Who Is Suing?

There always has to be somebody who thinks they were damaged somehow by decisions made by those higher up. Suing the school is not a good idea. Transfering to another all women’s university is much more appropriate. Lawsuits for damages require actual damages to be viable. The most damage I can see here is perhaps someone’s time, if by transfering they have to spend maybe another semester in attendance because of graduation requirements.

Craig C, political pundit at http://blogresponder.blogspot.com, at 6:35 am EDT on October 27, 2006

Transfering Due To Men? Are You Crazy?

Having attended R-MWC, and having one of my roommates transfer out after sophomore year, men are not the reason why so many leave. The majority leave for one of two reasons. First, the fact that they can not get a degree or classes in the area they wish to study. And second, they have problems dealing with the level of work required by professors and have low grades.

Don’t blame students leaving R-MWC on there not being men. The number of my classmates met their husbands while attending the college.

Cheri Friedman, at 11:51 am EDT on October 27, 2006

Marketing, not men, will Save R-MWC

Contrary to the continuing stream of misinformation coming from the adminstration of R-MWC, the college’s woes are not caused by its status as a woman’s college. The college is in strong financial shape, even though it is suffering the fallout of years of poor management and marketing decisions. The evidence is very clear that a good management plan and better marketing can solve the issues facing the college without admitting men. A committed group of alumnae have joined together to get this vote reversed. See the documents “20 Reasons Why the Trustees Should Change Their Vote” on our web site at www.PreserveEducationalChoice.org.

Be clear: none of us has anything against men. We just know the advantages that are gained by attendance at a woman’s college, and we want to preserve that option for future women. Why does every college have to be a cookie cutter of every other small liberal arts college? Why can’t there remain the diversity of single-sex options if it financially feasible? And be clear: it is financially feasible for R-WMC to remain a woman’s college, and there are sufficient women to fill its incoming classes. Moreover, with the exception of a few boom years in the early 1960’s, the college’s enrollment has remained remarkably stable at around 700-730 students since the mid-1980’s. There has been no recent “decline” in enrollment numbers.

The U.S. Dept. of Education just released rules allowing primary and secondary schools to provide single-sex options in classrooms, or even whole schools. Additionally, studies have shown that men are in short supply in college applicant pools, and their numbers are projected to dwindle even further in the coming years. It’s the wrong time to moving away from single-sex education for women!Our group and other like us have begged to be allowed to speak to the entire Board of Trustees to present our evidence, but have been ignored, or have only been allowed to speak to small groups of hand-picked trustees, both before and after the vote. The board has also refused to allow anyone to examine the whole set of data upon which the decision was based. What is so secret about the data upon which this vote was based that it cannot survive the light of day?

We have collected the support of former Presidents of the College, a former Admissions Director, former Trustees, major donors, and thousands of alumnae who recognize the 4-page “strategic” plan for what it is: a plan whose only “plan” is to form committees to decide what the plan entails AFTER the plan was approved. See the “plan” at www.rmwc.edu. Compare it to the strategic plan prepared by Mount Holyoke College.

It is clear that Sweet Briar College, Hollins College, and other women’s colleges are experiencing increased enrollment and lower discount rates. That can happen at R-MWC, too, with the right marketing and management plan. Please look deeper than the gratuitous comments coming from the college. The tuition discount rate, the main reason the Board cited for its inability to survive as a woman’s college, will be no better in the coed model. And, the college’s own projections call for an infusion of cash of $115 million in the first year. The only place that can come from quickly is the sale of precious works of art from the college’s famed American art collection, which would bring censure upon the college and its museum, and would ensure that no donor will consider giving valuable and important works of art to R-MWC again.I hope that anyone interested in preserving the option of women’s education at women’s colleges will join us in our fight to “Preserve Educational Choice.” See our web site for more information.

Diane Montgomery, at 5:06 pm EDT on October 27, 2006

A humble suggestion...

RMWC is my first choice of a name for this college. If men don’t want to enroll because of the word “Woman” in the name, direct them to Liberty University, where they should feel very comfortable with the 3000 year old dinosaur bones in the Jerry Falwell Museum. Isn’t this the 21st century?

HOWEVER, my second choice, if the name does change, is to make it Carter College. A college for women and men named after Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter would be a powerful message to students interested in global studies, peace, sustainability, and functioning communities.

If only Jimmy and Rosalynn would agree!

Robert Schmidt, at 3:55 pm EDT on October 28, 2006

Frustrated as well

From the perpsective of the parent of a first year student at R-MWC: You spend 18 years raising a child — sending them to school, volunteering in their classroom, helping with homework, chaperoning field trips, driving to lessons and practices, saving for college tuition — all the things that experts and educators recommend you do to help your child prepare for adulthood. The last two years are spent pouring over college literature, visiting schools, meeting with admissions counselors, taking SATs, filling out applications for admission and scholarships and finally agonizing over the choices once acceptances are received. The emotional and financial investment in the process for parent and child is huge. Two weeks before your are scheduled to take your child to their first semester of school, the Board of Trustees of this school announce that the school will be changing from a Woman’s college to coed and will also be changing its name. The college you and your child spent two years carefully selecting will be markedly different from what you thought you had chosen. The Board and administration had been studying this option for the entire time you had been considering the school and the possibility of such a drastic change was never mentioned by anyone in any of the literature, during any of the visits or by any school official. Your daughters first month at school is filled with protests, sit-ins, strikes, and rallys. Thoughts and talk of transfer and a yet another college search add to the distraction from classwork. School officials and the Board, talk of financial difficulties leading to this decision. The junior year, study abroad program which attracted your daughter to the school may not be there for her junior year, yet the school continues to use it their literature and at campus visits. There is talk of selling some of the schools valuable art collection. A lawsuit is filed. Many of the schools alumnae are angry and saddened at the path the school is taking. Parents are also frustrated.

M Henderson, at 1:10 pm EST on October 31, 2006

To the “family member” of a trustee (yeah right, more like a trustee herself)

The trustees deserve everything they have coming and then some. I’m going to laugh with glee when their D&O liability policies refuse to cover them and all the rich ladies on the board have to scramble for money from their husbands to pay for their legal bills.

alum, at 5:55 am EST on November 16, 2006