We feel a gender balance is critical to academic discourse. It's not just that we're worried who dates whom on a Friday night. But Richard Hart, chair of the philosophy department at Bloomfield, sometimes has only a few men in his classes. He says the impact is neutral. There hasn't been any shift in the quality of the learning experience or the rigors of the courses.
Some professors actually think that classes are better with fewer men.
First impressions are important By far the biggest potential impact of the gender gap is on that initial look at a campus by a prospective student. Many students, who can easily get Internet information about schools' gender splits, appear ready to avoid campuses with a split they deem too large. It jumped out at me but ultimately didn't sway me. Cheryl Louie, a senior psychology major at Seattle Pacific, is not too concerned about the dearth of men, but says it would spice up class discussions if there were more of them around. It's kind of an ongoing joke how there's 10 girls for every guy, but there's really just 3 for every 2.