REPO RT
SUBMITTED TO THE
d~rustees of orelRI   t~firslt,
IN BEHALF OF A MAJORITY OF THE
COMMITTEE ON ad. BAKqE' PROPOPAL
TO
ENDOW A COLLEGE FOR WOMEN.
BY ANDREW D. WHITE,
Chairman of the Committee.
AI.BANY, FEBRUARE 13, 1872.
ITHACA, N. Y.
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
1 872.
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E P0 T.
To THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE CORNELL UNIVERSITY:  Gentleilen. —The Committee appointed at your last meeting to examine
and report concerning the establishment of an institution for the educatiorn
of women in connection with the University, as well as in regard to any
proffer of an endowment for that purpose, respectfully submit the following
REPORT.
Your Committee began at once an extended correspondence with persons in various parts of the country whose experience in the education of
the sexes together, gives their statements value; they also obtained various
documents bearing on the question.
But in this correspondence they did not consult the authorities of colleges which had never tried the system.  They had before them, already,
a long report based on information thus obtained-the report made to the
Regents of the University of Michigan several years since-when the subject was first broached in that State. The Regents' committee wrote to a
large number of eminent gentlemen connected with the venerable institutions of learning in the older States, and to a very small number of others.
The result was what might have been expected. It was as if the Japanese
authorities aroused to the necessity of railroads and telegraphs, had corresponded with eminent Chinese philosophers regarding the ethics of the
subject, instead of sending persons to observe the working of railroads
and telegraphs where they are already in use. Of course, the great majority of responses to that committee were overwhelmingly against the admission of women.  It was declared to be "contrary to nature," "likely
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REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE
to produce confusion," "dangerous," "at variance with the ordinances of
God; " in short, every argument that a mandarin would be sure to evolve
from his interior consciousness against a railroad or a telegraph which he
had never seen, these correspondents reproduced against a system of
education which they had never tried.
Nor did your Committee think it just to give theories on one side, with out giving them as fully on the other. Against the theories of the emi nent men referred to, it would be only fair to set those of such men as John
Stuart Mill and Henry Thomas Buckle. Such a discussion would have
made the report very cumbrous, and it has been judged best to present,
mainly, facts and reasoning based on the experiences of those who by practice know something of the matter under consideration.
A subordinate Committee, consisting of Messrs. Sage and WVhite, was
therefore appointed to visit leading Universities and Colleges to which
young women have been admitted with young men, and to make examination into their various systems, and their results, moral and intellectual.
The institutions visited were Oberlin College, the State University of
Michigan, the Northwestern University, near Chicago, the State Industrial University of Illinois, and Antioch College, at Yellow Springs, Ohio,
the college in whose work that noble citizen, Horace Mann, gave up his
life. The State University of Wisconsin had been previously visited by a
member of the Committee; the State Agricultural College of Iowa presented an example too recent to carry great weight; but a valuable letter
was received from its President, discussing the subject and stating facts
established in a long previous experience.
It was with some surprise that the Committee, even those members
whose attention had been long directed to the subject, found how great a
body of facts had already been established, tending to the solution of the
question in hand.
That there had been much presentation of theories on one side and the
other, they well knew. Discussions as to woman's mental and moral capacity, her sphere of activity, her equality with man or subordination to
him,-theories, physiological, psychological, political, esthetical and biblical, they were aware, had been presented in endless variety; but they now
learned more clearly than ever before that, in this matter, there is a vast
body of facts,-the outgrowth of various ideas, upon various soils, in accordance with various systems, under various degrees of freedom.
It seemed their first duty to investigate these facts separately, then to
collate them, then to throw any light thus concentrated into various theories and programmes.
First of all it was found that, for very many years, in fact during the
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ON THE SAGE PROPOSITION.
greater part of the century, the education together of young men and
young women of marriageable age, and coming from distant homes, has
been going on all about us, in the Academies and High Schools of the State
of New York and neighboring States, and that not only have no evil results followed worthy to be taken into the account, but that the system has
worked so well that it has come to be regarded as natural and normal.
While this practical experiment has thus been going on for many years,
under almost perfect freedom as regards boarding, lodging and social intercourse, with no well-watched quadrangles, no system of proctors to
restrain the young men, or of matrons to guard the young women, the disputants on this question, on either side, appear to have been straining
their eyes in looking deep down into the human consciousness or afar off
into the universe at large, to solve a problem which their fathers and
mothers, and sons and daughters had done so much already to work out,
nay, in whose solution they themselves had taken part.
Among the letters giving results obtained in this field of experience,
none certainly is entitled to greater weight than that of the Honorable
Samuel B. Woolworth, for thirty-two years the successful Principal of
some of the best academies in the State, and of one which, under his management, ranked in many respects the first. It should be added that this
direct personal experience of Dr. Woolworth is supplemented by an experience of many years as Secretary of the Board of Regents of the State of
New York-a position bringing him into most intimate relations with
every academy and high school in the State. His letter is as follows:   "  All my experience in teaching has been in institutions to which persons of both sexes have been admitted-at Onondaga Academy six yearsat Cortland Academy twenty-two years-at the state Normal School four
years.
"I answer your questions seriatim.  "I. The coeducation of the sexes has been favorable to good order
and discipline.
" 2. A mutual stimulating influence has been exerted on scholarship.
" 3. There have been no scandals-at least not more than may exist between the members of a school limited to one sex, and the outside world.
"4. To most of the academies, and to all of the normal and union schools
of the state, both sexes are admitted."
The letters received from the Principals of the State Normal Schools
bear similar testimony. There is one, however, which may be regarded
as  an exception.   The  Reverend  Joseph  Alden,  D.  D.  writes  of
his five years' experience in the education of young men and young
women together as Principal of the State Normal School at Albany, that
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REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE
"no evil has been experienced here; " but that after an experience of
thirty-five years as Student, Tutor, Professor, and President, in six differ  ent colleges, his "opinion is fixed on the subject that ladies should not
be admitted to ont  colleges." A
Doctor Alden gives no facts nor arguments in support of this position,
stating that "the grounds of this opinion, if committed to writing, would
cover more space than your Committee would care to go over; and I
presume that my views of college education differ so materially from theirs,.
as to render my own premises unsound in their view."
The Doctor concludes by saying of his Normal School experience, that
he " don't think that it proves anything with reference to a College."
It is to be regretted that the Doctor does not give the Committee the
benefit of the facts and reasonings that have brought him to this conclu sion.
It will however be observed by a reference to the letter as given in the appendix, that in neither of the Colleges with which he had been connected
had the experiment of the coeducation of the sexes been tried; and while
the committee are ready to give full weight to any expression of opinion by
one so justly respected, even though unsupported by any actual experience,
and at variance with his acknowleged experience in the State Normal
School, they think that it should be very carefully compared with that of
the other Principals of Normal Schools in the State.
But before giving their testimony, which is without exception favorable
to coeducation, a point should be specially noted in regard to the analogy
between the instruction in the State Normal Schools and the Colleges.
Dr. Alden asserts his belief that this analogy is too remote to form the basis
for a sound inference in favor of admitting young women to College.
In the absence of any arguments or presentation of facts by the Doctor
to support this statement of opinion, the committee are left to their own
unaided reason on the subject, and they can only say that argument from
successful coeducation in Normal Schools to successful coeducation in Colleges and Universities, seems to them logically irresistible. In both casesthe students are of marriageable age, and from distant homes, —in both cases
great freedom is allowed, though in this matter the argument is, afortiori,.
for success in education in the Colleges, rather than in the Normal Schools,
for the Colleges generally have dormitories under some little control, while
the Normal Schools generally have none. Besides this, if there is any
force in the argument so often urged in favor of classical education, that
it gives refinement and higher culture, still stronger is the argument in favor of successful coeducation in Colleges, rather than Normal Schools.
From the testimony of the other Principals the following extracts present fair examples.
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ON THE SAGE PROPOSITION.
Principal Sheldon, of the State Normal School at Oswego, writes -of
coeducation:-" L think the influence is good on both  sexes,  socially,
morally, and intellectually. My experience in all grades of schools below
the university has confirmed me in this opinion. This experience has led
me to feel that it would work equally well in the university. Of this,
however, I cannot be so confident, as the conditions here are somewhat
changed. I am now making a practical experiment in this direction by
sending my own daughter to Michigan University."
Principal J. TW. Armstrong, D. D. of the State Normal School at Fredonia, writes:-" My observation shows that the morals of students of
either sex deteriorate, apparently, in proportion to the rigor of the separation of the sexes. The same is true of their delicacy of feeling, their
sense of honor, and their love of truth.
"In all mixed seminaries and academies where social intercourse of the
sexes was either forbidden or largely restrained, the ladies lost in prudence,
delicacy, and truthfulness, even faster than the gentlemen.
"For many years my views of school government have been much
more liberal than the common practice would justify. In this Normal
School I allow, and even encourage, all the freedom of intercourse between the sexes, which would be allowed in a well-regulated family.  This
has been tested for two years. The results are good in the recitation-room,
where they mingle as they choose on the seats; in the halls, where they
communicate freely as at home; in the boarding-places, where they have
only the same restrictions. They visit, walk, and ride out together, out
of recitation hours, whenever and wherever they please. llThe results are,
they study better, are more polite, visit far less, 7calk and ride together
far less, than when restrained, and never under imlzirudezt or objectionable circzumstazces.
"We have the most orderly, studious, and happy school I ever was
* in.
"In Genesee College the results were good, though the restrictions
were too many to allow the best results.
"All my experience and observations have confirmed my earlier faith
in the sense and virtues of the youth of the land who attend our schools,
of the necessity of the two sexes exerting reciprocally their influence upon their development, in order to obtain the best results, and of the fact
that nine-tenths of all the irregularity and disorder in our Colleges arises
from the establishment of an arbitrary and unnatural state of society
among the students.
"I have written you in great haste and candidly."
It will be seen that Dr. Armstrong's experience extends both to Colleges
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REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE
and Normal Schools, and that while arriving at an opposite conclusion
from that reached by Dr. Alden, he does not hesitate to support it both
by facts and arguments.
Says Principal Hoose, of the State Normal School at Cortland:  "My immediate personal observation and experience cover about eight
or ten years of college life where both sexes recited together and attended
college upon an equality of privileges.
"I saw no harm, but good results; scholarship was as good, conduct
better in regard to roughness, etc., than when the sexes were separated.
"My opinion, based upon general experience, observation, and principles is in favor of the admission, etc."
Prof. J. W. Dickinson, of the State Normal School at Westfield, Mass.,
says:  "There is always a state of uneasiness among boys and girls when they
are collected apart from one another. This is clearly seen in our colleges
and young ladies' seminaries. The presence of young ladies exerts a restraining and refining influence over young men, and the presence of young
men exerts an influence that tends to give strength and dignity to the
characters of young ladies. We have had no trouble arising from the
association of the two sexes in our school."
From these statements, from an overwhelming body of other testimony,
and from what may be observed all about us in nearly every town in the
State, it will be seen that the successful education of youth of both sexes
-of marriageable age-coming from distant homes, left to themselves almost entirely as to their choice of homes and associates, guided by their
own judgment as to social intercourse and general conduct, is afact, a fact
not confined to recent experience, not restricted to a narrow territory, but
a fact of many years' standing, a fact established in nearly every county
of this and neighboring States.
It may, however, still be claimed that there is no analogy between instruction in Academies, High Schools and Normal Schools, and instruction
in Universities and Colleges; or in other words, that human nature in persons studying algebra, geometry, languages, and natural, moral and mental philosophy, in an institution called an Academy or Normal School, is
not the same as in persons of the same age pursuing the same general
lines of study, in an institution called a College or University.
The simple statement of the proposition would seem to carry its own
refutation; but let it be conceded.   The Committee pass to the facts established in the Colleges and Universities themselves.
The system of educating young men and young women together in
Colleges and Universities is very much more recent than their coeducation in Academies aud High Schools.
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ON THE SAGE PROPOSITION.
The causes are not difficult to find; one is simple matter of history.
The Colleges of this country inherited a semi-monastic system from those
of the mother country. Those of the mother country inherited many
controlling ideas of their system from times before the Reformation, when
Universities were almost entirely in the hands of a clergy, vowed to
celibacy.
The Colleges and Universities have been far less amenable to public
opinion than Academies and High Schools have been, the latter being con trolled by men taken from the communities in which the schools were sit uated, and representing the average common sense of those communities;
the former more by Faculties, bred mainly in the traditional ideas, and
of Trustees, too remote to feel warranted in making radical changes.
Under such a system, mandarinism is almost inevitable. The tradi tional studies, the traditional modes of government, the traditional habits
of thought will naturally be regarded as the only sound and safe; they
will be argued for and fought for to the last by every graduate honored by
a degree, and every mandarin glorified by a button.
Still, justice must be done the older colleges, by saying that some of
their greatest men have been hopeful as to the education of both sexes together.
In the letter of President Mark Hopkins, of Williams College, to the
Committee of Regents of the University of Michigan, written in I858,
occurs the following passage:  "The question you put me is one of no little interest.  *  *  *  There
are difficulties and embarassments connected with it, still my impression is
that the advantages connected with our higher institutions for young men,
might be shared by young women to a great extent, with great advantage
to both. Probably the course of study should not be the same throughout, but in many things there certainly could be no objections to the continuance of that association in study, which is begun at the common
school; and there would be many advantages from it.  The difficulty
would be social; if intercourse of the classes and aside from study could
be properly regulated, it would work well. That would depend much on
the arrangements you might be able to make, and on the tone of sentiment in the community., * * My impression is that you might try
the experiment safely, and I hope you will do so."
A letter from the venerable President Nott, of Union College, to
the same Committee, at the same period, dwells on the wide prevalence of
the theory, that difference of sex necessitates separation in education, on
the difficulties and dangers, on fears "that what is gained to manners by
diminished rudeness in one sex, would be more than counterbalanced by
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REPORT OF THE COIMI'ITTEE
loss of native modesty in the other." In another letter, written to the
trustees, he says:-" I would like to see the experiment tried under
proper regulations,   a  X  *  and were I at the head of a University in
Michigan,  and public opinion called for the trial of the experiment, I
should not oppose obedience to that call. Corporations are always conservative; it is their nature not to lead, but to follow public opinion, and
often far in the rear. That it will not be approved by college corporations
generally, may be taken for granted."
This latter prediction, the correspondence of the Board of Regents
proved true. An overwhelming opposition is shown by the letters from
the authorities of nearly all the older colleges.
It was thought by the writers that the results would be "demoralizing;"
that "young men would lose a proper sense of the dignity of their own
pursuits;" that the results would be I degradation" and "corruption;"
that "it would deprive both sexes of the cultivation peculiar to each;'"
that "the delicacy of female character would be destroyed;" that "common
morality would suffer;" that "it would tend to unwoman woman;" that
"the success of the measure would produce confusion;"  that "to confound the higher education of the two sexes, would lead to lamentable consequences;" that "the effects of such a system would probably be to give
them false ideas of life in general and of their particular spheres, than
which nothing could be more injurious in the forming stage of character;"
that "a present and local popularity might be gained, but at a fearful ultimate expense and the disapprobation of mnen of science and  learning
throughout the country."
These statements of theory have an interest; but as they are confessedly
not based on observation, they seem to your Committee to be entitled to
the same weight, and no more, that is given the testimony of theorists on
the opposite side who seem to suppose that all evil is to be banished, all
passion subdued, and a millenium of pure thoughts and good manners
immediately brought in by a breaking down of the barriers which now divide the sexes in advanced education.
From these statements of theories we turn to recitals of facts.
The first college visited by the Committee, was Oberlin College, Ohio.
There were found a very large number of students of both sexes.  For
the young men, dormitories were provided on the usual plan; for the
young women, a large and well-appointed building with matron and assistants, but the increasing numbers of students have obliged the college
authorities to allow both young men and women to board in families in
the town; the same cause has also led the authorities to admit young men
in large numbers to the privileges of the dining hall. Your Committee
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ON THE SAGE PROPOSITION.
dined in the college hall with two hundred students, about half of whom
were young men, and half young women. The order was excellent-the
appearance of all neat and cleanly. The young men and the young women
sat at the same table, on opposite sides; the conversation was quiet;
there was throughout, an air of refinement which the member of the
Committee more familiar with college life has never seen at a table fre quented by men alone.
In the recitation rooms a similar result was observed. They seemed
decidedly more orderly than those in which young men are educated by
themselves.   Recitations were attended in different branches of mathematics, and in ancient and modern languages. The young ladies, while
showing self-possession, appeared refined, quiet and modest. Their exercises were in all cases performed as well as those of the young men, and
in many cases better.
The Committee visited the students in their rooms to get at their ideas;
they also talked with citizens of the town. The general statement was
that the results had been good,-that the evil results, so generally prophesied, had not been seen,-that the system appeared to work well.
In the light of his experience, the President of the institution, the Reverend Dr. Fairchild, states that "the proportion of young ladies has not for
many years fallen below one-third, nor risen above one-half, except during
the war, when the ladies predominated in the ratio of five to four; " that the
present number of students is about one thousand, but that the greater part
of these are in what ought to be called a preparatory department; that in
the college course proper the proportion of ladies to gentlemen has risen
as high as one to four, but that it now stands as one to ten; that the
boarding-halls having been found insufficient, students have been allowed
to board in families; that "the special discipline of young ladies is committed to the Lady Principal, assisted by a ladies' board of managers composed in general of wives of Professors in the College. The advice of the
College Faculty is sometimes taken, but the young ladies do not come before them for discipline."
There are no monitors, "but each one makes a weekly report of success or failure in the performance of prescribed duties. Young ladies
boarding in families have their reports countersigned by the matron of the
house, who is, in a degree, responsible for the conduct of her charge."
The association of the young men and women outside of the class-room
is regulated as experience seems to require; some provision is made for
social intercourse, visiting is allowved under rules dictated by common
sense.
A very useful elermeirt in the preservation of proper relations between
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REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE
the two sexes is found in the presence of brothers and sisters, who are of
course mutually sensitive as to anything that would tend to degrade each
other.
The social culture is found valuable.   "To secure this, the student does
not need to make any expenditure of time, going out of his way or leaving
his proper work, for the pleasure or improvement resulting from society.
He finds himself naturally in the midst of it, and he adjusts himself to it
instinctively. It influences his manners, his feelings, his thoughts. He
may be as little conscious of the sources of the influence as of the sunlight
or the atmosphere; it will envelope him all the same, saving him from the
excessive introversion, the morbid fancies, the moroseness which sometimes arise in secluded study,-giving elasticity of spirits and even of
movement, and refinement of character not readily attained out of society.
It seems desirable that our young men especially should enjoy these advantages during the period of their course of study, while the forces that form
character work most efficiently."
It is also declared that good order is greatly promoted. There have
been no difficulties in the college dining-hall.
"There has been an entire absence of the irregularities and roughness,
so often complained of in college."
The Committee cannot but consider this a crucial test. The Oberlin
College table is probably the only one on the continent of which this can
be said.
The system promotes morality. "Evils that might be tolerated in the
shape of drinking saloons and other places of dissipation, if young men
only were present, seem intolerable when ladies are gathered with
them."
As to ability to maintain an excellent standing in college classes, Doctor
Fairchild declares that during his own experience as professor-eight years
in ancient languages, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew,-eleven in mathematics,
abstract and applied,-and eight in philosophical and ethical studies-he
has never observed any difference in the sexes as to performance in the
recitations.   He  is careful to state, however, that he does not at all believe or consider that it follows from the above that there are not great differences in mental anti moral characteristics between man and woman,
fatal to the theories of those known as "strong-minded women."
As to health it seems best to give his own words:  "Nor is there any nmanifest inability on the part of young women to endure the required labor. A breaking down in health d(loes not appear to
be more frequent than with young men.   We have no)t observedt  a more
frequent interruption of stuly on this account; nor (l) our statistics shou
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ON THE SAGE PROPOSITION.
a greater draft upon the vital forces in the case of those who have completed the full college course. Out of eighty-four young ladies who have
graduated since 184I, seven have died —a proportion of one in twelve. Of
three hundred and sixty-eight young men who have graduated since that
date, thirty-four are dead, or a little more than one in eleven. Of these
thirty-four young men, six fell in the war, and, leaving these out, the proportion of deaths still remains one to thirteen. Taking the whole number
of gentlemen graduates, omitting the theological department, we find the
proportion of deaths one to nine and a half; of ladies, one to twelve; and
this in spite of the lower average expectation of life for women, as indicated
in life insurance tables. The field is, of course, too narrow for perfectly
conclusive results; but there is no occasion for special apprehension of
failure of health to ladies from study."
The Doctor also alludes to the fear so often felt that under this system
"the young men will become frivolous and effeminate, and the young
women coarse and masculine." As regards men, he says:-"We have
found it the surest way to make men of boys, and gentlemen of rowdies.'"
As to the young women, he says;-"You would know whether the result
with us has been a large accession of coarse,'strong-minded' women, in the
offensive sense of the word; and I say without hesitation, that I do not
know of a single instance of such a product as the result of our system of
education."
To show that the system of joint education "does not bewilder woman
with a vain ambition or tend to turn her aside from the work which God has
impressed upon her entire constitution "-that is, the duties of a wife and
mother, it is stated that "of the eighty-four ladies who have taken the
college course, twenty-seven only are unmarried, and, of these, four died
early, and of the remaining twenty-three, twenty are graduates of less
than six years standing."
In answer to the question whether young people will, under such a system, form such acquaintances as will result, during their course of study or
after they leave college, in matrimonial engagements, the Doctor says:" Undoubtedly they will, and if this is a fatal objection, the system must
be pronounced a failure. The majority of young people form such acquaintances between the ages of sixteen and twenty-four, and these are
the years devoted to a course of study. It would be a most unnatural
state of things if such acquaintances should not be made."
He then says, very pertinently:-" The reasonable inquiry in the case
is whether such acquaintances and engagements can be made under circumstances more favorable to a wise and considerate adjustment or more
promising of a happy result."
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REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE
Finally the subject of immoralities and scandals is taken up. The Doc   tor is understood to assert that sporadic cases of scandal may occur, as has
happened in the most carefully guarded seminaries under the old system,
and even in monastic institutions, but that this is all that is to be feared.
The address from which the extracts are made, closes with the following
words:
"In concluding this statement, permit me to say that I have no special
call as an apostle or propagandist of this system of education. The opin   ions set forth are such as with my limited experience I am compelled to
cherish, and when called upon, as now, I cheerfully express them."
The Committee feel bound to add that these words seem in accordance,
not only with the entire spirit of the report itself, but also with all the
facts obtained by them at Oberlin.
The Committee next visited the State University of Michigan. Here
young women were admitted about four years since. The system is the
opposite of that at Oberlin. There is no preparatory department, there
is no building set apart for the young women, they are left free to choose
their own boarding-houses and form their own associations as they see fit.
During the first year after young women were admitted, there was but
one who availed herself of the privilege; there are now sixty, and this
number is about equally divided between the Colleges of Literature, Sci  ence and Arts on the one side, and the Colleges of Law and Medicine on
the other. Young men and women attend lectures and recitations to  gether, except in the Medical College, where seperate courses are pro  vided.
The general testimony was in favor of the new order of things.  Some
individuals in the Faculty and many citizens whose opinions are entitled to
respect, still declared themselves disbelievers in the system; but their posi  tion was based upon general principles and no fact was adduced in support
of it.
On the other hand the sub-committee found that the leading mathemat  ician in one of the classes, who had carried off a prize over the whole
class, for solving a difficult problem which had been presented, without
finding a solution for several years, was a young woman. They were also
reminded that one of the best Greek scholars in the institution for many
years was a young woman; and the class exercises generally showed that
the young women were not at all behind the young men.   There was also
obtained from the Professor of Natural History, Dr. Winchell, a very
ingeinious and careful table of statistics regarding the study of botany.
Tbi. table, which is appended to the report, aims to show the relative
profic:;'at-cy of young men and women; and then, without regard to sex, of
I6 
ON THE SAGE PROPOSITION.
students in the classical course, students in the course where Latin is
studied, but not Greek, students in the scientific course, and some others.
The results were obtained by a careful award of marks in a given scale,
upon a written examination held in June, I87I.
The points on which the comparison was made were two, viz:-The
subject of botany itself, and style in writing etc. In the comparison as regards botany itself, "all young women" stood first on the whole list; all
young men stood eleventh.  In the comparison as regards style etc., "all
young women" stood first, and "all young men" seventh.   The average
standing in botany on a scale of ioo was 93 for the young women, against
70 for the young men.   In orthography the mean numl)er of words misspelled by the young women was 1.9I, and by the young men 4.95.  The
proportional number of words mis-spelled was for the young women 22, for
the young men 56. In every respect the young women gained the victory.
The Committee also heard in the classrooms recitations in the languages
by young women, showing as msuch clearness and vigor as those by young
men.
They conversed with some of the young lady students and were most
favorably impressed by their quiet dignity, modesty and refinement. The
testimony of these, as regards danger to health from collegiate study, was
that though there had been occasional cases of injury from overwork,
the general health of young women in college is quite as good as that of
young women out of college.
As to trouble arising from the mingling of the two sexes in the univer sity town, there has been less social intercourse between the young women
and young men, than between the latter and the daughters of citizens in
the town, not in college; the young ladies seem  to be quietly on their
Ward against receiving too much attention from students of the other sex.
As to order, Professor Frieze, formerly the honored acting President
of the institution, than whom no one could be more careful and consci entious in a statement of the kind, writes:-" One fact may be of interest.
The janitor of the recitation building, who has been in service four or five
years, has repeatedly said, and still says, that the conduct of students in
timt building in moving from room to room, andl especially in passing up
and down the staircases, is very greatly improved. They are almost fi-ee
from crowding, shouting, etc.,-the old( complaints.  HIe is sure this increased gentleness in manners is due to the presence of the ladies; lihaving noticed frequently the effect of their presence in the halls."
One of the miembers of your Coinmmnittee, during the visit to that  Unlli-versity, was under circumstinces very favo)ral)le to the f)rmation of a Cl)r
2
1 7 
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE
rect judgment on this point. For five years, during the period before the
admission of young women, he was in daily familiar intercourse with the
students of the institution as a Iofessor. He can hardly be mistaken in
the belief that there has taken place a decided change for the better, as regards student manners in the recitation rooms, and in personal neatness
and tidiness.
As to the general effect, Professor Cooley, of the Law Department,.
Chief Justice of the State, and a resident near the university grounds,
writes:  "The admission of women has scarcely caused a ripple on the surface
of university matters., * * From the moment the thing became an
accomplished fact, it has been to every one here a matter, I may almost
say, of entire indifference. As yet I have witnessed no evil results whatever. You are misinformed if you are told that the standard of admission
is lowered; the tendency has been in the other direction."
Other valuable letters might be given, from members of the Michigan
University Faculty, but these are selected because the well-known judicial fairness of the writers, places them beyond cavil.
The University of Michigan should not be dismissed before alluding
to one more point of great importance. The general testimony was, that
the young lady students were more conscientious in study than the young:
men, and that this was the main cause of their remarkable success in every
class and study.
The next visit was made to the North Western University, at Evanston,
near Chicago, an institution largely endowed, and under control of the
Methodist Episcopal Church. Here the ladies' hall was visited, and the
experience of the President and several members both of the governing and
instructing bodies obtained.
The experiment did not seem to have been so fully tried as at the establishments previously visited; but the universal testimony was in its favor.
Meeting the instructors and lady students, socially in their hall, andcl
setting with them at their table, it was evident that the last charge in the
world which any sane man could think of bringing against them, would be
lack of feminine dignity, refinement, modesty or delicacy.
The next visit was to the Illinois Industrial University, at Champaign,
Illinois, about I30 miles south of Chicago. This is one of the recipients.
of the United States land grant, and is progressing in a manner most satisfactory, under the presidency of the Honorable John M. Gregory, formerly the very successful Superintendent of Public Instruction in the
State of Michigan.
The same absence of the evil results so long predicted by theorists, the
18 
ON THE SAGE PROPOSITION.
same good found elsewhere, under the system of joint education, was
found here. Many interesting facts regarding this institution have to be
omitted for lack of time.    I
The final visit of the series was to Antioch College, at Yellow S-rings,
Ohio, the institution noted as the place where the final work of Horace
Mann was accomplished.
Here a system is established more akin to the restrictive system at
Oberlin, than the free system of the University of Michigan; there are
separate halls for the two sexes, and the young ladies' hall is kept under
careful supervision.
Visits to the recitation rooms showed that the young women were quite
equal to the young men as regards native ability and conscientious study.
In the dining hall both sexes were found together, as at Oberlin, and
the code of dining-table ethics was evidently superior to that which generally exists when a great body of young men take their meals by themselves. Nothing could be better of its kind than the bearing of the young
women. Here, too, there was an utter lack of those masculine or semimasculine characteristics, that want of refinement and feminine modesty
which has been predicted by the theorists.
A written statement to the Committee by the present President, the
Reverend G. W. Hosmer, D. D., contains much information of interest.
He says:-" I have been President of this College for five years. Of
the one hundred and seventy students-about the average number in
attendance in all departments-one-third have been women, and the
average age of all our students has been twenty years, nearly. In this
institution both sexes have been received from the beginning with Horace
Mann, eighteen years ago.
"My personal knowledge for five years, and what I have known of the
institution from its beginning, make me say confidently that the experiment has been successful.
"You ask for my opinion as to the effect of coeducation upon the intellectual progress, and upon the character and conduct of the young men,
and also upon the progress, character and conduct of the young women.
"I think the young men have not been hindered, but rather quickened
and urged forward in study; and as to character and conduct, I am sure
they have been improved; rendered more orderly, gentle, and manly;
and I think the young women have studied with more earnest and stronger
purpose, and with us, I am sure their character has not suffered, but rather
in character and conduct they have been benefited. On the whole, I
think our young men have been made more gentle, and our young women
stronger and more earnest, by being members of the same institution, and
meeting in the recitations. l 
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE
"You ask me next, if, on the whole, I think the coeducational plan is
advantageous to the community, or otherwise. I consider that better,
more thorough education of women is vital to the welfare of society, and
I think that the coeducation plan, with a large elective privilege in taking
studies, is a sure way to such better and thorough education.
"Lastly, you ask me if it be better to have separate lodging-houses and
rules to regulate the conduct of the young men and women; or to leave
them to their own sense of right and of propriety.
"We have a separate building for the young women, and a matron who
lives with them, making family life as nearly as can be; and we have rules
to prevent indiscretion, so that I think that it is true that our young people,
while they enjoy in a large measure the intercourse of home life, are held
from dangers more securely than they could be in the usual order of
American society.
"I asked Horace Mann, the year he died, if he regarded his experiment of coeducation a success:' Yes,' he said,' but the success has been
more by a care and vigilance brought as near to omniscient supervision,
as it is possible for man to bring them.'
"We too, have been careful, but not severel) scrutinizinzg, and I think
that our young people enjoy their student life more than is common in
colleges. Our institution is more like a home than any institution can be,
in which one sex is admitted.
"In a city where the young men and women could live widely separated in the homes, and only come together in the recitations, there might
be no need of many regulations, but if the institution be in a town or village, I should think there must be separate halls for the young men and
young women, and judicious regulations, and a parental watchfulness."
The Agricultural College of Iowa was not visited, but the following letter from its President, the Honorable A. S. Welch, formerly Principal of
the State Normal School of Michigan, and for a time Senator of the
United States, from the State of Florida, seems especially valuable.
' I have had charge of two State institutions, to both of which young
men and young women are admitted. One of them is, as you may remember, the State Normal School of Michigan, the other, this College,
which was opened in the spring of'69. Michigan Normal School comprised about two hundred young women and fifty young men, all of whom
found board in the different families of the city.*
"In this institution we have about fifty young women and one hundred
and fifty young men, most of whom board in the same hall, the ladies
having rooms in the wing of the same building.
* Ypsilanti, a town with aboat half the population of Ithaca.
tb
20 
ON THE SAGE PROPOSITION.
"The  executive charge of these two institutions has given me  sixteen
years of observation and experience in the coeducation of the sexes, and I
am unquaiifiedly in favor of it. 
"First, I am sure that the effect of the system on the intellectual progress and on the conduct and character of both the young men and the
young women, is, in.every zuell regzilated  institution, safe and salutary.
"Second, all the results I have reached warrant the belief that the
collegiate education of young men and young women in the same classes,
,is advantageous to the community. Apart from the experience I have
had, I do not see how the isolation of one sex from the other during the
period given to higher education, can secure a better scholarship, or more
refinement of manners or greater purity of morals.
"Of course there will be trouble in the government of colleges which
admit both sexes, but such troubles will, I believe, be less serious and
more easily managed than the rougher ones incident to Colleges conducted
on the plan of sexual isolation.
"If young ladies attending college find their homes with the better
families of the city, their intercourse with the young men may be left
largely to their own judgment and to the influences which such families
will naturally have over them, but if circumstances compel you to gather
them into a boarding-hall, they should, it seems to me, be put under the
immediate supervision of a competent matron, and their social intercourse
with the young men be limited to certain hours. They will help, rather
than hinder the good order of the recitation room."
It seems now advisable to find what light may be thrown upon the subject of our investigation by a collation of the various facts obtained, and
of the reasonings to which those facts have given rise; and first, as to its
effects on the present body of students.
EFFECTS ON YOUNG MEN.
As to the effect on character and manners, there seems no exception
to the rule that the admission of young women to Colleges and Univcrsities, thus far, has tended to refine the young men; from the declarations
of such men as Presidents Fairchild, Hosmer and Armstrong, down to the
plain statement of facts by the janitor of the University of Michigan, the
testimony on this point is concurrent.
The  question may be asked,  "Is this a healthful refinement?"  It
would appear to be so. It is just what is sought for young men in the
world at large.  Nothing is more universally acknowledged to be a blessing to young men in society, than association with young women whose
thoughts and pursuits are of an ennobling kind. That the women enter
2I 
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE
ing a University will be of this class, is in the nature of things. No frivolous young woman, no mere petted and spoiled beauty of a season will
be likely to wish to undergo the moral restraint or mental labor demanded
in such a course, and if such an one were to enter from caprice, she would
be certain to depart soon. It was once said with authority, of a noble and
educated woman: -" To know her, was a liberal education," and within a
month, one of the most noted divines and thinkers in this country, a man
not at all an advocate of what are known as "woman's rights," has stood
up and declared his very great indebtedness to two women of noble gifts
of heart and mind.*
But will this refinement be gained at the cost of manly qualities? As
to this we might balance theory against theory. If it be argued, a priori, on
the one hand, that much association with young women is likely to make
young men take on some unmanly qualities, it can be just as strongly
argued on the other, that the association is likely, while increasing refinement, to bring out the distinctively manly qualities.
There is truth, undoubtedly, in both these arguments; men may lose
their roughness and boorishness and loud self-assertion, while they increase their self-respect, manliness and true bravery; and the testimony of
Doctors Woolworth and Armstrong, and Fairchild and Hosmer, shows
clearly that this latter statement expresses what has taken place where the
experiment has been fairly and fully tried.
And the recent history of this country affords a valuable commentary
on these statements. From no Colleges did a more hardy, manly, brave
body of young men go into our armies than from Oberlin and Antioch.
By that the charge of effeminacy is effectually dispelled.
Still another important question relates to the effect of coeducation on
young men, as regards devotion to study. On one side, it has been argued that the presence of young women would tend to divert young men
from close attention to study-that it would arouse thoughts more powerful than the love of learning. On the other side, it has been argued that
the desire to appear to good advantage before the young women will prove
a powerful stimulus to the young men, and also that the conscientiousness
of women in study, will certainly elevate the general tone of scholarship.
The facts, as stated by the gentlemen already referred to, and as observed by your Committee, decidedly favor the latter argument.
The next question naturally is, what is to be the effect on those it is
purposed to introduce?
* Doctor Hedge, in a recent speech at Boston.
22 
ON THE SAGE PROPOSITION.
~         E          G -D -,
The first question naturally regards the effect on physical health.
On one side, appear those like that eminent authority, Dr. Clark, of
Boston, who think much close study, at the time usually assigned to a col'loo z om.-   ti hurtful   Thege av  that thev are frequently called upon to
treat isea; per..a.nently injurious to body and mind brought on young
women by too close application to study at this period of life.
On the other side are the statistics given by the President of Oberlin
College, and the answers given the Committee by the lady students themselves, at the University of Michigan, which seem to show that the health
of the young women is quite as good in college as out of it.
The deterioration in the health of American women is without doubt
one of the most serious among modern social problems. It outweighs in
real importance, vast masses of questions usually claiming far more attention.
That some of this deterioration may be due to close application to study
is possible, but the numbers of those who have ever closely applied themselves to study is so very small, compared with the number of those in broken health, that, evidently, search must be made for causes lying deeper
and spreading wider.
The want of success in grasping and presenting these causes hitherto
by men, seems to show that there should be brought to the question the
instinct, the knowledge, the tact of woman herself, and it would seem that,
for this, she has need of a system of education to give the mental strength
required for searching out those causes, and grappling with them.
More than this, it would seem that if the cause lies to any extent in want
of knowledge of great principles of health, or in want of firm character to
resist the inroads of certain vicious ideas in modern civilization, a change
of woman's education from its too frequent namby-pamby character, into
something calculated to give firmer mental and moral texture, would help,
rather than hurt in this matter.
While the Committee do not think this injury to health so likely to be
increased as diminished by the system of education proposed, they hold
that very careful provision should be made for the development of physical
strength commensurate with mental strength.
Any college building erected for women should be planned with special
reference to the health of its inmates. Sun-light should be admitted to
every room and copiously; the most effective system of ventilation should
be adopted; there should be a well-equipped gymnasium, and provision
should be made for work in the botanical and general gardens, and for
amusements.
23
I 
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE
Physiology and hygiene should be among the subjects absolutely required in every course of study.
In the general system of studies, the Committee believe that stimulus,
in the way of competitive prizes, should not be brought to bear, to any
considerable extent, on the young women. If any quality in their work
at the various College, as submitted to the Committees, appears more clear
than another, it is conscientiousness; and this is far more effective than
emulation in its direct influence, and more responsive to considerations of
health.
With such provisions and precautions, it is not likely that a body of
young women would be more injured by study in the College proposed
than by the aimlessness, listlessness, luxury and relaxing modes of physical
and intellectual life common among young women who make no endeavor
after a higher and better education.
But another class of effects claims attention-effects on chz/aracter and
niaiiners.
By one side it is argued that the proposed system will probably injure
the dignity, modesty, refinement and delicacy of young women,-that it
will give a masculine tone.
By the other side it is argued that association, under proper restrictions,
with young men engaged in scientific and literary pursuits makes  any
young women feel, more than anything else, the necessity for womanly
dignity and self-control, at the same time that it brings out more clearly
the value of that refinement and modesty which all young men prize so
highly.
That there may be some danger to certain classes of women shallow in
character and weak in mind is not unlikely, but, of all women, these are the
least likely to involve themselves in the labor of preparation for the university or of going on with its courses of study.
As to the good effect on the women who have actually entered the coIleges, the testimony is ample. The Committee in its visits found no opposing statement either from college officers, students of either sex or
citizens of university towns, and all their observations failed to detect any
symptoms of any loss of the distinctive womanly qualities so highly
prized.
Nor have they found that those who have been thus educated have shown
any lack of these qualities in after life.
On the contrary, it would be hard to find a body of women combining
these qualities more nobly than the matrons of this State and surrounding
States, who have graduated at the Academies and Normal Schools. These
qualities they have, by the agreement of all observers, in a very much
24
6 
ON THE SAGE PROPOSITION.
higher degree  than the women of countries  where a  semi-conventual
system of education is adopted.
It may be said that they must come in contact with vulgarity in words
and actions, and so be injured. This, it is believed, will be rare indeed.
There would at once be brought to bear a common law, a stringent code
not made by any Trustees or Faculty, but none the less effective. It would
be enforced by the great body of students,-and summarily. Should any
boor so far forget himself, as to say or do what could be construed into
an insult to the young women present, there would certainly be a sufficient number of brothers, friends or admirers of the injured parties, to
take such measures as the case might demand.
And here, it may be added, would be one of the good influences on the
young men. Nothing is more disheartening to those in charge of Colleges,
than to find profanity and obscenity, on the part of a wretched miinority,.
tolerated by the great body of students, simply because all are men, and,,
by common consent, among men a man may say what he pleases.
By the admission of women the point of honor in this respect is at once
changed.   Words and actions before unchallenged would now be necessarily forbidden by the great body of students themselves, and such
edicts would be enforced.
With the aid of a few words of common sense to young women  by
their matrons, and to the young men by their Professors, there would be
created a right sentiment in this respect, powerful enough for all emergencies; and it is believed that women would be subjected to far less
annoyance from vulgarity in the University, than they constantly have to
encounter in the streets or conveyances of any town or city.
It seems necessary before closing this discussion as to the effect on
woman by this plan of education to allude to an argument often presented, that as woman's sphere of duty is different from that of man, her
education should be different. The most natural argument from analogy
would seem to destroy this position. While the physical and material duties
of woman differ widely from those of men, her physical nutriment and the
ordinary conditions of sound physical health are the same. The simplest
analogy would lead us to the conclusion that the intellectual nutriment,
and the conditions of sound mental health should be the same.
Under every roof in the land, we see persons of different sexes in the
household, preparing themselves by the same diet for their different functions and duties. It would seem then that, no matter how great the difference may be between the intellectual duties and functions of the two.
sexes, it does not at all follow that there should be a difference in the general preliminary mental food. As the bodies of men and women are built
25 
REPORT OF TIlE COMMITTEE
up by the same food, whether vegetable or animal, so it would seem that
their minds and hearts and souls are to be built and beautified by the
same moral, mental and esthetical food.
The very statement of this argument shows that the same education of
both sexes does not lead to any usurpation of unnatural functions, social
or political, by women. It would rather show that such education, by its
proper development of mind and heart and soul in women, would most
surely lead to her taking that very place, and discharging best those very
duties, whatever they may be, which the Creator has appointed her.
Even if the most restrictive theory of woman's duties be accepted,-even
if it be allowed that her only duties are those of a well-ordered household,-would she not be fitted better for her duties as the mother of future
generations of citizens by courses of study large and broad, than by the
unutterably inane instructions of the great majority of our ladies' boarding and "finishing" schools?
The noble institutions of comparatively recent creation for the education
of young women separately, like Vassar College and Wells College seem
to support this general line of argument by facts. The great acknowledged value of these institutions arises mainly from the fact that they have
broken away from the traditions of the boarding and "finishing" schools,
and have provided thorough, substantial courses of instruction more like
those aimed at in our best colleges.
While the admirable character of these Colleges, and the excellence of
the work they are doing and will continue to do, will, doubtless, be to
many an argument that young women can be most satisfactorily educated
by themselves, it will be no less strong an argument for the position that,
in the main, the best studies for developing the most worthy culture in
young women, are identical with those required ior young men.
The question now arises as to the
e
EFFECTS COMMON TO BOTtI SEXES.
First of these is the possible formation of acquaintances likely to ripen
into matrimonial engagements.
The facts conceded by President Fairchild, on this point, and his reasons
based upon them have been given, and seem convincing; the Committee
think that the argument may be stated in yet another way. Granting the
possibility or probability of such engagements, the question comes up
practically:-" How do young men and young women form such engagements now? "
It is matter of notoriety that these engagements-the most important of
life,-are, as a rule, formed with less care, foresight and mutual knowledge,
26 
ON THE SAG(E PROPOSITION.
than any other.   Choice is determined by mere casual meeting, by an
acquaintance of a few weeks, by winning manners at a ball, by a pleasing
costume in the street, and at the best by a very imperfect revelation of
those mental and moral qualities which are to make or mar the happiness
of all concerned. Should such engagements be formed in a University
where both sexes are educated together, they would be based upon a far
more thorough and extended knowledge, upon an admiration of a much
higher range of qualities, and upon a similarity in taste and temper, which
could not be gained elsewhere.
Every one acquainted with life in our larger and better Colleges and
Universities, knows that nowhere do men more surely value each other
for real and substantial qualities and attainments. Nowhere is the merely
dressy man in lower estimation; nowhere is the thorough scholar, the
ready writer, the powerful orator, more highly regarded; nowhere do
wealth, family influence, intriguing, caballing, avail less; nowhere do
earnest purpose and good work avail more.
Certainly the choice of a companion for life made in such an atmosphere
cannot be less safe than that which is made under the present system in
the world at large. If any theorist objects, with some force, that these
attachments between students of either sex, would so fill the thoughts, as
to leave no place for study, the testimony already laid before the trustees shows that practical educators find that these same attachments act as
a powerful stimulus to study.
And it should be remembered here, that under the present system of
separate education, attachments are frequently formed, engagements made,
and the resulting correspondence kept up, and yet that this has never
been considered a disturbing element in American education. On the
contrary it has been generally found that young men have been steadied
thereby.
'Another class of effects has sometimes been feared-illicit attachments.
Careful and confidential conversation and correspondence with men in position to know fully the value of this objection, fail to show any especial
danger.
In the recent meeting at Boston, Dr. Edward Clarke, whose authority
on any such subject is deservedly great, while opposing coeducation, on
grounds alluded to elsewhere, took pains to state that immoral relations
between students of a marriageable age were not feared by him.   He
stated distinctly that whatever danger there may be of this kind, is at an
earlier period, before young women have arrived at an age to have an
understanding of the necessary reserve between the two sexes. This
opinion, resulting from an experience like that of Dr. Clarke who has
27 
REPORT OF THE CONMMITTEE
thoroughly studied the whole question involved, both socially and physiologically, adds to the value of such testimony as that of Dr. Woolworth,
who, after an experience of thirty-two years as Principal of some of the
largest academies in this State, in which boys and girls and young men and
young women, of all ages, have been brought together, thus-according to
Dr. Clark's experience, greatly increasing the danger-uses these words:
"There have been no scandals, at least, not more than may exists between the members of a school limited to one sex and the outside world."
We would now call your attention to the
EFFECTS ON THE UNIVERSITY.
The first point that will occur to every one under this head is as to the
standard of scholarship. It has been claimed, that the admission of women would tend to lower the scholarship; and no case has been more fiequently cited than Oberlin College.
This objection is based upon want of recognition of the fact that Oberlin
College, and others like it, carry on great preparatory schools, nominally
subordinate to the regular college organisation, but really outweighing it
in numbers.   This is not the case at the Cornell University, and there is
no reason to expect that it will be. The University authorities have planted
themselves firmly on the ground that they have no right to use their
endowment in duplicating the instruction given in the Academies and
Public Schools.
If women shall be admitted, it will be only upon just such examinations
as are passed by young men; if they shall be continued from year to
year, it will be by passing the examinations now required.
If it be said that the presence of women will tend to lower the standard of scholarship, or at all events to keep the Faculty from steadily raising it, it may be answered at once, that all the facts observed are in opposition to this view. The letters received by the Committee, and their
own recent observations in class-rooms, show beyond a doubt, that the
young women are at least equals of the young men in collegiate studies.
As already stated, the best Greek scholar among the thirteen hundred
students of the University of Michigan, a few years since; the best mathematical scholar in one of the largest classes of that institution to-day, and
several among the highest in natural science, and in the general courses of
study, are young women.
It has been argued that the want of accuracy and point, the "sloppiness"
of much of the scholarship in some of the newer colleges, is due to the
admission of women. The facts observed by the Committee seem to
prove that this argument is based on the mistake ofconcomitancy for cause.
28 
ON THE SAGE PROPOSITIION.
If " sloppiness" and want of point are inadmissable anywhere, it is in
translation from the more vigorous and concise ancient and modern authors.
Now, the most concise and vigorous rerdering from the most concise and
vigorous ofall-Tacitus himself-was given by a young lady at Oberlin College. Nor did the Committee notice any better work in the most difficult of
the great modern languages than that of some young women at Antioch
College.
Nor is our own University entirely without experience on this point.
Among candidates for admission, two years since, no better examination
was  passed than that by a young lady who had previously been successful in a competition for the State scholarship, in one of the best educated
counties of the State. That she did not remain in the institution, was not
at all due to the want of ability to compete for its higher honors.
As bearing (n this point, the Committee present a letter from Professor
Walter Smith, a man of great experience in England, as regards technical
and art education, and who, on account of this experience, has been summoned to this country by the State of Massachusetts, and made State Director of Art Education.
"You ask my opinion, as a practical teacher, of the capacity of women
and girls to take in technical education of the highest class, in arts and
science, and as a corollary, what opinion I have formed of the general
question, that which is now somewhat amusingly called' the higher education of women.'
"To preface what I would say in response, I may state that for twelve
years I held the position in England of Head Master of a School of Art,
in the West Riding of Yorkshire, which never had less than two thousand
pupils under its art instruction, (and which, for some years, had as many
as six thousand pupils in its various central and district classes); also that
for several years my own professional duties were spread over three schools
oart, in towns-the population of which exceeded half a million-one
school being a school of art and science and training-school for teachers,
the only school of the kind in England, except the National Training
School at South Kensington, London. The principal male and female
schools of the district were also under my supervision.  This, continuing
in an unbroken period of above ten years, gave me, as I believe, sufficient
opportunities of forming an opinion upon the question of capacity for
sustained study, with regard both to male and female students.
"During the period described, I must have given in the schools of art,
schools and colleges in which I either taught or managed teaching, several
hundreds of courses of lectures upon the subjects which lay at the foundation of a knowledge of art, and those elements of science that belong
6
29 
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE
alike to art and scientific knowledge, such as geometrical drawing, orthog    raphic projection, practical and theoretical perspective, conic sections,
etc., etc., mechanical drawing being also an important subject.
"I formed a very definite opinion about the teachability of the two sexes,
taught in one class, because the common evil of blackboard instruction
became apparent, viz:-the teacher and all the readier pupils being made
to wait until the slower ones had got through, before a fresh problem
could be given. This hindrance seldom came from the female students,
and did come very liberally from others. At the government examina    tions which came at the end of the winter course, this was more palpably
shown by the result of the work done. I never remember a year in which
the amount, both the prizes and certificates obtained by the ladies at these
public examinations, was not, out of all proportion to the numbers com    peting, greater than that of those obtained by the male students.
"There is only one serious cause of failure at the public examinations
at which girls sit for examination; and that is, their liability to become
excited; some of the best suffer from that and are sacrificed to it.
"My opinion concerning the capacity of women to succeed in art study
especially, was a good deal matured by an incident in my early experience
in the north of England, which I shall not forget. When I assumed my
position as Head Master, I found what probably always existed and un    happily now exists in many schools, a desire on the part of the young
ladies to draw and paint simple bits of prettiness, without anything edu   cational in them. I strove hard to induce them to attack the curriculum
of study of the night classes for artisans,-the school of art course,-which
meant work, both physical and mental, not the coloring of bird's-nests and
and butterflies,'etc., etc.
"At that time there were annual competitions for bronze medals award   ed by the Government Art Inspectors, which were distributed by an al lotment of three medals to each of twenty-three stages of instruction,
i. e., a possible three medals, if the work was good enough. To induce
the ladies of the day classes to enter these competitions, I promised that if
they would take up two stages of study, they should be reserved for
them, and I would ask the male students not to compete with them. Be   fore this, no lady had ever taken a medal in that school. Of course the
result of this' protection' was that works good enough to take all the three
medals in both stages were.produced. That success opened up a new
world to the dozen pupils who had achieved it. The next year I declined
to reserve stages for them, but recommended an open competition with
the male students in every stage. At the next annual examinations more
than half the medals and prizes awarded to the school were taken by the
a
30 
ON THE SAGE PROPOSITION.
ladies, whose numbers were about one-fifth of the numbers of the male
students.
"In the following year the male students came piteously to me to ask
that some of the stages of instruction might be reserved to them, as they
could not compete with the ladies.
"Having gone through the bondage of protection and emerged into free
trade, we could not go back; and since that time no reservation or distinction has been made between the students with regard to sex.
"That is an experience which will not easily be erased from my mem
ory.
"Independently of this, I have had, in the preparation of both male
and female teachers for the professional art examination at the South
Kensington Museum, London, special opportunities ofnoting the mental capacity of both sexes in grasping purely scientific subjects, such as radial
and parallel projection, and here put on record that I have found young
women, not only equal to their masculine fellow students, but clearerheaded and more successful, both in their preparation and final examination in London.
"I suppose I need not refer to the comparative success of the two sexes
in the more artistic subjects of study; that has been definitely settled long
since in favor of the women; and it is my experience in teaching the scientific subjects as recorded above which has led me to the conclusion that
in both fields, women are at least the equals of men.
"Moreover I have seen that the result of this mental work has been a
very great advantage to those women who have undertaken it; it has made
them happier, and by inducing a feeling of equality with their male fellowstudents, has broadened their characters and increased their intelligence
in everything, and thus made them more agreeable companions.
"I expect that if there be any real difference in the mental capacities of
of men and women, which I doubt, it will only be developed by an identical training of both, letting the results manifest themselves, without any
extraneous assistance.
"It is an utterly useless experiment to teach the two sexes differently
and then point to a difference of character as a proof of difference of mental capacity, which is practically what we have done in England hitherto.
Up to within a year from the present time, no grammar-school in the
United Kingdom was open to girls, and at the present moment no University is open to them. That is sufficient ground for asserting an entire incompetence to form an opinion on the subject, from evidence hitherto attainable, of the people who allowed so gross an injustice to last so long.
"The speculations of mere theorisers on this question are absolutely
worthless as evidence, and exceding impudent in their pretentiousness.
31 
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE
"I have heard young men who never taught a mixed class of males and
females for an hour in their lives, glibly lay down the axiom that man's
is the reasoning and progressive mind, woman's the contemplative and
conservative mind, and then proceed to account for this phenomenon by
quotations of the opinions of philosophers, or by a recital of their own
experienced observation, made probably during a ball or a picnic.
"The first thing to be done before any reliable conclusions can be
come to in this matter, is to reject the evidence of those who are mere
speculators or retailers of hearsay evidence. Those men and women only
should be put into the witness-box who have something to say; it is
utter waste of time to examine people of strong opinions, partisans of
either side, who make up for their want of practical experience by great
vehemence of expression.
"For my own part, I look upon a solution of this question as of more
importance economically than as a matter of justice.   One half of the
minds of civilized people are as deliberately crippled and stunted by our
foolish prejudices about capacities, as are the feet of half the Chinese
crushed into shapelessness and uselessness through an old tradition.  But
ours is the more cruel habit of the two, for our barbarism sacrifices the
beautiful mental structure; the Celestials only distort the small extremities of the body.
"Looking upon the question as one of fair play between men and
women, I cannot suppose it possible for an intelligent man to believe it is
for the good of the human race that the education of either half should be
better than that of the other half.   I am aware that some fanatical persons
regard women as the superiors mentally of men, and their belief is to be
accounted for by the example set to them by fanatical persons who have
upheld the opposite of their creed.
"It seems to me that practical people who know anything of the subject will reject both fanaticisms and believe in the perfect equality of the
two.'
Still another effect upon the Institution has been prophesied by somea loss of reputation. It is said that the admission of women would tend
to its classification, in the popular mind, with certain institutions not
highly esteemed among scholarly or thoughtful men, or the public at
large.
That this would be the effect on some minds is probable; but the Committee see no reason to believe that this feeling would extend very far or
last very long.
The same prophecies were made when the admission of young women
was proposed at the University of Michigan; but the testimony of Chief
32 
ON TIE SAGE PROPOSAL.
Justice Cooley, a Professor in that institution, shows that the standard of
scholarship is not lowered, and that no permanently injurious current
of opposition has been felt.   The reason does not seem difficult to find.
The University of Michigan was strong enough to try the experiment;
it had braved storms enough not to tremble at a gust of prejudice.
And it should be borne in mind that the Cornell University, too, is not so
feeble in endowment, or in Faculty, or in number of students, or in the
general provisions for education, or weak in its hold on the popular confidence, as to be shaken by a temporary loss of prestige in the minds of
a comparatively small class.
And it should also be borne in mind that the sentiment of opposition to
this movement now, is by no means so unhesitating as it was a few years
since. Members of the Committee have been surprised to find many advocates of coeducation in the very quarters where they expected the most
steady opposition; and even if there be opposition, all the winds of public opinion which the University has encountered thus far, have not been
so favorable as to leave us without experience in buffeting opposing blasts,
or, to state the fact more plainly, while no institution has ever had more
noble friends or a more kindly public instinct in its favor, none has ever
had to encounter a more bitter storm of misrepresentation, sneers, and
old-world arguments and pedantic missiles, and it is therefore' of very little consequence whether there be or be not added one more cause of futile opposition.
EFFECTS ON COLLEGES FOR THE SEPARATE EDUCATION
OF WOMEN.
In view of the noble endowments and efforts already made in this State
for the separate education of women, the question naturally arises, what
will be the effect of the proposed experiment in coeducation upon these?
Here too we can appeal to fact rather than theory.   In the States where
the system of educating young men and young women together is being
most folly tried, there are, at the same time, institutions for the education
of young women apart, flourishing and growing with the'growth of the
country.  So it will doubtless be in the State of New York.   There will
always be a large number of parents who will prefer to educate their
daughters in colleges like Vassar or Wells, where young women only are
admitted. Nor do your Committee see anything to regret in this. That
prince among modern thinkers, John Stuart Mill, never said a thing more
wise than when he declared that uniformity in education is an injury, and
variety a blessing.  This great Commonwealth is broad enough for all, andl
any work proposed here will strengthen and be strengthened by all good
work done at Aurora, I'oughkeq)sie or Elmira.                       3
33 
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE
GENERAL DISCUSSION OF THE OPPOSING THEORY.
In beginning their report your Committee stated that their duty seemed
first to be to investigate the facts in the case separately, then to collate
them, then to throw any light thus concentrated into theories and pro
grammes.
In accordance with this plan they would conclude the general discussion
of this subject by concentrating such light as they have been able to gain,
upon the main theory embedded in the arguments against mixed educa   tion.
The usual statement of this theory contains some truths, some half   truths, and some errors. As ordinarily developed, it is substantially that
woman is the help-meet of man, that she gives him aid in difficulty, coun   sel in perplexity, solace in sorrow; that his is the vigorous thinking, hers
the passive reception of such portions of thought as may be best for her;
that his mind must be trained to grapple with difficult subjects, that hers
needs no development but such as will make her directly useful
and agreeable; that the glory of man is in a mind and heart that
rejoices in solving the difficult problems and fighting the worthy
battles of life; that the glory of woman is in qualities that lead her to
shun much thought on such problems, and to take little interest in
in such battles; that the field of man's work may be the mart or shop,
but that it is well for him to extend his thoughts outside it; that the field
of woman is the household, but that it is not best for her to extend her
thoughts far outside it; that man needs to be trained in all his powers to
search, to assert, to decide; that woman needs but little training beyond
that which enables her gracefully to assent; that man needs the University
and the great subjects of study it presents; while woman needs the "fin   ishing schools" and the "accomplishments,"  and that, to sum up, the
character, work, training and position of woman are as good as they ever
can be.
The truths in this theory have covered its errors.   The truth that wo   man is the help-meet of man has practically led to her education in such
a way that half her power to aid and counsel and comfort is taken away.
The result has been that strong men, in adversity or perplexity, have
often found that the "partners of their joys and sorrows" give no more
real strength than would Nuremberg dolls. Under this theory, as thus
worked out, the aid and counsel and solace fail just when they are most
needed. In their stead the man is likely to find some scraps of philoso   phy begun in boarding-schools, and developed in kitchens or drawing   rooms.
34 
ON THE SAGE PROPOSAL.
But to see how a truly educated woman, nourished on the same thoughts
of the best thinkers on which man is nourished, can give aid and counsel
and solace  whiile fulfilling every duty of the household, we are happily
able to. )eal to the experience of many, and for the noblest portrayal of
this e- reience ever made, we may name the dedication to the wife of
John Stuart Mill of her husband's greatest essay.
But if we look out from the wants of the individual man into the wants
of the world at large, we find that this optimist theory regarding woman
is not supported by facts, and that the resulting theory of woman's education aggravates some of the worst evils of modern society. One of these
is conventional extravagance.
Among the curiosities of recent civilization perhaps the most absurd
is the vast tax laid upon all nations at the whim of a knot of the least
respectable women in the most debauched capital in the world. The
fact may be laughed at, but it is none the less'a fact, that to
meet the extravagances of the world of women who bow to the decrees
of the Brdda quarter of Paris, young men in vast numbers, especially in
our cities and large towns, are harnessed to work as otherwise they would
not be; their best aspirations thwarted, their noblest ambitions sacrificed,
to enable the "partners of their joys and sorrows " to vie with each other
in reproducing the last grotesque absurdity issued from the precincts of
Notre Dame de Lorette, or to satisfy other caprices not less ignoble.
The main hope for the abatement of this nuisance, which is fast assuming the proportions of a curse, is not in any church; for, despite the
pleadings of the most devoted pastors, the church edifices are the chosen
theaters of this display; it would seem rather to be in the infusion, by a
more worthy education, of ideas which would enable woman to wield religion, morality and common sense against this burdensome perversion of
her love for the beautiful.
This would not be to lower the sense of beauty and appropriateness in
costume; thereby would come an esthetic sense which would lift our best
women into a sphere of beauty where Parisian grotesque could not be
tolerated; thereby too would come, if at all, the strength of character
which would cause woman to cultivate her own taste for simple beauty in
form and color, and to rely on that, rather than on the latest whim of any
foolish woman who happens to be not yet driven out of the Tuilleries or
the Breda quarter.
Still another evil in American women is the want of any general appreciation of art in its nobler phases.   The number of those who visit the
museums of art is wretchedly small, compared with the crowds in the
temples of haberdashery. Even the love of art they have is tainted with
35 
REPORT OF THE COMMITT"EE
"Parisian fashions." The painting which makes fortunes is not the worthy
representation of worthy subjects; French boudoir paintings take the
place of representations of what is grand in history or beautiful in legend;
Wilhems and his satin dresses, Bourgereau with his knack at flesh color,
have driven out of memory the noble treatment of great themes by Ary
Scheffer and Paul Delaroche; Kaulbach is eclipsed by Meissonier.   Art
is rapidly becoming merely a means of parlor decoration, and losing its
function as the embodiment of great truths.
So rapidly evaporates one of the most potent influences for good in a
republic. An education of women, looking to something more than ac complishments, is necessary to create a healthy reaction against this ten dency.
Still another part of woman's best and noblest influence has an alloy
which education of a higher sort, under influences calculated to develop
logical thought, niight remove. For one of the most decided obstacles to
progress of the best christian thought and right reason has arisen from the
clinging of women to old abuses, and the fear of new truths.   From
Mary Stuart at the Castle of Amboise to the last good woman who has
shrieked against science,-from the Camarilla which prays and plots for
reaction in every European court down to the weakest hunter of the
mildest heresies in remote villages, the fetichisms and superstitions of
this world are bolstered up mainly by women.
In Lessing's great picture, the good, kind-faced woman whose simplicity Huss blesses as she eagerly heaps up the fagots for his martyrdom, is
but the type of vast multitudes of mothers of the race.
The greatest aid which could be rendered to smooth the way for any
noble thinkers who are to march through the future, would be to increase the number of women who, by an education which has caught
something from manly methods, are prevented from clinging to advancing
thinkers or throwing themselves hysterically across their pathway.
So too that indirect influence of women on political events, so lauded
even by those who are most opposed to any exercise by her of direct influence, has some bad qualities which a better system of education might
diminish.   The simple historical record shows that in what Bacon calls
the "insanity  of states," her influence has generally been direful.
From Catharine de Medicis in the struggle of the League, down to Louise
Michel in the recent catastrophe at Paris-from the tricoteuses of the First
French Revolution to the petroleuses of the last, woman has seemed to
aggravate rather than soothe popular fury.   Nor is the history of civil
strife nearer home without parallel examples.
An education which would lead women to a more thoughtful considera
36
t 
ON THE SAGE PROPOSAL.
tion of great questions and more logical treatment of them, would, perhaps, do something to aid mercy and justice in the world at those very
times when they are most imperiled.,
But to all this it may be said that these considerations are too general
and remote-that woman's most immediate duties relate to maternity, and
that her most beautiful mission relates to the dispensing of charities. As
to her duties as mother, if the subject were fully discussed, it would be
shown that, under the present system of physical, mental and moral education of women, there is a toleration of perhaps the most cancerous evil
of modern society. Suffice it that the system of education proposed cannot make it worse, and may make it better. 
As to woman's beautiful function as the dispenser of charities, it will
do no harm to have leading minds among women, shown, as a stronger
education would show them, that systems of charity based on impulse
and not on reason have in the older countries caused almost as much
misery as they have cured.   Her work in charity would be certainly
strengthened by the training which would give her insight into this.
THE PROPOSED ENDOWMENT.
Among the matters on which the Committee was instructed to report,
were any proffers of endowment having reference to the education of
both sexes together.
They are now authorized to submit, herewith, the proposal signed by
The Honorable Henry W. Sage, of Brooklyn, a member of the Board of
Trustees, offering to the Institution the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, to be paid within three years from the acceptance of the offer,
on the condition, to use his exact language, that "instruction shall be afforded to young women, by the Cornell University, as broad and as thor*ugh as that now afforded to young men."
This is the entire statement of the condition.   The Trustees are not
hampered by any subordinate conditions as to method.
POSSIBLE PLANS FOR THE COEDUCATION IN THE UNI                             VERSITY.
In view of this offer, two plans for a Woman's College have been dis.
cussed. Both are based upon our experience, which probes that some
portion of the endowment must be used in providing accommodations
for boarding and lodging.   Under the present circumstances of the University, remote as it is from the town, such provision is a necessity.
The first plan discussed is that of a large quadrangle or series of quad
37 
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE
rangles adjacent to the University grounds, to be made up of a central
building containing some special lecture-rooms and recitation-rooms and a
museum connected with a department of botany and horticulture, and of
houses, neat and well constructed, which could be afforded at a moderate
rent, on condition that each tenant take into the family a certain number
of lady students. Thus would be established a system akin to that of the
University of Michigan,-the one which has been so long tried in the acad  emies in this State,-that of breaking up the lady students into small
colonies, and bringing them directly under family influence. The ad  vantages of this system would be its greater economy, its smaller demands
as regards supervision and its aiding to meet one of the greatest wants of
the institution,-houses for its officers and for families wishing to enjoy the
benefits of a University town. Its disadvantages seem to be the difficulty
of finding suitable tenants and the impossibility of the most thorough su  pervision by the University itself. It ought to be said, however, that it
is still an open question whether this supervision is as truly effective as
that exercised in the family.
The other plan, is to erect on the same land-adjacent to the Univer sity grounds-a large College Building complete in all respects, with
lecture-room, special recitation-rooms, infirmary, gymnasium, bathing rooms and study and lodging-rooms for from one hundred and fifty to two
hundred lady students-a building which would form a striking archi tectural feature in its connection with the University.
The advantage of this new plan is that it would admit of most complete
supervision-that it would tend to satisfy the popular mind in this respect
and that it would add to the dignity of the College and of the University.
The disadvantages are that it would require the furnishing and keeping up
of a great establishment. This objection vanishes, however, before the
proposed endowment, in addition to the cost of the building.
*   Each of these plans has strong arguments in its favor.  On the side of
the first may be ranged such statements of experience as those of Dr.
Armstrong, Dr. Woolworth, the academies of this and surrounding States,
and the University of Michigan.
On the other side is the theory of Horace Mann, who, in his letter to the
Committee of the Michigan Regents, declared that a separate college-build ing for young women, under careful supervision, was a matter of absolute
necessity; and with Mr. Mann, the great majority of the public would
probably agree.
It will be observed that each plan provides for accommodation near the
University buildings. This the Committee regard as absolutely essen general University buildings, from the laboratories, the lecture-rooms,
38 
ON THE SAGE PROPOSAL.
tial. To place the buildings proposed at a point remote from the muse  ums, would place the young women under great disadvantages and even
dangers.  It would oblige them to take long walks, and  frevuently,
through rain and snow, after sitting in warm recitation-rooms, and this
could not fail to be very injurious to their health.
It will be noted that certain lecture and recitation-rooms are provided for
the young ladies under both systems.  The purpose of this is two-fold:
first, there are some subjects which it may be found desirable to teach the
young women apart from the young men, as for example, physiology and
kindred studies. Again, there seems a peculiar fitness in bringing one
leading department into especial connection with this part of th(:  ni versity; this is the department of botany and horticulture. All the dif ferent plans agree on providing a botanical lecture-room, laboratory and
museum, with green-house and botanical garden, in connection with the
proposed College. Apart from the fact that botany and horticulture have
special attractions for young women, it is believed that work in such gar dens in connection with such a department would afford the best of all
physical exercise.
It is not impossible, too, that, to some extent, self supporting labor may
thus be afforded. The demand for floral products of every sort in all our
cities is immense, and steadily increasing, and the University grounds are
not more remote from some of the most important markets than are many
of the existing sources of supply.
In concluding their report, the Committee would state one simple argu ment, which seems to them entitled to weight, even with those who dis sent from many or from all of the arguments already presented.
The Cornell University is, in a certain sense, a State institution. The
main source of its endowment from the government of the United States
and its Charter, both State and National, give it this character. In view
'of the unmistakable tendency of popular sentiment, in view of the fact that
in our Act of Incorporation, the word persons, referring to those entering
the Institution, is to be read in connection with a context, which leads to
the inference that the persons entering the University are of the same sort
as the persons in the public schools and academies, that is, persons of
both sexes, it seems doubtful whether it will be possible much longer to
refuse to try the experiment of educating the sexes together in the Uni versity. And the question therefore arises, whether it is niot best to ac cept a gift which affords the best opportunity to try the experiment fully
and fairly that has ever been offered in this or any other c~, ntry.  Indeed,
it      is a que stion    w hether we have  any right to  reject such, opportunity.
In view of this, as well as the considerations previous]::,resented, your
39
6 
REPORT OF TIHE COMMITTEE
Committee recommend that Mr. Sage's gift be accepted on the conditions
named by him, and that the establishment created under it be known as
the Sage College of Cornell University.
ANDREW D. WHITE, Chairman,
Iz behalf of a Majority of the Committee.
v
40