The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1909-06-11
A "CO-ED" PARADISE
IDF2i. RELATIONSHIP PNTWNEN
TWO SEXES ~ WISCONSIN.
The Male Undergraduates hre 50
Deferential to Thcir Feminine
Comrades a. f. CG'l Them "',i'"In.
On Str tu;,crts."

On Stu;!crtS."
W isCor"in is the paradise Of the
co-ed---a fact indicated, among other
things, IL the deferential habit of
calling her, not coed, but woman
student Days ana days I spent try
ing to track down the co-eduCational
problem, Until ! seemed, even to my
sclf. to be TIE victim of an evil mind.
There il no co-education prob
lem at Wisconsin. Mem bers of -he
faculty. aul among them recent ar
liVGls fro-l Eastern universities, de-
tlared this in so many words. To
the undergl rgladuatcs--and | lived and
took most of ly meals at different
fraternity hovses the only problem
with regar! to the woman student
seemed to he low to get nearer or
next. For there Is only one woman
to half a d0zel men. and the most
approved Use of an idle hour appears
to be what is called "fussing."
The unrestrainei social inter-
course natural to the West, has full
o.
in self-respecting community, a
state of innocence which to any one
from a highly chaperoned commun-
ity, seems little short Of Arcadian.
About hundred of the young wom-
en- room and dine in Chadbourne
Hall. Another hundred live in So
rority houses. The rest live In their
own homes or board in student lodg-
ing houses-some of them In houses
partly occupied by men students.
Until the present year there had
been no dean of women. The new
dean is trying, and with success, to
prevent men and women students
from living in the same houses.
The matter Of chaperons is more
difficult. Each of the sororities has
a matron, but she is largely a fig
urehead. She has not even a posi-
tion on the house committee, so that,
though she has responsibilities to the
university, she has little or no au-
thority over the students.
Buggy riding fourishes. One of
the undergraduates admitted to me
that it was not unusual for parties
out to the several hotels on Lake
Mendoza for dinner. "I suppose"
he added, that that will seem to
you horribly crude" On the con-
trary, 1t seemed like the Golden Age
Or like my own boyhood in the
cin la
couple ever went on such an expe
dition. He shook his head. The
girls own dignity, if not the tradi-
tions of the university, would forbid
this.
When l put the same question to
another nieTgraluate, he smiled
and said that occasionally couple
would go forth to dine in single
blessedocss.
Yet am convinced that no serious
harm is done. Were engagements
common? BY no means. Sometimes
gossiping souls would allege that a
couple were enEagei i--or, if not, they
ought to be. But no engagements
were announced, except in most
c-ses, as the immediate prelude to
student marriages, which arc rare.
And this was wise, one informant
told me, for then if the young woman
went home and married a man in her
native town no one could prove that
she was unduly experienced, or that
the undergraduate had been Tilted.
And this leads to the only thing
approaching co-educational prob
lem. Though men and women are
of much the same age, there is rad
ical difference in their situation in
life.
The women are in a position to be
married but the men are not in
position to be married, but the men
are not in a position to marry them
as regards either age or worldly
goods.
The women, arriving from farm,
village or city, regard their life in
the university as a social coming
out-their first and perhaps only
chance for real good time.