As Chancellor Brown noted yesterday at the Senate meeting, this year's 
early admissions applicant process has been a great success, but the 
interesting thing is that about twice as many of these students are women 
rather than men (maybe guys just procrastinate more). While I do not 
believe this is an issue at UTC now, there is a growing gender balance 
issue nationwide, mentioned in a contribution by a Kenyon Admission Officer 
in today's New York Times. Here is an excerpt:

The reality is that because young men are rarer, they're more valued 
applicants. Today, two-thirds of colleges and universities report that they 
get more female than male applicants, and more than 56 percent of 
undergraduates nationwide are women. Demographers predict that by 2009, 
only 42 percent of all baccalaureate degrees awarded in the United States 
will be given to men.

We have told today's young women that the world is their oyster; the 
problem is, so many of them believed us that the standards for admission to 
today's most selective colleges are stiffer for women than men. How's that 
for an unintended consequence of the women's liberation movement?

The elephant that looms large in the middle of the room is the importance 
of gender balance. Should it trump the qualifications of talented young 
female applicants? At those colleges that have reached what the experts 
call a "tipping point," where 60 percent or more of their enrolled students 
are female, you'll hear a hint of desperation in the voices of admissions 
officers.


As we prepare UTC for the future -- 2009 is not far off -- we might 
consider as a campus what programs and activities will benefit and attract 
this new student demographic. Should we play the gender card or stop them 
at the door?

Richard (a guy) 

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