Admitting men to Wells College is beneficial

Fifty years ago last May, Chief Justice Earl Warren delivered the unanimous opinion in what was arguably the most influential Supreme Court case of our nation's history. In Brown v. Board of Education, the chief justice penned that "the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."

Five decades after Brown, we find students willingly choosing to segregate themselves during their college years. A different sort of "separate but equal" division still exists in the American educational system -- one based on gender. Yet, while no one with half a brain would argue that all-female institutions are not on par with their co-ed counterparts, it's hard to argue that an "integration of the genders" doesn't improve the overall academic experience. By abandoning its longstanding guideline of accepting only women, Wells College has tried to do just that.

Wells is a school of 400 in upstate New York that has accepted only women throughout its 136-year history. Recently, the school's board of trustees decided to erase that tradition. CNN reported Monday that the school will begin accepting male applicants for next year's class. Board of Trustees President Stephen Zabriskie made the decision to admit male students to increase enrollment and revenue.

Ann Rollo, vice president for external relations, remarked in The Ithaca Journal that "We've worked very hard to increase the enrollment of women students the past four decades, but it has stayed around 400, and that's not enough to sustain the college and allow it to thrive." Some may say it's foolish to sacrifice tradition for the almighty dollar but ultimately, it's the money that talks. What good does it do to uphold a tradition if your school can't financially support it? As a Whartonite, I'm sure my accounting professors would not approve.

Financially, this may be alleviating a huge burden on the school. That's fine. But by doing this, Wells is actually making the school more consistent with the academic ideals it strives to promote.

This isn't meant to admonish all women's colleges. I know studies show that women who go to single-sex schools do quite well. Far be it from me to criticize someone's personal choice. I'm just using Wells' criteria.

On the school's Web site, there's a section devoted to "Why Wells?" One of the first justifications is, "It's a real world experience." I kid you not. It's real-world experience to surround yourself with an entirely female academic environment. Think outside the box for a second. What kind of real-world experience are these young women getting by not interacting with their male counterparts?

In the real world, college is more than just study and research. It involves interacting with your fellow students. While there may be a difference in geography or culture -- or in this case gender -- there is a shared academic thread. That's why schools like Penn value all kinds of diversity. It prepares students for the challenges that await them outside of school, where things are not so homogenous as they are in, say, Long Island. I'm not stupid enough to claim that these girls never see guys, but it seems silly to proclaim that you're getting a real-world experience when the real world in Wells is anything but.

The Web site goes on to say, "The women's college environment ensures that women always come first, whether in the classroom, in student government or on the athletic field." To me, this doesn't sound like the real world. It may be idealistic, but it's a false utopia. How does Wells prepare them for the society that awaits them, in which they will not always come first? While there's no intrinsic harm in this, I would argue that the real world stems from a belief that men do in fact exist and that often there is competition between the genders.

Still, the women of Wells do not wish to share their academic halls with men. Students protested on campus holding signs proclaiming, "Coeducation Silences Women." CNN reported that the fear was that male students would come to dominate the classroom.

First off, any male who chooses to go to a school that's been all-female for nearly a century and a half probably isn't looking to dominate the classroom. I'm guessing he's looking to dominate some different extracurricular activities.

If a student really believes that co-education silences women, then she is clearly not living in the real world. What better way to shatter this ridiculous notion than to have this particular student learn with men? What better way to open up her eyes?

On the surface, opening up Wells College to men may seem like a great way to increase the school's coffers. It is, but the real benefits are intangible. By breaking with this 136-year-old policy, the school is actually making itself more consistent with its ideals. Tradition for its own sake is foolish.

Craig Cohen is a Wharton junior from Woodbury, N.Y. He Hate Me appears on Fridays.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.