The Board of Trustees for Randolph Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg announced last Saturday their decision to convert the school to a coeducational institution starting next fall.
The decision was reached after a two-and-half-year strategic planning process by the Board of Trustees that reviewed the feasibility of RMWC's future as a single-sex college.
"You have to look at coeducation within the context of a strategic plan," Randolph Macon spokesperson Barbara Harbison said. "Emerging from that was the recommendation to go coed, along with a lot of other recommendations."
Founded in 1893, RMWC has been an all-woman's college for 115 years; however, according to Harbison, decreased interest in single-sex institutions prompted the Board to consider the change to coeducation.
"Market research shows that only three percent of women who take SATs will even consider going to a woman's college," Harbison said. "I think one of the things that coeducation does is that it makes the college more financially viable and increases the number of applicants."
Other single-sex institutions, such as Sweet Briar College, confirmed this statistic but refuted its effect on enrollment.
"The vast majority of women who go to woman's colleges weren't looking for a woman's college," Sweet Briar College President Elisabeth Showalter Muhlenfeld said.
The decision by the RMWC Board is being protested by some students and alumnae.
"I think the issue has been given up too quickly; 115 years of tradition and the single-sex institution is being thrown away," Erin Briggs, a senior at RMWC and member of the Coalition to Preserve Women's Education.
Anne Haley, RMWC senior and chairwoman and founder of the Coalition to Preserve Women's Education agreed.
"It really was heart-breaking," Haley said. "It took a long time for me to think about it rationally, and according to the numbers their showing us, it seems a rational step."
Haley said the validity of the figures used within the Board's strategic planning process, however, have been met with skepticism by students and alumnae.
"According to figures, they think more men means more women; we'll see if that's true," she said.
Haley added that last Saturday the Coalition to Preserve Women's Education "met with [various administrators] ... to find a way to get the students more involved in the decision-making process."
Haley also noted the potential decrease in alumnae contributions as a result of the decision.
While Harbison said RMWC expects the decision to affect alumnae relations, it will not affect the school's welcoming of alumnae.
"We care deeply about our alumna and the alumnae association ... we also realize there are many alumnae who may simply drop their association with the college," Harbison said. "At the same time, the door is always open here once you are alumna of Randolph Macon you're always an alumna of the college."
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