Separate by Degree: Women Students' Experiences in Single-Sex and Coeducational Colleges (review)

Separate by Degree: Women Students' Experiences in Single-Sex and Coeducational Colleges, by Leslie Miller-Bernal. New York: Peter Lang, 2000. 400 pp. paper $29.95

Miller-Bernal's book, Separate by Degree, presents a compelling history of the treatment of women students at four different types of institutions-a women's college (Wells), a coordinate college (Hobart and William Smith), a former men's college that became coeducational in 1883 (Middlebury), and a college that became coeducational in the 1960s (Hamilton/Kirkland). One of the characteristics that makes these places unique, and a good choice to study, is that they are among the less selective and less well known liberal arts colleges in the United States (although Middlebury has developed a strong reputation in the last part of this century). Indeed, much of the published research about women's colleges, in particular, and liberal arts colleges, in general, seems to focus on the most well known institutions. The choice of these case study sites makes Miller-Bernal's study both unique and important to the field.

Relying on secondary sources as well as institutional documents, diaries of alumnae, archives of school and local newspapers, and other historical sources, Miller-Bernal paints a picture of what life was like for women students at these four institutions. While each institution gets to "star" in its own chapter, the author also makes comparisons between the institutions throughout the book. The first part of the book presents a chronological account of the role of women at each institution. Miller-Bernal focuses on the attitudes of founders, presidents, trustees, community members, and faculty members, as well as on the students' experiences. As such, the reader gets a sense of campus life at each institution in its fullest sense-looking at the curricular as well as cocurricular components of the campuses.

What is clear from these histories is that the nature of women's education, regardless of institutional type, is a reflection of the historical era in which it occurs. For example, one sees the curriculum at Wells College, the women-only institution, begin as a finishing school and eventually take on the persona of today's more feminist oriented women's colleges. This transition was neither simple nor orderly. Further, at the former men's college turned coeducational institution, Middlebury, one sees the hostility toward women students at war with the financial necessity of admitting them. At the coordinate institution, Hobart and William Smith, one sees again the hostility expressed by male students, trustees, faculty, and alumni at having to admit women, which led to the decision to keep them at arm's length. The relationship between Kirkland and Hamilton was similarly dysfunctional—with the former being formed as a "younger sibling" to the latter and then being overtaken in the 1960s. These histories are compellingly written and really allow one to imagine what life would be like as a woman student at each place throughout their existence.

One of the strengths of this book is that it utilizes multiple methodologies to make its case about women's education. As just described, the first section presents in-depth histories of the four institutions based on secondary and primary sources gleaned from the institutional archives of the four sites. The second section of the book begins with a review of some of the published literature on the impact of women's colleges and the reasons "for" and "against" their continued existence. Following this review is the presentation of Miller-Bernal's own longitudinal study of women students enrolled at her four institutions from 1985 to 1988. These data are mainly the result of surveys, administered every four years, and interviews with selected juniors from each institution, and they parallel the historical analyses and the literature review data in presenting a case for the importance of single-sex education.

Because one...