Bates College is the oldest continuously operating coeducational university in the English-speaking world .
Founded as a baccalaureate by Oren Burbank Cheney in 1855 , it is the second oldest coeducational university in the United States , ( Bates : first woman to receive a bachelor 's degree in New England in 1869 ) and the oldest continuously operating coeducational university in the world .
Bates College