SUSAN HENDERSON MONTGOMERY v. TULANE Suit Reaches the End of the Line

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tulane University
1

<p>Most of you probably don't even know about this, but I thought I would post this up anyway.</p>

<p>Josephine Louise Newcomb (hence the dorm JL) gave Tulane $100,000 in the late 1800's and then more later and more in her will (about $3,000,000 in total, well over $50,000,000 in today's $$) to form a college for women as a memorial to her daughter Sophie. That was done, with Newcomb College being the first coordinate women's college in the United States. That's right, it actually preceded Radcliffe (Harvard), Barnard (Columbia) and Pembroke (Brown). After starting out in a Garden District mansion, it moved uptown to the current campus in 1918. Brandt Dixon of Dixon Hall was the first President. The building that now sustains the Newcomb Institute was the Newcomb President's residence, I believe.</p>

<p>After decades of separate instruction for men and women, classes gradually got more and more co-ed until finally, by the 1970's when I was there, there was no meaningful difference in the classes, instruction or most other aspects of day-to-day university life. However, Newcomb College maintained a separate faculty committee and administration, and there were other minor differences. Mostly it was more about the history, which to me is a significant thing. Newcomb's history is extraordinary. However, this also placed a needless duplication of costs on the university which, post Katrina, could not be tolerated. At that point they announced that Newcomb College would no longer exist as a separate entity and the current structure was introduced. BTW, the men's side was called the College of Arts & Sciences when I was there, then they changed it to Tulane College for a time.</p>

<p>Some alumnae tried to sue that this violated the instructions and intent of the donation, but the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled they didn't have standing since they were not descendants of Mrs. Newcomb. So they enlisted the great-great-niece or something like that and refiled. Tulane won at the appeals court level, and the Louisiana Supreme Court just voted 4-2 with one abstention to let the appeals court ruling stand. The basic reasoning for the majority is that Mrs. Newcomb's will and other instructions showed a preference for a certain use of the money, but not definitively that it had to be used in exactly the way it was forever. There is also the argument as to whether something like this can be binding in perpetuity because times change (after all, her original instructions talked specifically about "white girls and young women" but of course no one thinks we could hold to that), but I am not sure that was actually resolved. They instead focused on the precise wording in her bequest not being definitive.</p>

<p>I am sure the Tulane administration is glad to have that behind them.</p>

2

<p>Thanks so much for that summary. I’d followed the story to some degree, but generally only found various bits and pieces. As somebody who has long been fascinated by the history of women’s colleges and higher education, and a one time Seven Sisters student, I was very pleasantly surprised by the rich history of Newcomb College and how well preserved and documented it is throughout campus. I have a lot of classes in Newcomb Hall, and seeing the old photos of Newcomb students, combined with the constant initiatives from the Newcomb Institute, definitely makes me feel like I get a lot of the benefits of a women’s college despite the decidedly co-ed atmosphere of modern Tulane. While Tulane is certainly not ideal for many students seeking the women’s college experience, I do also feel that it’s a university much better prepared, due to its history, to really help women succeed. I also feel that the current diploma (<a href=“http://women.tulane.edu/images/diploma2008.jpg[/url]”>http://women.tulane.edu/images/diploma2008.jpg&lt;/a&gt;) and naming does a very good job of preserving the legacies of the once distinct colleges.</p>

3

<p>Dean Jean, who taught at Newcomb for a gazillion years, was a supporter of that suit, which is why I think she probably didn’t want much of a ceremony at TU when she passed away. Glad there is a scholarship in her memory, though.</p>

4

<p>I know you told me she was, and that is not surprising. I really can appreciate the emotional and other factors at work with a change like this, but it was costing the university millions to be structured the way it was, not to mention the difficulty in coordinating policy issues at times. It was truly something that, given the nature of Tulane today as anechkakith basically says, was an anachronism. I think the university deserves a lot of credit for the renaming of the college (NEWCOMB-Tulane) and the formation of the Newcomb Institute. The Institute could very easily evolve into one of the gems of academia world-wide with time. Given the circumstances, I think they honored the memory and wishes of Mrs. Newcomb and her daughter very well.</p>