The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-01-15
WOMEN STUDENTS AT YALE.
MORE SUNSHINE IN THE LIFE or
THE. ONCE-DESPIsED GOODS.

NEW HAVEN. Jan. 1--we women stu
dents are getting to be a very important
part OF the university" said a fair candidate
for the Yale degree OF doctor OF philosophy
whose attention had been directed to the In
crease in women students shown by the latest
Yale catalogue. II really think that the time
is not far distant when the women students
will be seriously considered. both by the I'M
derRraduates and the faculty. Yale is an awfully
conservative place, you know. and does not
take kindly to new ideas. 1t did not take
kindly TO the women students when they first
began to circulate through the libraries and
sit In the back seats at the undergraduate reci-
%tations. And. what is more, the men students
did not attempt TO conceal thor disfavor. and
on several occasions were very rude indeed.
Now, however. they are beginning to SEQ the
error OF their ways. and nowadays there is a
little more sunshine In the everyday life OF the
once despised coed.
Perhaps the coed herself is in a measure
responsible for the change. TIL Yale coed OF
to-day, / believe, is not the Yale coed OF five or
six years ago. She is. to come to the disagree
able point at once. much younger than her
predecessor of n few years ago. and possibly
more attractive more OF n college girl. you
know. The women students who first ayailed
themselves of the privileges of Yale were very
worthy women and In many cases very excel
lent students: but, as q rule. they were not
the sort OF women that appeals readily to col
lege men. A liberal average would have placed
their age at say 81 years. They were women
Of experience in life. who had outgrowp the
frivolities Of youth. II they had ever been ar
fected that way. Scholarship with them was a
profession upon which their daily bread de-
pended. Tho larger number had been grad
uated many years before at some obscure col
lege, usually In the distant West. coeducational
Of course. and in every way foreign to the
| spirit OF Yale, They had taught for many years
in the secondary schools, and had acquired
the genuine schoolmarm air. 1t Is not
at all surprising that they became the
butt Of undergraduate ridicule. Their pic
lures began to appear In the Record. the
undergraduate humorous paper. They fig
ured regularly in the topical songs OF the
Yale Glee Club, and they were put upon the
Hyperion stage by the junior societies in the
Joint plays. Even more discouraginG was the
attitude OF the faculty. Several professors of
Yale made no attempts to conceal their disgust
at the women students, and used all means in
their power to keen them out of their courses.
One professor in particular was approached
one day by a mature coed Of somc forty years
or thercabouts with the question:
oh. Prof. So-and-so. don't you think your
course in this would be OF great
benefit to meP
~ should by all means he suavely replied.
advise you to take course 10l7 with Prof.
-. He knows more about the subject than
Twill ever know. He's Just the man for you
An SO these poor goods were sent chasing
from one professor TO another. almost begging
part Of TIER Rard.earned' savings, These
women were by no means fools, and III the
majority OF cases they Tn !hls their he'll n2s n
cially devoted to Yale. In many cases they lett
New Haven without IA degree, utterly dis
death. but lost no time, after securing. tho
coveted sheepskin, in shaking the dust OF the
Yale campus from their shoes. i hardly think
they were much like the present generation Of
may | say it?-Ial women. In the first place. the
great majority OF the forty-onc graduate women
students are much Younger. They are nearly
all very recent college graduates. And the ma
iority do not hold degrees from these fresh
ing women's colleges Of the East. Smith takes
the lead with eight recent graduates az Yale:
has six. Other prominent colleges represented
are Mount Holyoke. the University OF Chicago.
and the Doshisha at Tokyo. Japan. OF course
the majority OF these women students are fit
ting themselves for teachers: but IA number are
merely amateurs. with no further aim than
somewhat into the spirit, of Yale lie,
OF course there is little opportgntty for so.
that we are obliged to room and board in town:
This means. of course; living at inconvenieat
ven streets at all hours Of the day and night.
SO sc f in3 9sTeyestb5j .n "a p psFdS scRols ePH1nS' AND Md'f uni Is
versity life. A few kind friends on the faculty
occasionally do something for us IN q social
teas and are usually IN evidence at university
receptions and the like. We never lose sight
coming to Yale was not to enjoy our cakes and
ale. hut 10 study. Some of US study very hard :
derGraduate body would frown upon a number
on the ground that we are, digs. i know one
woman ON nri StT ID o IcE kam m the vi" moL g2}sS to ana 3e 4
always on hand at the half past . o'clock reel
tation. She is killing herself. Of course. but
you can't stop her. She, expects to be n great
scholar some day: perhaps she will be. am
glad to say that the majority are not SO COM
Il think the woman students have ,won the
respect Of the entire college world. The turn.
1877. Before that time the women students
did not appear on the platform on commence-
@ slsnl,b dny visited So Ge tS b COLLEGE S,Isif trS assTFsT; on r ao%y
mencement morning. received their sheep
skins and took the first train from the city. In
/ 1907, however. the seven women students who
were to receive their electorate determined to
assert all the rights of tn, university graduate.
took their places in the PROCESSION and marched
around the campus behind the brass BANG as
the turn OF the doctors Of philosophy came.
they formed in single, file. assembled the plat
form: and r irS e lrd their fbp p'P Pr sICt@ritsf 6, m5s'
Yale men like pluck. even from IA coed and
this unexpected performance was n pro
nOunced success. Graduates and under
graduates cheered and, cheered. and these
seven women students, found themselves the
recipients of an unparalleled honor IN the SHAPE
of the traditional nine 'Rah! rnhi rahs!'
Since then a better feeling has existed between
the women students and the undergraduates;
They arc not sneered at as the embodiment Of
everything disagreeabIe aud ungraceful in
womanhood. and the professors nolonger seek
to elbow them out Of their courses. They are
beginning to wear their learning gracefully
lutte an achievement Tor IA woman, is IL mott
The women students have really dis
tinguished themselves in n scholarly way and
have brought, much honor TO the university.
Those under Prof. Cook, in the English depart
ment, have published q, great many volumes
and papers, many OF which are in regular use
in American universities. Several Of the
graduates are also teaching, IN prominent
female colleges. such as Wellesley. Vnssar and
Smith. Their originality was well illustrated
last spring. when. in COMPANY with seyernl
men graduate, students, they rcsurrected the
old Jacobean drama. The knight Of the Burn
ing Pestle.' from the obscurity in which il had
lain Tor more than two centuries. and produced
ii before a university audience. preserving ac-
c~urately the Elizabethan stage conventions.
Yale men are becoming accustomed to the
presence Ol the women students upon the
campus, and the purpose of the corporation in
| ADMITTING them Is better understood The