New-York tribune., 1908-03-22
PARADISE OF THE COED"

Wisconsin is the paradise OF the co-ed-a fact
indicated. among other things. IN the defereh,iai
habit of calling her. not coed. but woman stu
dent DAYS and days I spent trying to track down
the co-educational problem, until l seemed, even
to myself, to be the victim Of an evil mind IheTe
Is no co-educational problem at Wisconsin Mem
bers of the faculty, and among them recent ar
rivals from Eastern universities, declared TINS IN
50 many words To the uniergraduates-and L
lived and took most of my meals at different ira
ternity houses-the only problem with regard 10
the woman student seemed be how to get nearer,
next. For there is only one woman TO nan q
dozen men, and the most approved use OF an l1i7
hour appears be what is called ''fussing
The unrestrained social intercourse natural 70
the West has full swing and the result IS, as al
ways in a self-respecting community, a state OF
innocence which TO any one from highly CHAP
eroned community seems little short of Arcadlan
About hundred of the young room and
dine in Chadbourne Hall. Another hundred nVe III
sorority houses The rest live in their own homes
board in student lodging houses-some or thein
III houses partly. occupied by men students
Until the present year there had been no Dean
OF women Inc new dean IS uSIls' anu W. W. - 80
cess, TO prevent men and women students Hoih
living in the same houses.
The matter of chaperOns is more difficult Each
OF the sororities has natron but she is largely
fgurehead. She has not q position on the
house committee so that though she has responsi-
bties to the university, she has little or no an
thOrity the students.
Buggy riding fourishes one Of the undergrad
yates admitted to that it was not unusual Tor
parties of two and three couples TO drive out 20
the several hotels on Lake MENDOZA for dinner l
suppose" he added, that that viii seem 10 you
horribly crude" On the contrary, Il seemed IKE
the Golden Age-or like my own boyhood in TINS
same Middle West ! asked il a single couple ever
went on such an expedition. He shook his mead
The girls dignity if not the trad1tions Oh the
university, would forbid this
When I put the same question 10 another under
graduate he smiled and said that occasionally
co1inIe would 20 forth to in single bessedneSs
Yet I am convinced that serious harm is done
Wore engagements common BY no means Some
times gossiping souls would allege that couple
were encaged-or. II not, that they ought 10 DC
au, A.. enxazements were announced except ID
n,ost cases as the immediate prelude TO student
maria ses which And this was wise, one
informant told me, for then if the young woman
went home and married man in her native town
M noe could prove that she was unduly expef-
fenced OF that the undergraduates had been Tilted
And this leads to the only thing approaching q
co-a7,1ca tional problem. Though men and women
are of much the age. there Is radical dit-
ference ir their situation in life
The women are i'll d position to be married. out
the men are not IN a position TO marry tnelil as
regards either age worldly goods.
The women arriving frCm farm, village or CITY,
regard their life in the university as social COM
ing out-their first and perhaps only chance Tor
real good time.
To the rlen the university is place OF prepa-
ration for the serious work OF life and for manly
comradeships and sports
It is a part OF the plans of the president 10
build residential halls for the young women, also
Such halls should assist the dean OF women IN
dfgnifying the office Of ,chaperon. II experience
shows that dining out by single couples is mad
vfsable ii should not prove impossible 10 roster a
community sentiment against i--Ssturday Even
Ing Post.