminate against ignorant, under-achieving
students or applicants,
but we cannot legally refuse
admission to a whole group
simply because they differ from
males. I am indeed surprised that
this issue has not yet been raised,
for the basic right of education
does in fact extend now to women.
The University has a special obligation
to qualified women, if only
those in Virginia, to raise them
from a position of inferiority to
one of equality.

"I will leave to your committee[1]
the technicalities of implementing
a program which will allow
women to partake of the facilities
at our disposal in the University.
Perhaps the recent project at Sarah
Lawrence, mutatis mutandis, could
serve as a model for us.

"It is to be hoped that, with a
quality education afforded to
women by this University, they will
be enabled to work side by side
with man to transform, for tomorrow,
into a harmonious and humane
striving for."