This fall, for the first time in its 175-year history, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College will become fully coeducational as it admits men to its undergraduate, on-campus program.
College officials announced the change this morning during a news conference at the Jeanne Knoerle Sports and Recreation Center. "We believe it is part of a plan to make the college stronger," said Dottie King, college president.
On May 1, the board of trustees voted unanimously to become fully coeducational. The board has been in intensive deliberations about coeducation for a year, King said.
The Sisters of Providence General Council also supports the move, according to a statement issued by Sister Denise Wilkinson, general superior of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods.
SMWC will begin accepting applications immediately from men as commuter students for the fall of 2015. The college anticipates being able to accommodate men as residential students in fall 2016. Currently, SMWC offers coeducational opportunities in both the Woods Online courses and the graduate programs.
King will appoint an implementation team comprised of alums, faculty, staff, board members and students, who will offer their insights as the process moves forward. That group will be tasked with addressing academics, athletics, campus culture, facilities, security, student life and ways to advance the legacy of women’s leadership. "We need a lengthy discussion with all key stakeholders, about what having men on our campus means," she said.
Central to the decision, King said, is enrollment. National statistics indicate that less than 2 percent of college-age women will consider a single-gender institution. “We cannot be relevant to all women when 98 percent of women will not consider us," she said.
The reality is that the women's undergraduate, on-campus program doesn't have enough students, King told the Tribune-Star. "It is not a self-sustaining program," she said, adding that it would take 800 students to sustain the campus program.
"If all of our enrollment projections go well, we'll barely top 300 this fall, so that means 500 students short of self-sustaining," King said. "The other programs are carrying the day." The Woods Online and graduate programs, she said, both are "more than self-sustaining."
King noted that Sweet Briar College in Virginia, a 114-year-old women's college, announced in March it will close at the end of August, citing "insurmountable financial challenges." The college had a $94 million endowment — much larger than that of St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, she said.
"It sent a few shock waves through our community," said the SMWC president. "If a college that had that much money could close, what did that mean for us?"
When the board made its decision, "It was an emotional conversation," King recalled. "We all recognized the magnitude of 175 years. That's a weighty thing to make a change after that much time."
One alum acknowledged a sense of loss and sadness, King said, but also recognized it was a step the college needed to take going forward.
She believes the college could survive without making the undergraduate, on-campus program coed. But college leadership wants more than that. "We want to thrive; we want to grow," King said.
The decision to go fully coeducational is part of a larger strategic plan that looks at graduate programs, facilities, infrastructure and online programs.
In 1960, there were 230 women’s colleges in the United States. Since then, 52 have closed, 22 have merged with other colleges or universities, and 39 have become coeducational. Several others admit men to select undergraduate and graduate programs.
“We have reached a defining moment in our 175-year history to enhance excellence amidst changes that are both challenges and opportunities,” added King.
Students and alumni were going to be notified this morning by email, and letters also will be sent through traditional mail. Key people consulted or made already aware of the change include the Sisters of Providence General Council, the President's Cabinet, the two immediate past college presidents, key donors, some of the prior board chairs, the Archbishop of the Indianapolis Archdiocese, Lilly Endowment, and Teresa Lubbers, commissioner of higher education in Indiana