Wilson College welcomes men, but state mum on co-ed approval

Oct. 01--HARRISBURG -- The Pennsylvania Department of Education has yet to rule on a challenge of a decision by Wilson College to go co-ed.

The small college in Chambersburg meanwhile has male students living on campus for the first time -- 21 of them this fall.

The PDE informal hearing was held more than three months ago, and the hearing officer no longer works for the department.

"We don't know how, or whether, this impacts our case," said Gretchen Van Ness, a 1980 Wilson alumna who has protested the trustee's decision to admit male residential students.

Jill Hans, former PDE deputy secretary for post secondary and higher education, left the position about a month ago and has been working as director of financial planning and budget at Messiah College, Mechanicsburg.

Hans said on Tuesday that her career move should not disrupt the department's decision making. Hans said she was "not a position to comment on" whether she made her findings known to the department. Even as state employee she would not have been in a position to comment, she said.

The deadline for submitting written comments to PDE about the issue was Aug. 1. A PDE spokesman did not respond to questions that a reporter emailed on Tuesday. The PDE reviews changes to school charters.

Wilson College President Barbara Mistick has said that Wilson College needed to go co-ed to sustain itself.

Van Ness and others argued that Wilson College needed PDE approval of the changes to its charter before admitting male residential students.

College officials claim that school trustees changed the charter to conform with changes the school had made nearly 30 years earlier. In 1982 Wilson College first allowed men to take continuing education classes.

This fall male students are allowed to live on campus for the first time. They nearly account for the total increase in traditional students, full time students who commute to or live on campus. Of the 334 students enrolled in the traditional undergraduate college, 21 are males living on campus. Traditional enrollment increased by 26 students.

Total enrollment of 759 students is up 14 percent from a year ago, according to figures Wilson College released on Tuesday. The number of new students (141) is the largest since 1973 when 137 new students enrolled.

Wilson College was founded as a women's college in 1869.

Jim Hook can be reached at 717-262-4759.

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