Women's College To Go Coed, Keep Offering Single-Sex Courses
LatestCurrently all-female Peace College has decided to admit men, but they’re going about it in an unusual way — they’ll be keeping some classes gender-segregated, ostensibly to accommodate male and female “learning styles.”
On the face of it, Peace’s plan makes a certain amount of sense. Inside Higher Ed notes that students at other women’s colleges have resisted attempts to admit men (Mills College students once protested that they were “better dead than coed”), and keeping single-gender classes could be a way to preserve the environment Peace is known for. And students will apparently be able to choose either single-gender or coed versions of their courses. However, the approach is already sparking criticism. For starters, it may be illegal — under Title IX, colleges are allowed to admit only women, but segregating individual classes within a coed school is prohibited under most circumstances.