The Long Path to Permanent Coeducation at Gettysburg College

Jean LeGros has served as the former Director of Alumni Relations, Gettysburg College, and Major Gifts Officer at Gettysburg College and Gettysburg (now United) Lutheran Seminary and the Majestic Theater, Gettysburg.

Ms. Legros recently completed a study of women and Gettysburg College in the early years of the 20th century, relates the stumbling blocks along the path to permanent co-education at the school.  Although the college’s charter did not designate the school as all male, the founder’s purpose to provide men for the ministry began a tradition that lasted into the 1930’s. Pressure to allow women on an equal footing with men (rather than as day students), came from local women’s groups, forceful leaders such as the noted author, Elsie Singmaster, and even the Lutheran Church which had special ties to the school.  Equally important, change came during the Depression when dollars and students were scarce.