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Last winter, the College of New Rochelle (CNR) Board of Trustees unanimously approved the decision to transition the School of Arts and Sciences to a coeducational model, with men being welcome beginning with this academic year.
According to the Board, the decision to become coeducational was made after meeting and listening to the feedback from thousands in the community, evaluating recent enrollment trends and market research. It is just the latest upgrade to the School of Arts and Sciences, where science labs are being renovated, STEM programs are being improved and services are being increased.
“The Board was compelled first and foremost to expand the College’s capacity to bring its educational excellence and record of success to a broader range of students,” said Judith Huntington, President of CNR. “Now the vast majority of young women who would not consider a single-sex college and the incoming young men will benefit from CNR’s distinctive student-centered education and outstanding commitment to academic success.”
When the college was initially founded in 1904, it provided women with educational opportunities more commonly afforded to men at that time. According to the Board, less than 5 percent of high school women will apply to single-gender college. Of the 230 colleges that were open exclusively to women as recently as 1960, more than 80 percent have closed, merged or transitioned to a coeducational model.
"As a social science major, I know how important it is to have different perspectives when you're studying social sciences," incoming freshman Emily Briely said. "Having a male perspective in the classroom benefits all students."
Fellow freshman Lisbet Zepeda, 17, added that "the diversity is going to be awesome. We're currently in a phenomenon that focuses on the importance of equality. It's great to have both genders in the classroom."
Board Trustee Chair Elizabeth LeVaca said that they weighed every option before finalizing the decision.
“The decision was made after very careful thought, evaluation of key factors and above all, with a great reverence for the college’s mission, rooted in its Catholic identity, inspired by its Ursuline foundation and expressed through more than 100 years’ commitment to women and educational experience,” she said.“For 111 years, the College of New Rochelle has been an innovative, dynamic, contemporary and values-based institution that has nurtured the personal and intellectual advancement of more than 15,000 women in the School of Arts and Sciences," Huntington added. We are eager to have this opportunity to do the same for many more women and now men.”
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