Another Women’s College Decides to Admit Men

The board of trustees of Chatham University in Pittsburgh has voted to admit men to its undergraduate programs for the first time. Men will be permitted to enroll in undergraduate programs in the fall of 2015. The university is not totally abandoning its roots. The trustees also earmarked $8.5 million to establish the Chatham University Women’s Institute.

Chatham College for Women was founded in 1869 as Pennsylvania Female College and is one of the oldest women’s colleges in the United States. This semester the college enrolled 588 undergraduate students, all of whom are women. Undergraduate enrollments are down nearly 13 percent from 2008.

The College for Graduate Studies offers 21 master’s and doctoral degree programs which are open to both women and men. The College for Continuing and Professional Studies offer eight degree programs as well as non-degree and certificate programs. These offerings are also coeducational.

Chatham University President Esther Barazzone stated earlier that declining enrollments and economic pressures compelled the university’s board of trustees to consider co-education for the undergraduate college.

Dr. Barazzone has been president at Chatham University since 1992. Two years before her arrival, trustees rejected a plan to become co-educational. Dr. Barazzone is a member of the inaugural graduating class of New College in Sarasota, Florida. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in European intellectual history from Columbia University.