Extracts from the Report of the President of Michigan University For the Year 1872.
“The number of women who are availing themselves of the opportunity to study at the University is nearly twice as great as it was in the year 1870-71. The number registered then was 34, viz.: 2 in the Law Department; 18 in the Medical Department, and 14 in the Academic Department. This year the number has been 64, viz.: 3 in the Law Department; 33 in the Medical, and 28 in the Academic. These last are distributed in the classes as follows: Seniors, 2; Sophomores, 7; Freshmen, 13; in select courses, 6. Of those in the regular courses, eight are Classical students, nine Latin and Scientific, and five Scientific. Five of those in the select courses are giving their attention chiefly to scientific studies and modern languages and literature; the sixth to classical work. Six women graduated in April with the medical class, one with the law class, and two now graduate in the Academic Department. In the Medical Department the women have received instruction by themselves, except in chemistry. In the other Departments all instruction is given to both sexes in common.
“It is manifestly not wise to leap to hasty generalizations from our brief experience in furnishing education to both sexes in our University. But I think all who have been familiar with the inner life of the University for the past two years, will admit that, thus far, no reason for doubting the wisdom of the Regents' action in opening the University to women has appeared. Hardly one of the many embarrassments which some feared, has confronted us. The young women have addressed themselves to their work with great zeal, and have shown themselves quite capable of meeting the demands of severe studies as successfully as their classmates of the other sex. Their work so far does not evince less variety of aptitude or less power of grappling even with higher mathematics than we find in the young men. They receive no favors, and desire none. They are subjected to precisely the same tests as the men. Some of them, like the men, have stumbled at examinations; but nearly all of them have maintained a most creditable reputation for scholarship in every branch of study which has awaited them in their course. Nor does their work seem to put a dangerous strain upon their physical powers. They assure me that they never enjoyed better health, and their absences by reason of sickness do not proportionately exceed those of the men. Their presence has not called for the enactment of a single new law, or for the slightest change in our methods of government or grade of work. If we are asked still to regard the reception of women into our classes as an experiment, it must certainly be deemed a most hopeful experiment. The numerous inquiries which are sent to me from various parts of this country, and even from England, concerning the results of their admission to the University, show that a profound and wide-spread interest in the subject has been awakened. Cornell University has recently decided to open its doors to women, and it can hardly be doubted that other conspicuous Eastern colleges will soon follow the example. The Alumni and Trustees of at least four prominent New England colleges are formally considering the subject.”
From Report for 1873.
“The number of women who enroll themselves as students in the University continues to increase. Two years ago it was 37; in 1871-2 it was 64; in 1872-3 it was 88. The attendance of women was, by departments, as follows: in the Law Department 4; in the Medical Department 40; in the Academic Department 45. These last were, according to the Calendar, distributed as follows: Resident Graduates 2; Senior Class 1; Junior Class 7; Sophomore Class 8; Freshmen Class 20; Select Course 5; Pharmacy 2. Of the 35 in the regular courses of study, 14 pursue the Classical, 14 the Latin and Scientific, and 7 the Scientific. Of the graduates, 8 are women; 1 in the Law Department, 1 in the Literary, and 6 in the Medical.
“The history of our work during the past year has only deepened the impression made during the two previous years, of the entire practicability of imparting collegiate and professional education to the two sexes in the same schools. If any have cherished a fear that the admission of women would tend to reduce the standard of work in the University, their attention may be directed to the fact that during the last three years we have been steadily increasing the requirements for admission and broadening the range of studies. Now certainly the women experience no such difficulty in acquiring the studies assigned in the regular curriculum as to call for any modification of the course on their account. Their record is as creditable in all branches as that of their classmates of the other sex. Nor do I see any evidence that their success in their intellectual pursuits is purchased at the expense of health. On the contrary, I doubt if an equal number of young women in any other pursuit in life have been in better health during the year. I am persuaded, that with ordinary care and prudence, any one of our courses of study may be completed by a young woman of fair ability without undue draft upon her strength. None of the many objections, which are still raised against the co-education of the sexes, have thus been found in practice here to have any force. The admission of women has led to no new difficulty or embarrassment in the administration of the Institution. It has certainly brought to a large class the benefits of such an education as otherwise would have been out of their reach, and has awakened through the State and the country, and even in foreign lands, a new interest in the University.”