Meeting the Challenge: - The Council of Independent Colleges

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John R. Thelin Some of the major changes in the small colleges in the 1970s and 1980s had less to do with deliberations about academic programs and more to do with fundamental discussions about student constituencies. The effect of these changes on women’s colleges—including mergers, closures, and decisions to become coeducational—were especially significant. Gradually yet persistently, many historically single-gender institutions opted for coeducation. It was not an obvious or easy choice, as it altered an institution’s distinctive character and constituency. On balance, the move to coeducation tended to be most helpful for colleges that had been exclusively for men. These institutions usually enjoyed an increase in the number of applicants plus a rise in the applicants’ high school academic records and SAT scores. But generalizations cannot replace the careful, sometimes difficult consideration of each institution’s own situation and prospects. Bennington College in Vermont, for example, continued its curricular tradition of progressive education in the arts and humanities while shifting from an exclusive focus on the education of women to coeducation. Kenyon College in Ohio opted to become coeducational in 1969 and began a period of expansion. Pitzer College in California opened in 1965 as a college for women with a progressive, experimental curriculum. Less than a decade later, Pitzer retained its curricular focus while opting to become coeducational. At the same time, several other independent institutions decided to maintain their traditional commitment as women’s colleges. Among these were Agnes Scott, Alverno, Notre Dame of Maryland, Hollins, Mary Baldwin, Mills, Mount Holyoke, Saint Mary’s in Indiana, Scripps, Spelman, and Stephens. While most colleges that had historically been just for men eventually adopted coeducation, this was not always the case, as Wabash College in Indiana continued to flourish academically and financially as an institution exclusively for men. In Los Angeles, two historically single-gender institutions, Loyola Institutions such as the College of Notre Dame of Maryland chose to maintain their traditional commitment as women’s colleges, at a time when many were opting to become coeducational. 29
Small by Design: Resilience in an Era of Mass Higher Education Azusa Pacific University in California (right) was cited as an exemplary institution for using its religious commitment to revitalize its admissions and curriculum. College (for men) and Marymount College (for women), merged successfully to create an attractive coeducational university. A comparable period of serious institutional scrutiny took place in the ways in which small colleges considered—and sometimes renegotiated—their affiliations with religious groups and denominations. By the 1960s the larger universities had in most instances become secular, and the religious character of smaller colleges was beginning to change as well. The general trend was toward loosening the church bonds. From the 1960s to the 1980s, the small colleges often reduced or abolished their course requirements in religion and moral philosophy. On many campuses, mandatory chapel attendance was eliminated too. Protestant colleges, especially in “mainline” denominations, reduced their ties to the founding religious bodies as financial support from the churches diminished and interest grew on the campuses in having the flexibility and autonomy that came with an independent board of trustees. Roman Catholic colleges were often more successful in maintaining their religious identities, though they also had to adjust to changing circumstances, particularly the steep decline in the membership of their founding religious orders. For some Baptist institutions, a move toward independence came only toward the end of the 20 th century, sometimes with very public struggles for institutional control between the state Baptist conventions and the college trustees. Despite a secularizing trend overall, many colleges deepened their religious character. Wheaton College in Illinois was hailed in national studies for its ability to fuse high academic standards with its evangelical commitment. In California, Azusa Pacific University was cited as an exemplary institution for using its religious commitment to revitalize its admissions and curriculum. Wheaton and Azusa Pacific were two institutions among a larger group with strong ties to the Protestant evangelical movement that banded together under 30
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Page 8 and 9: Thanks also are due to all the tale
Page 10 and 11: Preface Richard Ekman The Council o
Page 12 and 13: Small by Design: Resilience in an E
Page 14 and 15: John R. Thelin Enrollment, Public a
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Page 26 and 27: John R. Thelin In American higher e
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From Accreditation to Validation: C
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Morris College / Sumter, SC / 1908
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Illinois / Augustana College / Auro
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Mississippi / Millsaps College / Ru
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Rhode Island / Roger Williams Unive
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Arkansas / Arkansas’ Independent
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Alexander W. Astin and Calvin B.T.
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John William Oliver, Jr., James Hod
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Meeting the Challenge: - The Council of Independent Colleges

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