My alma mater in the news . . .

[Lindsey]

. . . but I wish it were for some other reason (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/education/21women.html?ex=1158984000&en=3fa34a9cabc35273&ei=5087%0A). :(

They say that the red brick wall,
And each ivy-covered hall,
And the tower standing tall,
Were put here for just you and me.


--Lindsey

[Judy G. Russell]

I've been following this story and, quite frankly, I'm sorry to see it. While I don't like the idea of compelling anybody to attend a single-sex school, I hate to see the opportunity denied to those who want it. And I hate to see the loss of tradition.

[Lindsey]

I've been following this story and, quite frankly, I'm sorry to see it. While I don't like the idea of compelling anybody to attend a single-sex school, I hate to see the opportunity denied to those who want it. And I hate to see the loss of tradition.
Exactly. I'm in complete agreement with the college's interim president: there's definitely a place for single-sex education; there just isn't much of a market for it any more. And the irony is that one big reason for that is the success of the women's movement: young women have a lot more choices now than they did even when I was in school, let alone a century ago when the college was newly founded. When I was a freshman, UVa had only just begun to admit some few women, Chapel Hill had made it quite clear when I was a prospective student that women from out of state needn't even bother to apply (unless perhaps you were the next Madame Curie), and VMI was still men-only. Athletic scholarships for women were scarce.

I have been rather pleasantly surprised at how passionately the current students and the recent graduates have fought against taking the college co-ed. I had really expected it to be otherwise. But then, the students that are still there are not in the 40% of incoming freshmen who later transferred to co-ed institutions, or in the 97% of prospective women students who never considered a woman's college in the first place.

The one positive is that perhaps by shrinking the supply of women's colleges a bit, it will serve to make it easier for those that remain (and there still are some) to survive. I'd like to think there will still be some there for the next generation. I just always thought that R-MWC would be among them.

--Lindsey

[Judy G. Russell]

The one positive is that perhaps by shrinking the supply of women's colleges a bit, it will serve to make it easier for those that remain (and there still are some) to survive. I'd like to think there will still be some there for the next generation. I just always thought that R-MWC would be among them.I did too, until I saw the statistics. Hard to stay alive when you're giving away the store and eating into your endowment that much every year.

[Lindsey]

I did too, until I saw the statistics. Hard to stay alive when you're giving away the store and eating into your endowment that much every year.
Yeah, what that article had was an even higher tuition discount figure than I remember hearing at the various alumnae meetings over the last few months. I'm not sure what Sweet Briar was doing that we were not, except that maybe they were a stronger draw with the Virginia upper crust.

Just my luck that nobody was doing that discounting business when I was in school!

--Lindsey

[Judy G. Russell]

Just my luck that nobody was doing that discounting business when I was in school!It would have at least been nice to be rewarded for being a dinosaur! (Don't hit me...)

[Lindsey]

It would have at least been nice to be rewarded for being a dinosaur! (Don't hit me...)
LOL!! My college roommate says that we always seem to end up in that gray transitional era, where the old rules no longer apply, but the new ones haven't been established yet.

--Lindsey

[Judy G. Russell]

My college roommate says that we always seem to end up in that gray transitional era, where the old rules no longer apply, but the new ones haven't been established yet.That sounds like a description of my life...

[Lindsey]

That sounds like a description of my life...
Yeah, well -- you're only a couple of years ahead of me; you came along in the same era!

--Lindsey

[Judy G. Russell]

Yeah, well -- you're only a couple of years ahead of me; you came along in the same era!Boomers, we're the boomers... (altogether on the chorus)

[Lindsey]

Boomers, we're the boomers... (altogether on the chorus)
Uhhhh -- (coming up completely blank on this one)

--Lindsey

[Judy G. Russell]

Uhhhh -- (coming up completely blank on this one)Sorry... this week is the anniversary of the Flintstones...

[Lindsey]

Sorry... this week is the anniversary of the Flintstones...
Oh! Now I get it! :o

--Lindsey