NH college officials not lowering standards to narrow gender gap
MANCHESTER, N.H. --Women have outnumbered men on college campuses since the 1970s. But unlike one admissions dean in Ohio, New Hampshire officials say they're not going to lower their standards for male applicants.
The dean of admissions at Kenyon College recently wrote an opinion piece acknowledging that the school has lowered standards for incoming male freshmen.
"The standards of admission to today's most selective colleges are stiffer for women than men," Jennifer Delahunty Britz wrote in the New York Times. "The elephant that looms large in the middle of the room is importance of gender balance."
But officials from several New Hampshire schools say they treat both male and female applicants the same.
At Saint Anselm College, admissions director Nancy Davis Griffin said she's concerned about the gender gap but changing the standards would be a dangerous practice.
"I think that's a lawsuit waiting to happen," she said of Kenyon's policy.
Nationwide, female college students outnumber men 57-43 percent. The National Center for Education Studies projects that from 2002 to 2013, female enrollment will increase by 21 percent, while male enrollment rises by just 12 percent.
Within the University System of New Hampshire, women made up 58 percent of the student body in fall 2005, a percentage that has held steady for 10 years.
Robert McGann, director of admissions at the University of New Hampshire, said he doesn't spend time worrying about the school's male-female ratio.
"There's a lot of things that are happening to influence the gender makeup of universities outside the power of the universities themselves," he said.
At Keene State College, admissions director Peggy Richmond said she used to think more women enrolled there because of the strong education department, but the numbers haven't changed even though management majors nearly equal those majoring in education.
She said starting a marketing campaign to attract more men to the campus would be a fair way to try to get back into gender balance.
Unlike other New Hampshire schools, Dartmouth College bucks the national trend, with a nearly 50-50 male-female split. Dean of admissions Karl Furstenberg has said that Dartmouth doesn't consider gender in recruiting or admitting students.
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Information from: New Hampshire Union Leader, http://www.unionleader.com
