<p>Looks very likely--vote next month. Opinions??</p>
<p>RMWC report on subject</p>
<p>I feel it is deceitful towards the first years who applied because it is a women's college. We already had our first two transfers due to the news. They arent even considering staying as they are, they are so biased towards coeducation...</p>
<p>Don't you think in the long run it will lead to more applicants and students? They have a very nice location, a good reputation, and a very nice campus to offer.</p>
<p>The following letter in the News-Advance agress with you.</p>
<p>R-MWC would die if co-ed</p>
<p>After reading “Men at R-MWC?” (published Aug. 9), I urge the Lynchburg community to seek out more information on the strategic planning process taking place at
R-MWC, as any major decision will certainly have a profound impact on Lynchburg.
R-MWC alumnae have been left out in the cold several times during the last year on issues surrounding the new strategic plan. We ask for drafts and are denied. We ask to see the research, and are denied. We ask for methods used at obtaining the research, and are denied. We are being denied the opportunity to save our alma mater, as we know a co-ed college just could no longer be the same Randolph-Macon Woman’s College that we have come to know and love over the years.
In response to a statement from The News & Advance article made by Ginger Worden, current R-MWC President: “We’re opting to go for a more vibrant student body that will increase the demand for the extraordinary education we offer. We believe - having done research on other woman’s colleges - that in the end we will be educating more women by going co-ed.” Worden apparently knows nothing about the already vibrant student body that can be found behind “The Red Brick Wall” every August through May. She must also know nothing about the academic research that points to the plummet in level of academic education offered at women’s colleges that have gone co-ed. And she has apparently not read over 25 years of research on women’s colleges that overwhelmingly point to a higher quality of education for women at women’s colleges over co-educational colleges, nor has she viewed percentages of women college graduates on the U.S. Senate and in top positions at Fortune 500 companies.
If she would have known this information, she certainly would have never made such a credulous statement.
I urge the Lynchburg community to step forward and let their voices be heard about the looming changes in store for R-MWC and the surrounding area. Maybe the Board of Trustees will listen to the community that has housed R-MWC for the past 100 plus years, as they seem to have become deaf to their own alumnae.</p>
<p>Beth Zielinski
R-MWC Class of 2004</p>
<p>I read a very compelling letter from a professor (one I never had as a student, and I regret that) who noted how quickly the board seemed to be abandoning the same arguments the college has always used to champion single-sex education.</p>