1960s UVA and its Committee Considering Admission of Women (PAVS 4500 student paper, spring 2018)

By Caroline Mubiru (Media Studies, CLAS 2020)

On April 8th, 1967 the Board of Visitors at the University of Virginia authorized the creation of the Special Committee to Consider the Admission of Women to the College of Arts and Sciences. President Shannon elected committee members for the task of studying the “desirability and feasibility of admitting women to the College.” The findings of the special committee played a role in the Board ultimately deciding to begin to admit women into the College of Arts and Sciences, but as did other variables which led up to the Board of Visitors’ resolution on April 8th. Prior to 1967, the University of Virginia coordinated the College of Arts and Sciences in Charlottesville with Mary Washington College located in Fredericksburg, which operated as an all-female institution. As a result, members of the Board believed the educational pursuits of women were accounted for; however, in 1964, it is possible the General Assembly began to question the legality of single sex institutions after President Lyndon B. Johnson signed for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination in public places, made employment discrimination based on sex, gender, race, color, or religion illegal and called for integration of schools and public places. Seeing as that Act of 1964 made employment discrimination based on sex illegal, the question became if, legally, the same rule applied to higher education.

The uncertainty around the legal implication of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 could have spurred the General Assembly into action to examine enrollment statistics and see if any major trends existed within the data they gathered. Due to the observed trend of an increase in enrollment, the General Assembly questioned whether or not single-sex institutions, as they operated in that moment, effectively met the needs of students in Virginia as the demand for higher education in males and females increased. As a result, the General Assembly decided to create a Higher Education Commission which would recommended in 1966 for institutions currently operating as single-sex to shift to coeducation. Soon after the study that the Higher Education Commission conducted was released publicly, UVa began researching the feasibility of such a plan through the Special Committee and in turn the College of Arts and Sciences began to admit women in 1970. Considering the progress made in this time period, it is important to evaluate how it came about and what key historical events, players, and rationale stimulated this change.

The General Assembly Joint Resolution

            In 1964, the General Assembly of Virginia began to notice statistical trends within the higher education system. These trends[1] included:

  1. More Virginians seeking admission to higher learning institutions
  2.  Employment opportunities expanding and creating a need for more graduates at the college and graduate levels
  3.  Virginia’s industrial development increasing demand for workers with advanced training and research in business, commercial, scientific and technical fields
  4. Urbanization/higher standards of living increasing requirements for medical, dental, and other professional services  

The Assembly recognized each public university and private college would have their own way of addressing these occurring changes within their systems. They also realized these solutions would cause variations in financial need as programs and facilities may need to expand to fit incoming students. Nevertheless, the General Assembly wanted to ensure the preservation and strengthening of private colleges and universities in Virginia, so they found these trends, and the issues which may arise as a result, should be evaluated in order to create a “long range planning for higher education.” [2] This conclusion led to a resolution by the Senate allowing the Governor to appoint a Commission on Higher Education, consisting of the State Council of Higher Education and eleven other members chosen from the state of Virginia with the Governor appointing the Chairman. The General Assembly charged the commission, in Senate Joint Resolution No. 30, with the task of conducting a study and review of higher education which would be referenced to as the state addressed the needs of public and private higher education alongside evaluating the objectives and resources of these facilities/institutions. The Commission had to present their findings and give a report to the Governor and General Assembly no later than October 1, 1965.[3] The findings and conclusions reached within the report would affect future operations of UVa as it began to consider admitting women into the College of Arts and Sciences; however, first recognizing the structural dynamics of the Commission for Higher Education will help in grasping the end product of the report.  

Findings within the Report of the Higher Education Study Commission

In December of 1965, the Higher Education Study Commission presented their findings in a report to the General Assembly, though it was past the deadline articulated in the Senate Resolution.[4] The report consisted of four chapters and centered on topics such as Virginia’s Performance in Higher Education and Special Areas of Concern with subsections on coeducation, admissions policies, and undergraduate instruction. The topic to focus on in this instance is coeducation. Within the report, the Commission recognized many schools in the south traditionally separated the two sexes. [5] Though not mentioned by name, the report states recently established institutions have coeducated and specified that some schools, such as the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, recently made a policy change to coeducation. The difficulty in coeducating, expressed by the Commission and found in their research, stems from “statute limitations within the bylaws of institutions”.[6] Even if these limitations existed, on a case by case basis in the system of an institution, the Commission concluded, through Staff Reports,[7] that single sex-institutions failed to effectively serve the State of Virginia and their localities to the same degree as coeducational facilities.[8] As a result, the commission recommended that

“All state-controlled institutions in Virginia that are established in the future the policy be continued of setting them up for service to students without limitation as to the sex of those who may be admitted. It is further recommended that existing statutory provisions be examined, to determine the extent to which they require institutions to limit their admission of students to a single sec, and that any statutes making such a requirement be amended to remove it by suitable act of the General Assembly. It is not recommended that any institution now admitting students of a single sex be required to become coeducation. The change in coeducational status in such institutions should be voluntary on the part of the institution, as determined by the Board of Visitors, its administrative staff, and its faculty.” [9]

The interesting dynamic to recognize lies between how the General Assembly did not require that single-sex institutions become coeducational; however, an inherent pressure for single-sex institutions to some sort of action in regards to coeducation existed as a result of future public institutions in Virginia would operate as coeducational. With this in mind, the actions of the Board of Visitors in creating the Special Committee to Consider the Admission of Women into the College of Arts and Sciences acted as a measure to appease the General Assembly as well as invest in the future of the University of Virginia.

Reaction to Report by Board of Visitors

When looking into Board of Visitor’s meeting minutes within the early 1960s, the only mention of the State Council for Higher Education prior to April 8th, 1967 was President Shannon outlining a visit by the State Council in the February 6th, 1965 meeting with the BOV. This was in preparation for the Council visit which occurring on March 5th, 1965.[10] The State Council visited the University of Virginia again on March 21st, 1967.[11] Besides these instances, any indication of the Board of Visitors following through with the recommendations of the State Council appears in their resolution on April 8th, 1967 to authorize the creation of a Special Committee to Consider the Admission of Women.[12]

“The following resolution was adopted:

RESOLVED by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia that the President be and he is hereby empowered to conduct a study to determine whether there is need for the admission of women to the College of Arts and Sciences at Charlottesville;

RESOLVED FURTHER that if the study should establish the existence of need for such admission the President be and he is hereby empowered to conduct a study of the feasibility and means of such admission and

RESOLVED FURTHER that the findings of the study or studies be presented to the Board of Visitors for its consideration.”

President Shannon, in turn, would go on to appoint the Special Committee to Consider the Admission of Women into the College of Arts and Sciences which would aide in the admission of women to the College in 1970. As various entities such as the Virginia General Assembly and the Higher Education Commission played a role in the end result of the admission of women into the College of Arts and Sciences, examining the rationale of these groups for addressing coeducation becomes important to begin to grasp the variables which “empowered” the BOV to create the Special Committee.      

Rationale for Addressing Coeducation  

As previously stated, the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 set a legal precedent in the mid-1960s for discrimination in public places and employment discrimination based on sex, gender, race, color, or religion to be unconstitutional. In terms of how the 1964 Act contributed to the BOV Resolution, no direct statement from the Board or the General Assembly can be pinpointed; however, correspondents sent to the Special Committee as it began to operate in 1968 may indicate the reasoning which the Board of Visitors and the General Assembly operated on. Throughout 1967, prior to the Special Committee conducting meetings, Special Committee Chairman Lewis Hammond corresponded with law offices in regards to the Civil Rights Acts of 1967. One letter sent to Chairman Hammond on June 22, 1967 by C. Venable Minor, who worked as the Special Council for the Rector at UVa, explained the Civil Rights Act of 1964 “does not prohibit or restrict discrimination on account of sex” as the prohibition of discrimination based on sex applied to the equal employment opportunities clause in Title VI.[13] C. Venable went onto to express how the Supreme Court had yet to have a case where the basis encompassed alleging discrimination based on sex with regards to admitting women into an educational institution. Venable even included how Virginia law lacked a statute prohibiting the discrimination of women in public education. With that in mind, Rector Venable concluded the letter by expressing his doubts about a lawsuit against the University of Virginia happening as a result of not admitting women into the College. Based on this correspondence, the threat of a lawsuit against UVa played a role in the creation of the Special Committee to Consider the Admission of Women and likely pressured the Board of Visitors to choose to admit women beginning in 1970.

Another form of encouragement when making the decision to create the Special Committee came from the Higher Education Study Commission. One letter written by Lewis Hammond on June 17, 1967 addressed to Thomas Benjamin Gay of the Hunton, Williams, Gay, Powell and Gibson law office indicated the creation of the special committee was in part due to the Report of the Higher Education Study Commission. In the letter, Hammond seems to be responding to a question Mr. Gay posed about why the Board gave “consideration to the possibilities of coeducation at Charlottesville.”[14] Considering Thomas Gay seemed to work as a lawyer, his question of why the BOV decided to create a special committee on this topic shows he, specifically, is not worried about or does not think a lawsuit against UVa would be in the realm of possibility. If he did, he would not have made such an inquiry to Lewis Hammond. Nevertheless, it seems the two driving forces for the creation of the Special Committee included the threat of a lawsuit due to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Report of Higher Education Study Commission which demonstrated the state of Virginia likely wanted to avoid a lawsuit as well and as a result wanted to appear to be “working towards” an end to discrimination.

Conclusion

Many factors and entities pressured the Board of Visitors to decide to create the Special Committee to Consider the Admission of Women to the College. One factor being the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which made discrimination based on sex illegal in Title VI. Even though this clause applied to employment, it started the conversation of whether or not the same concept applies to public institutions. Another factor was the Report of the Higher Education Study Commission which stated future public institutions in Virginia would be coeducational and urged current single-sex institutions to become coeducational. The General Assembly, which authorized the creation of the Higher Education Study Commission, also likely wanted to avoid a lawsuit and appear to be adhering to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Therefore, even as elements such as an increase in demand for higher education occurred in Virginia in the 1960s, the threat of a lawsuit due to the implications of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was one main driving force to the creation of the Special Committee to Consider the Admission of Women to the College.       

Bibliography

“Board of Visitors’ Meeting Minutes April 8, 1967.” Jefferson’s University … the Early Life. Accessed April 03, 2018. http://juel.iath.virginia.edu/node/343?doc=/juel_display/BOV/1960/bov_1967-04-08.

“Official Minutes of the Board of Visitors Meeting.” Jefferson’s University … the Early Life. Accessed April 03, 2018. http://juel.iath.virginia.edu/node/343?doc=/juel_display/BOV/1960/bov_19650206.

Papers of the President, Accession # RG-2/1/2.721, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Whitney, Mary E., and Rebecca S. Wilburn. Women and the University. Charlottesville: University of Virginia, 1969.

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. The Virginia Plan for Higher Education. Richmond: State Council for Higher Education, 1967.

[1] State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. The Virginia Plan for Higher Education (State Council for Higher Education, 1967), pgs. v-vi 

[2] State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. The Virginia Plan for Higher Education (State Council for Higher Education, 1967), pg. vi 

[3] State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. The Virginia Plan for Higher Education (State Council for Higher Education, 1967), pg. vii

[4] State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. The Virginia Plan for Higher Education (State Council for Higher Education, 1967), front page

[5] State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. The Virginia Plan for Higher Education (State Council for Higher Education, 1967), pg. 48

[6] Madison College is referenced as an example of receiving pressure to coeducate but having statutory restrictions.

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. The Virginia Plan for Higher Education (State Council for Higher Education, 1967), pg. 49

[7] Staff Reports #2, #3, and #11 discuss coeducation

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. The Virginia Plan for Higher Education (State Council for Higher Education, 1967), pg. 48

[8] State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. The Virginia Plan for Higher Education (State Council for Higher Education, 1967), pg. 49

[9] State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. The Virginia Plan for Higher Education (State Council for Higher Education, 1967), pg. 50

[10] Board of Visitors. Official Minutes of the Board of Visitors Meeting (Board of Visitors, 6 February 1965)http://juel.iath.virginia.edu/node/343?doc=/juel_display/BOV/1960/bov_19650206

[11] Board of Visitors. Public Minutes of the Board of Visitors Meeting (Board of Visitors, 8 April 1967)http://juel.iath.virginia.edu/node/343?doc=/juel_display/BOV/1960/bov_1967-04-08

[12] Board of Visitors. Public Minutes of the Board of Visitors Meeting (Board of Visitors, 8 April 1967)http://juel.iath.virginia.edu/node/343?doc=/juel_display/BOV/1960/bov_1967-04-08

[13] “Papers of the President,” Accession # RG-2/1/2.721, Special Collections, University of Virginia.

[14] “Papers of the President,” Accession # RG-2/1/2.721, Special Collections, University of Virginia.