More women than men apply for same number of spots at university

When Dottie Lewis was an undergraduate at Westhampton College in the 1950s, men lived on the northern side of Westhampton Lake and women lived on the southern side.

Women had to be studying in their dorms by 7 p.m.; men didn't. Men were allowed to have cars; women weren't allowed to have them until their senior years.

Men and women had separate gyms and dining halls. A concrete road bridged the two colleges so Westhampton students could cross the lake to take science or math classes. Choir was held on the Westhampton side.

There were only about 100 Westhampton students per class, and the requirements to attend the college were more competitive than those to attend Richmond College, which historically focused on training Baptist ministers. The E. Claiborne Robins School of Business and T.C. Williams School of Law were reserved primarily for men, making the male-to-female ratio on campus 2-to-1.

Today, that ratio is close to 50-50, but women are applying to college in higher numbers.

Admissions data shows that 7,970 people applied to be part of Richmond's undergraduate class of 2012.

Fifty-eight percent of those applicants were women. Thirty-two percent of the men who applied were accepted, compared to 31 percent of female applicants.

In other words, the number of women applying to college has increased while the acceptance rate has not.

The university has continually seen at least 1,000 more women than men apply each year for the same number of spaces in Richmond and Westhampton colleges, said Pam Spence, the dean of admissions. She said that in an ideal world, Richmond would like to achieve a 50-50 gender balance.

Juliette Landphair, the dean of Westhampton College, said there were more qualified women applying to college because more women than men had been applying to college since the 1970s. Data from the U.S. Department of Education show that women make up about 58 percent of undergraduates nationally.

At the University of Richmond, the Board of Trustees has set the maximum difference in the ratio of women to men at 55-45 percent, Landphair said.

One reason for this policy is that students like the 50-50 breakdown. And the idea that the housing office must set up the coordinate college system means anticipating a certain number of men and women each year.

"People want to go somewhere that is balanced," said David Leary, a psychology professor and former dean of arts and sciences who is on sabbatical this year. "On the one hand it seems unfair, but on the other hand, women want 50-50 schools."

During the information technology boom of the 1980s and 1990s, men began going straight into the work force after high school instead of going to college, Leary said. Men could start making money immediately in the field of information technology, he said, and many of them became successful.

But today, a college degree is essential for success, he said. Leary wasn't sure what accounted for the current trend, but said women seemed to mature earlier and had more interest in intellectual matters than men, who could get that later.

Leary said he had noticed men at Richmond become serious and perform well academically starting during the second semester of their sophomore years. Male students today are stronger and more academically focused than previous Richmond College students, he said.

Landphair said Westhampton College had a tradition of high academic excellence. Last year, three-quarters of Phi Beta Kappa honor recipients were women, she said.

Omicron Delta Kappa, a leadership and scholarship honor society, struggles each year to find enough male applicants whose GPA qualifies them for membership, said Matt Whittaker, president of the Richmond College Student Government Association and an ODK member.

"But a lot of them have the leadership [qualifications]," he said.

Westhampton College's curriculum has been more rigorous than that of Richmond College from its inception.

The University of Richmond began as a Baptist seminary for men in 1830. In 1899, Lulie Gaines Winston, daughter of a faculty member, was the first woman to graduate from Richmond College and the first woman to graduate from a Virginia college founded to educate men.

The college moved in 1914 from downtown Richmond to where it is today, and opened Westhampton College for women. President Frederic Boatwright hired May Keller, an English professor from Goucher College who had a doctorate degree from the University of Heidelberg, to be the school's first dean, making her the first female dean of a Virginia college. She was dean for 32 years.

Dottie Lewis' mother attended Westhampton College under Keller.

"Keller was a rebel for her time," Lewis said. "She wanted women to do as well as she did."

Boatwright hired Keller because he wanted Westhampton to offer the same liberal arts curriculum as Richmond College, and he wanted a dean who prized scholarship. Keller was known for her high expectations and strict rules.

In 1914 female education was a relatively new entity, said Joe Boehman, dean of Richmond College. He said Westhampton represented a nationwide trend in education, where female colleges have emphasized female gender development while the study of masculinity as a construct is still a new idea. The way Keller clearly set forth her expectations did a great service to Westhampton, he said.

Today the Tyler Haynes Commons connects the two colleges, and students live on both sides of the lake. Women can spend entire nights in the library without worrying about a curfew.

"I'm pleased with the way [Westhampton College] kept up its academic standards," Lewis said.

Boehman said Richmond College did not start defining itself until the 1990s. "We're a long way from where I want us to be," he said. He said he hoped Richmond College would be cognizant of producing positive image of masculinity and honoring others.

Whittaker said: "There is a strong tradition in Westhampton College, and an identity there. I think that is something Richmond College is trying to improve and define."

Collegian staff writer Michael Rogers contributed reporting for this story.

Contact staff writer Kimberly Leonard at kimberly.leonard@richmond.edu