Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College students emerged from a meeting Thursday evening with differing opinions about the school’s plan to go coeducational this fall. Some expressed disappointment with the plan, while others said they supported the administration’s move.
President Dottie King and other administrators listened to input at Hayes Auditorium in Hulman Hall. The college earlier canceled a planned meeting for alums, students and parents, inviting only currently enrolled students.
Jacqui Peterschmidt and Dagny Gargas, both incoming juniors, said they wished administrators had sought to find middle ground between those who want the implementation delayed and those who supported the plans.
They started a group urging the campus to hold off until fall 2018, after current students have earned their diplomas.
“We were hoping that that compromise would at least be considered,” Gargas told reporters after the meeting.
Peterschmidt added, “We saw no evidence, anywhere in the news releases or in the strategic plan published by the school, that a two-year or a three-year delay could not be done.”
Under the coeducational plans announced Tuesday, men can enroll as commuter students this fall and should be able to live on campus starting in fall 2016.
King said she felt the meeting went well and the students asked good questions and listened to one another.
“My biggest fear was that, you know, I didn’t want them to be at odds with another, and that didn’t happen,” she said.
Two students said they supported the administration’s move, although they believe the announcement could have been handled better.
“When I first heard about it, I was upset,” said Kirsten O’Rourke, an incoming senior. “But after thinking on it and thinking about the change in the world and how this will affect us as students, I really thought that I would rather see the school go on for another 175 years than to see it close in 10.”
Frances Garrett, another incoming senior, said the meeting helped students make more informed opinions about the decision.
“I believe it’s more spread out now,” she said. “Most of us went in with just raw emotion, trying to figure out what was going on.
“Now that we’re a bit more informed, I really feel that we’re going to divide and settle into how we truly feel about it,” she continued. “My personal thought is, hopefully it will help the school.”
About 50 students attended the meeting. Peterschmidt and Gargas said they believed there wasn’t enough time allotted for everyone to offer input.
“I felt that we were, on the whole, disrespected,” Peterschmidt said.
The question and answer session was at first limited to 30 minutes, Gargas said. Time was extended to 35 minutes, but at the end, 16 students still had questions.
“They called it a dialogue, when it really wasn’t that,” Peterschmidt said. “I personally felt like there’s been more audience participation in some of my lecture halls.
“So, basically what happened is that a student would pose their question, the administrators would explain to us why we were wrong and why our compromise wouldn’t work, and then we’d move on to the next one,” she continued. “And the next person would be told that they were wrong.”
After the meeting, King told the Tribune-Star the college couldn’t delay the plans because of the financial component, and putting it off would cause the “hurt and anguish” to continue longer.
She said she had anticipated the reaction the announcement would bring.
“We’ve talked for a long time about students at the Woods finding their voice,” she said. “And when they find their voice, they use it.”
She said she was proud of the students who want to delay implementation for feeling passionately about their experience at Woods and expressing their feelings.
King said she wished she could have found a different way to invite students to a campus meeting announcing the coed plans. Students learned the news through a mass email.
“I didn’t know,” she said. “Students don’t read email anymore, and I wish I would have done a better job of getting them together on the day.”
Students at the meeting received support from about 15 alumnae who waited for news about the meeting.
About 10 minutes before the session wrapped up, Emily Pancheri — an online student who drove from the Chicago area for the meeting — burst out of the auditorium into the hallway.
“They are spitting on our legacy!” she screamed.
Pancheri sat in the meeting for about 20 minutes until she said participants threatened to remove her from the room. She decided to leave on her own.
“You can’t just pull the rug out from under us and expect us to be happy,” she told the Tribune-Star about the coed decision.