Gender gap narrowing gradually

One of the most common complaints one hears about Vassar is that there simply aren't enough men on campus. Surely all of us have heard a love-starved student lament that they should have chosen a school with a more favorable gender ratio. For those of you who have a preference for the swarthier sex, here is a small consolation: You're not alone, and your situation is improving.

This past summer, The Atlantic Monthly ran a cover story by journalist Hannah Rosin entitled "The End of Men," which argued that male supremacy in American society is on the decline. In addition to various examples of the female gender's relative success both in and out of the workplace, Rosin attested that "women dominate today's colleges and professional schools—for every two men who will receive a B.A. this year, three women will do the same."

Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid David Borus explained this phenomenon. "Over 57 percent of all students in American higher education, including those at both 2 and 4 year institutions, are female," he wrote in an e-mailed statement. "This has been the case for several years nationally, and some experts predict that the female percentage of college students may even increase a bit in the future."

According to Borus, there are several factors contributing to this decline in male enrollment at institutions of higher education. "More women than men are graduating from high school in the United States, and more female high school graduates are going on to college. More men are going into the military, into jobs that do not require college or, sadly, into the prison system."

Given that Vassar has developed a reputation for its dearth of men, one might assume that the College's male enrollment follows this larger trend; however, that is not actually the case. According to data provided by Director of Institutional Research David Davis-Van Atta, total undergraduate male enrollment has risen slowly but steadily since 1994. In particular, Borus noted, "this year's [freshman] class was 42.6 percent male, which is a high percentage for Vassar historically."

In contrast, Vassar's peer institutions seem to follow the national trend. Davis-Van Atta provided information on 16 of Vassar's primary co-educational reference colleges, a set that includes Williams, Middlebury and Wesleyan, among others. Male enrollment at these colleges has fallen steadily since 1980 from 55.8 percent to 47.2 percent of total undergraduate enrollment.

"There's a story of struggle in this, but also one of success," said Davis-Van Atta. He explained that while there is currently a gender imbalance at Vassar—an imbalance that is larger than those of peer institutions—eventually the gap between Vassar's gender ratio and those of its peers will close. "I think this is a relatively promising picture for Vassar," he concluded.

This picture seems especially promising when one considers Vassar's historical status as a women's college. "[A lower proportion of male applicants] is, and always has been, somewhat more pronounced at former women's colleges," wrote Borus. Data provided by Davis-Van Atta shows that the proportion of male applicants has held steady at around 30 percent for some time. Borus claims that this is "both because of history and tradition as well as more concrete causes such as the lack of football and ice hockey teams which attract male applicants who want to participate in these sports."

Media coverage portrays the national trend of declining male enrollment in higher education as worrisome in and of itself. This assessment may not be far off; educators and doctors suggest that boys may not be receiving the quantity or quality of attention they require, both in school and in the home, to achieve a level of success equal to that of their female peers.

As far as Vassar as an institution is concerned, however, the College's gender imbalance is not necessarily troublesome. "What's the problem?," asked Davis-Van Atta. "The numbers themselves aren't the problem." He explained that the potentially harmful effects of the gender gap should be questioned, rather than the gap itself. "Things like graduation rates, effects on campus life, those are the problems [we should be considering.]"

One such concern raised by media coverage of declining male enrollment is that colleges might begin or have already begun to admit less qualified male applicants over more qualified female applicants in order to balance their gender ratios. Borus claims that the College does not engage in this practice, stating that "overall, both the men and women that come to Vassar are strong students and highly qualified to be here." Davis-Van Atta agreed, noting that male and female students have similar standardized test scores and graduation rates.

Another common concern is how the gender gap will affect the social fabric of a campus. At Vassar, the effect of the gender imbalance on student happiness and quality of life may be a problem. Davis-Van Atta pointed to the results of a survey of the Class of 2010 in which, when asked about their satisfaction with the gender imbalance on campus, male and female students responded quite differently. According to the data, five percent of male respondents identify as "somewhat dissatisfied to very dissatisfied" with the gender ratio, while a staggering 60 percent of female students feel similarly.

Alternatively, 41.3 percent of male students are "somewhat satisfied to very satisfied" with the gender ratio, compared to only 5.2 percent of female students.

"I have been doing senior surveys for 15, maybe 20 years," said Davis-Van Atta. "I don't remember ever, for any school, seeing a male-female difference [in satisfaction with the gender ratio] like that one."

Davis-Van Atta suggests that this disparity "might be solved or made better by improving the balance, making it a little closer." Judging by its trend of rising male enrollment, it seems that Vassar is on the right track to alleviate this issue, at least as far as female students are concerned.

However, Davis-Van Atta warns that the College's ability to improve its gender balance is limited. "We're going to run headlong into a ceiling effect in this. Peer schools, almost all of them, are below 50 percent [total male enrollment] now and moving down. So there's going to be a limit to how long Vassar can swim against that tide."