Written by Janet Olson

By the mid-1860s, after the Civil War, American women began to seek and gain access to higher education, and in the Midwest, newer schools, especially the public universities that would become the Big 10, and Methodist and other denominational schools, admitted women. Partly, they wanted to train women for teaching, they did not already have the tradition of single-sex schools—high-school level female academies and eventually women’s colleges-- prevalent on the east coast, and they did not want the expense of separate schools.

In Evanston, there had been an institution for women’s education, the North-Western Female College, since 1855—the same year the University opened. But it was a female academy, offering a certificate but not a bachelor’s degree, and was totally unaffiliated with NU, despite the similar name.

By 1869, NU’s newly elected president, some trustees, and a group of Evanston women all supported access to college-level education for women. But initially all were leaning toward a coordinate model, with the establishment of the new Evanston College for Ladies under a separate (all-women) administration, rather than full inclusion in the University. This model would offer women full access to University classes while still providing the separate supervision, under a woman president, that NU faculty and the parents of women students preferred. The new College opened in 1871, but two unforeseen circumstances intervened. First, the Great Fire in Chicago in October, 1871, destroyed the businesses of men who had pledged money to finance the Evanston College for Ladies. Then, the following year, a new President came to Northwestern—a man who strongly advocated women’s education but did not want the separate administrative structure of a coordinate school. In 1873 the Evanston College for Ladies was absorbed into the university and its president became NU’s first Dean of Women.

Sarah Rebecca Roland was the first woman to graduate from Northwestern, in 1874, and was followed by many more women graduates. But the interpretation of coeducation fluctuated, depending on the temper of the times and the views of subsequent presidents, trustees, and alumni groups—as to where women fit in both in terms of academics but most particularly in extra-curricular activities, housing, athletics, etc.

NU’s Deans of Women continued to deal with parental expectations, societal norms, and the sense that women needed to meet higher behavioral standards than men. Women soon showed that they could meet and exceed men’s academic standards. Women themselves enforced their own set of rules, with a Woman’s League and later a Women’s Self-governance Association (similar to other co-ed colleges). At Northwestern, as was the case at every men’s college that decided to admit women, “coeducation” came to mean a campus that included both men and “coeds,” not that women were the equals of men students.

By the mid-1970s things had changed: there was no longer a dean of women, the Women’s Self-Government Association had disbanded, Title IX had opened the door to women’s varsity sports, and women had begun to fill seats in the labs of the Technological Institute. No longer used to differentiate men students from women students in regard to ability or need for protection, the term “coed” could finally resume its original meaning: now terms such as “coed dorms” identify aspects of campus life where men and women mix as equals.

By the mid-1860s, after the Civil War, American women began to seek and gain access to higher education, and in the Midwest, newer schools, especially the public universities that would become the Big 10, and Methodist and other denominational schools, admitted women. Partly, they wanted to train women for teaching, they did not already have the tradition of single-sex schools—high-school level female academies and eventually women’s colleges-- prevalent on the east coast, and they did not want the expense of separate schools.

In Evanston, there had been an institution for women’s education, the North-Western Female College, since 1855—the same year the University opened. But it was a female academy, offering a certificate but not a bachelor’s degree, and was totally unaffiliated with NU, despite the similar name.

By 1869, NU’s newly elected president (Erastus Haven), some trustees, and a group of Evanston women all supported access to college-level education for women. But initially all were leaning toward a coordinate model, with the establishment of the new Evanston College for Ladies under a separate (all-women) administration, rather than full inclusion in the University. This model would offer women full access to University classes while still providing the separate supervision, under a woman president, that NU faculty and the parents of women students preferred. The new College opened in 1871, with Frances Willard as President, but two unforeseen circumstances intervened. First, the Great Fire in Chicago in October, 1871, destroyed the businesses of men who had pledged money to finance the Evanston College for Ladies. Then, the following year, a new President came to Northwestern—a man who strongly advocated women’s education but did not want the separate administrative structure of a coordinate school. In 1873 the Evanston College for Ladies was absorbed into the university and Frances Willard became NU’s first Dean of Women.

Sarah Rebecca Roland was the first woman to graduate from Northwestern, in 1874, and was followed by many more women graduates. But the interpretation of coeducation fluctuated, depending on the temper of the times and the views of subsequent presidents, trustees, and alumni groups—as to where women fit in both in terms of academics but most particularly in extra-curricular activities, housing, athletics, etc.

NU’s Deans of Women continued to deal with parental expectations, societal norms, and the sense that women needed to meet higher behavioral standards than men. Women soon showed that they could meet and exceed men’s academic standards. Women themselves enforced their own set of rules, with a Woman’s League and later a Women’s Self-governance Association (similar to other co-ed colleges). At Northwestern, as was the case at every men’s college that decided to admit women, “coeducation” came to mean a campus that included both men and “coeds,” not that women were the equals of men students.

By the mid-1970s things had changed: there was no longer a dean of women, the Women’s Self-Government Association had disbanded, Title IX had opened the door to women’s varsity sports, and women had begun to fill seats in the labs of the Technological Institute. No longer used to differentiate men students from women students in regard to ability or need for protection, the term “coed” could finally resume its original meaning: now terms such as “coed dorms” identify aspects of campus life where men and women mix as equals.