Dive Brief:
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The College of Saint Elizabeth will begin the next chapter in its 116-year history with the admission of men to its historically all-women school.
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NJ.com reports Saint Elizabeth is the last degree-granting women’s college in the state, representing a dwindling of options from half a dozen to zero in a single generation.
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The college has cut faculty positions amid shrinking enrollment and financial concerns in recent years, but NJ.com reports that President Helen Streubert said the decision to admit men is not about any of these issues and instead represents the next phase in fulfilling the college’s mission of educating first-generation college students.
Dive Insight:
The College of Saint Elizabeth already admits men to its evening and weekend courses, but its daytime offerings have been open to women only since it opened in 1899. The pivot represents a common survival tactic for women’s colleges struggling to continue their educational missions. After all, women’s colleges that admit men do a better job of educating women than the ones who close. The major focus of the women’s college community this year has been the announced closure of Sweet Briar College in Virginia. Its alumni and current students are fighting to get a judge to prevent the school’s closure and force it to keep operating — an ambitious goal, but not one that is unheard of.