The furor over the recent vote by trustees of Randolph-MaconWoman's College to adopt coeducation is not what has been widelyportrayed in the media. It is not about disliking men. As a wife andmother of two sons, I can assure you of that.
It is also not about the relative merits of coeducation versussingle-sex education. Both options are valuable and have theirsupporters and rightly so.
No, the furor was caused when the trustees and officials of Randolph-Macon decided it was necessary to impose sudden andsignificant changes without adequate consideration of students andalumnae.
Despite the recent trustee decision, I believe Randolph-Macon willsurvive as a women's college. Why?
Most important, the school is worth saving. A first-rateeducation, the writing across the curriculum program and the abilityto produce high-achieving women are just a few of its fine qualitiesworth preserving.
It has an excellent per-capita endowment for a school its sizewith $133 million for 712 students.
Randolph-Macon's enrollment has been largely stable at 700 to 800 students for decades, with the exception of the 1960s when babyboomers entering college pushed enrollment to 900 students. In thelast 10 years, enrollment has been quite steady, even increasingslightly over the past three years.
The school just completed a successful $100 million campaign. Asof June, the college's most recent fundraising campaign had raised$105 million, $5 million more than its $100 million goal. These fundswere collected before most donors knew of the serious challengesfacing the college. If donors had known, they likely would havedonated considerably more funds to save Randolph-Macon.
Yet there are challenges.
Admissions materials and efforts can be improved. Randolph-Maconhas an excellent product but, for some reason, this message is notbeing received by many prospective students.
Retention rates, now in the range of 61 percent, can also beimproved. Options include reallocating funds currently spent onpoorly attended mixers, to fund activities that do enhance thesocial lives of students. The key is to study other women's collegesand look at how recruiting and retention methods differ. Thesemethods obviously work well elsewhere, and Randolph-Macon is too goodnot to be able to do the same.
We know that paid consultants do not hold the key to the successof Randolph-Macon.
For one big thing, unlike alumnae, they are not passionate aboutthe school or convinced of the benefits of our college. In addition,consultants are not accountable if their research turns out to befaulty or their suggestions lead to disappointment.
I believe the trustees and college officials have tried their bestand I am grateful for their service. However, trustees and otherofficials have, regrettably, given us ample reason to question theirjudgment.
-- They did not provide full and forthright disclosure regardingthe college's financial condition.
-- They did not provide full and forthright disclosure regardingthe fact that going coed was under serious consideration.
-- Trustees provided only about one month for people to react tothe strategic plan to drastically change and the information that thetrustees were poised to endorse it.
-- Most disturbing to me is that they have denied those whobelieve in Randolph-Macon and want to help save it a meaningfulopportunity to do so.
-- Finally, they have not provided current students withreasonable notice of the planned changes.
Our numbers are growing and we are in this for the long term.Students have submitted a list of demands to the trustees and areawaiting an answer.
In the meantime, alumnae and friends will continue to support thestudents. The number of people on an Internet listserv dedicated topreserving Randolph-Macon is now 800. A legal defense fund has beenestablished at preserveeducationalchoice.org. And a petition to keepthe school a women's college at http://www.petitiononline.com/rmwc/petition.html now has more than 4,750 signatures.
In the end, Randolph-Macon will survive and prosper.
Melanie West
West, a graduate of Randolph-Macon Woman's College, class of1990, is an attorney living in Richmond.
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