Women -- Employment -- United States; Women -- Social and moral questions
In 1876 a department of music was established, in which advanced
instruction in the theory of music was given, and from the beginning
women were admitted to the classes. While a degree was attainable,
under certain conditions of post graduate work, none have been
awarded.
In 1878 Mrs. Bloomfield Moore presented $10,000, the income of which
was to pay the tuition fees of women who sought to qualify themselves
for teaching, in any of the courses open to them. Certain special
courses of lectures and laboratory work, e. g., English history,
chemistry, mineralogy, were open to the public on a fee, and of course
women were included, a few availing themselves of the opportunity; but
these were not matriculated, nor entered upon the roll of students.
In 1880 Miss Alice Bennett, M.D., received the degree Ph.D. in the
Auxiliary Faculty of Medicine,—a two years’ course in certain sciences
open to graduates in medicine.
In 1888 Mrs. Carrie B. Kilgore received the degree LL.B., on
completing the full two years’ course in the law department.
In neither of these cases was there any formal action opening the
courses specified to women. They were simply accepted as students by
the several deans, and when they had complied with the terms were,
without demur, admitted to their degrees.
The School of Biology, organized in 1884,—a two years’ course, no
degree,—has from the first been freely open to women, has always had a
fair proportion among its students, and some of them have proved to be
of superior ability. Its force and material are used in the new four
years’ course in natural history, one of the college courses, but to
this women are not yet admitted.
Applications were often made for the admission of women to the medical
department, but trustees and faculty concurred in always refusing it.
This was the more unanimously done since the establishment of the
admirable Women’s Medical College, which would have been fatally
injured by the opening of our doors to women.
Requests to open the college department to women have been
periodically made for many years. At first the faculty positively
declined to recommend this, but gradually opposition to the proposal
weakened, until last year(1889–90) a bare majority voted the other
way.
Before the trustees had taken action upon the matter, Col. Joseph M.
Bennett came forward and presented two valuable houses, adjacent to
the university, and a sum of $10,000 for establishing a college for
women as a department of the university. The trustees accepted the
offer, and after careful consideration and consultation with prominent
women educators, decided, with Col. Bennett’s full approval, to make
this a post graduate department of the highest grade.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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