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Gender Issues/Single-sex Institutions

Gender divisions in college Philadelphia Inquirer - Opinion Piece September 8, 2010 Many state universities enroll roughly equivalent numbers of women and men. Technical universities, meanwhile, continue to struggle to attract qualified women.  So where are all the women who account for their nearly 60 percent share of the total? At liberal-arts colleges.  And why do female high school seniors apply to this particular type of institution in such large numbers? Because these schools are home to some of the best undergraduate programs in the country, and girls are more likely to choose colleges for academic rather than extracurricular reasons.

Women Are Majority of College Fund Raisers, but More Men Hold Top Jobs Chronicle of Higher Education September 7, 2010 The Chronicle of Philanthropy, which looked at the top fund raisers for the charities on its 2009 Philanthropy 400 list (ranked by private-donation revenue), found that out of 119 colleges and universities, 61 percent had a man in the top fund-raising position, while 39 percent had female leaders. Just 3 percent of the top fund raisers were members of minority groups, who make up 8 percent of all college fund raisers.

Are Women's Colleges Still Needed? Washington Post - On Leadership Blog September 3, 2010 Doubters of women's colleges will inevitably ask how such schools can prepare wome - in a female only environment - to navigate a coed world. The findings, from not one or two, but several studies, show that women's colleges actually do it quite well. According to a multi-year study by Hardwick Day, alumni of women's colleges are more likely than all other graduates to serve in a leadership role within their undergraduate college or university.

Co-ed dorm rooms latest option for college students Sacramento, Calif., Bee August 3, 2010 Across the country, colleges are changing the roommate rules and allowing men and women to share a bedroom. Only a small portion of students are choosing the option, college officials say. And when they do, the arrangements almost always are platonic.  But the shift marks the next step in a decades-long evolution that's shrunk the space that once separated the sexes on college campuses.

Judge Rules Against Quinnipiac U. in Title IX Case Chronicle of Higher Education July 21, 2010 A federal judge in Connecticut has ruled that Quinnipiac University violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 by failing to provide equal opportunities for athletics participation to female students, and has called for Quinnipiac to produce within 60 days a plan detailing how it will come into compliance for the 2010-11 academic year.  The ruling also said that a varsity cheerleading team, which the university had said it would create next year, may not be considered a varsity sport for purposes of complying with federal gender-equity law.

Male trailblazers at Moore College of Art Philadelphia Inquirer July 11, 2010 Philadelphia's Moore College of Art and Design has, for the first time in its 162 years, accepted male students.  The school's decision to admit men had less to do with brazen barrier-breaking than with a legal mandate.  To found a graduate component last summer, Moore had to comply with a 1982 Supreme Court case barring single-sex admission.  The roughly 500-woman undergraduate college retains single-sex status as one of roughly 60 programs grandfathered into the ruling.

Is cheerleading a sport? Federal lawsuit in Connecticut could clarify Title IX guidelines Associated Press June 20, 2010 A federal judge is being asked to decide whether cheerleading can be counted as a sport by schools looking for ways to meet gender-equity requirements.  The issue is part of a lawsuit filed by five members of the volleyball team at Connecticut's Quinnipiac University and coach Robin Sparks last year after the school decided in a budgetary move to eliminate women's volleyball in favor of a competitive cheer squad.

A college president, and a working mother Washington Post - College Inc. Blog June 17, 2010 Tracy Fitzsimmons, president of Shenandoah University in Virginia, is 43, a mother of three -- and, of course, a woman. All this may seem unremarkable, but for the fact that the average college president is a 60-year-old man.  Fitzsimmons arrived in 2008. Not only was she, at 41, the youngest college president in Virginia, and the only one with three preschoolers, she was also the first woman president in Shenandoah's 133-year history.

For Hartwick College's President, an Unexpectedly Good Fit Chronicle of Higher Education June 13, 2010 As one of the nation's first openly lesbian couples living with children in a college president's home, the two walk a fine line. They are proud to be together, but they are careful not to make their partnership a political statement.  Although colleges are known as liberal places that have long embraced LGBT student groups and queer studies, it is still very unusual for a campus to have an openly gay or lesbian leader. The number of openly gay presidents has been inching up, but they still account for just 20 or so of more than 4,000 nonprofit and for-profit college leaders nationwide.

Emmanuel to honor its guiding light The Boston Globe June 1, 2010 Sister Janet Eisner speaks with a soft voice and often breaks out a sweet, grandmotherly smile.But despite her gentle demeanor, she is a fighter. For the past 30 years, she has steered Emmanuel College through a dramatic turnaround, moving the all-female campus to a co-ed institution and brokering a landmark deal with Merck Co. that sparked development and gave the Fenway campus a lifeline.Today, Eisner finds herself at the cusp of history as the nation's longest-serving female college president now sitting.

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