| Welcome to Lafayette’s History of Coeducation Website! During the 1970′s single sex colleges and universities throughout the United States were becoming coeducational at an unprecedented rate. In May of 1967, the Lafayette Faculty urged the president to assemble a special committee to consider the possibility of becoming coed. The committee, consisting of faculty and alumni, recommended in March of 1968 that the college admit women. In order to assess the climate for change, the College distributed a survey to 14,250 alumni. Of the twenty percent that responded, 56% felt that the college should remain all male. The Student Council also conducted its own random sample poll of students, which indicated overwhelming support of coeducation at Lafayette. Of the four hundred respondents, 77.3% were in favor of coeducation, while only 22.4 were against it. The Board of Trustees met on June 27, 1969 to vote on the issue. The vote was 19 to 9 in favor of admitting women. In September of 1970, Lafayette College welcomed its first official coeducational class with 146 women (123 freshmen, and 23 transfers). |
