# Any all men's colleges left in the US? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 24, 2006, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-all-mens-colleges-left-in-the-us/365815 "2006-07-24T13:51:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-all-mens-colleges-left-in-the-us/365815/1 "2006-07-24T13:51:45Z")
I know there are still several all women’s colleges in the United States (the Seven Sisters being the most notable, though there are still plenty otherse), but are they any all men’s schools left? And as an aside, how are these same sex schools allowed to continue? Do they survice just because there aren’t actually any laws against discrimination based on sex for schools? Does not admitting one sex not count as discirmination? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-all-mens-colleges-left-in-the-us/365815/2 "2006-07-24T13:56:50Z")
I don’t know of any unless there is some odd religious organization that grants degrees out there. The Citadel military college was among the last holdouts but it was integrated in the 1990’s against lots of opposition. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-all-mens-colleges-left-in-the-us/365815/3 "2006-07-24T14:09:23Z")
Here’s a link to Wikipedia that may help. > **[Men's college](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_college#American_men.27s_colleges)** > > In higher education, a men's college is an undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institution whose students are exclusively men. Many are liberal arts colleges. > In the United States, co-education did not become prevalent until 1900. Prior to that, the majority of private colleges and universities were sex-segregated. There are few remaining men's colleges in the U.S. today. Many of these are religious, vocational institutions. > United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515 (1996) It lists four colleges for men: Deep Springs College Hampton-Sydney College Morehouse College and Wabash College as well as other universities that have seperate schools for men and women. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-all-mens-colleges-left-in-the-us/365815/4 "2006-07-24T14:12:48Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I don’t know of any unless there is some odd religious organization that grants degrees out there. The Citadel military college was among the last holdouts but it was integrated in the 1990’s against lots of opposition. So why is it then that so many men’s colleges were forced into integration, but the women’s colleges can stay all women? (I realize that there are formally all-women’s colleges that are now coed, but my point is that there are still all-women’s colleges that don’t seem to be in any hurry to include men.) ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-all-mens-colleges-left-in-the-us/365815/5 "2006-07-24T14:15:00Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > Here’s a link to Wikipedia that may help. > > [Men's college - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_college#American_men.27s_colleges) > > as well as other universities that have seperate schools for men and women. I went to Tulane which is listed as a school with separate colleges for males and females. While the effect of that isn’t 100% inconsequential, it nearly is. Most of it is just ceremonial and males and females share classes, dorms and everything else. There are separate graduation ceremonies and some special programs for females but that is about it. I believe that arrangement is true with the others listed as separate colleges as well. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-all-mens-colleges-left-in-the-us/365815/6 "2006-07-24T16:15:13Z")
Harvard did the same thing as Tulane until the mid-1980s. Women’s degrees were from Radcliffe College, and men’s were from Harvard. Radcliffe still exists but is now an institute of advanced study. It should also be noted that Morehouse is “twinned” with Spelman College, an all-women’s college nearby. The schools are independent of one another and have separate campuses but students can cross-enroll and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-all-mens-colleges-left-in-the-us/365815/7 "2006-07-24T16:17:17Z")
[Deep Springs College](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Springs_College) is kind of an exceptional case, though. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-all-mens-colleges-left-in-the-us/365815/8 "2006-07-24T16:51:51Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > I know there are still several all women’s colleges in the United States (the Seven Sisters being the most notable, though there are still plenty otherse), but are they any all men’s schools left? Just to clarify, the original Seven Sisters were Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Radcliffe, Smith, Vassar, and Wellesley. As previously mentioned, Radcliffe doesn’t exists as a separate college anymore, and Vassar has been co-ed since 1969. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-all-mens-colleges-left-in-the-us/365815/9 "2006-07-24T17:15:04Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > So why is it then that so many men’s colleges were forced into integration, but the women’s colleges can stay all women? (I realize that there are formally all-women’s colleges that are now coed, but my point is that there are still all-women’s colleges that don’t seem to be in any hurry to include men.) The men’s colleges were forced into integration largely by social pressure, and in the case of public universities, by anti-discrimination laws. The Seven Sisters (and others) remain women-only because they are private universities (so they can admit whomever they please) and because there is little moral outrage about their policies. ---
**Author:** ![Bitsy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a587f6/32.png) [@Bitsy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bitsy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-all-mens-colleges-left-in-the-us/365815/10 "2006-07-24T17:19:52Z")
> [@](#): > > And as an aside, how are these same sex schools allowed to continue? Do they survive just because there aren’t actually any laws against discrimination based on sex for schools? Does not admitting one sex not count as discirmination? I just graduated from an all-female college in Lynchburg, VA, so I feel somewhat qualified to address your questions. _How are single-sex schools allowed to continue?_ Privately. From my understanding of funding, schools wishing to accept public monies must adhere to public laws about discrimination. My alma mater (Randolph-Macon Woman’s College) was completely private, and could do whatever it wished in terms of enrollment. For the record, men _were_ allowed to attend classes at R-MWC, but it was not usually full-time, and they were not allowed to live on campus. _…just because there aren’t actually any laws against discrimination based on sex for schools?_ Sure there are laws - but they only apply to public schools. See above. _Does not admitting one sex not count as discrimination?_ Eh. Depends on how you percieve the success of co-ed schools. From all the research I’ve encountered, a single-sex education environment is far more beneficial to the achievement of students - ESPECIALLY boys. [This website](http://www.singlesexschools.org/research-forboys.htm) (though not unbiased) has some excellent points about the benefits of separating the sexes. For my part, I loved attending an all-women’s college. I could go to class in my pajamas, not worry about putting on make-up everyday to impress some guy, and had far more opportunities for leadership. When I left to study abroad in England my junior year, I could really feel the difference of a co-ed environment. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-all-mens-colleges-left-in-the-us/365815/11 "2006-07-26T03:39:48Z")
In 1960 there were still a lot of separate men’s and women’s colleges. By 1980 most of them had gone co-educational. Basically, students quit wanting to go to go to single-sex colleges. When there’s no market for something, it goes out of business. The reason that there are only four men’s colleges in the U.S. but about thirty women’s colleges is that there are still a reasonable number of women where either (a) they think that they would better at an all-women’s college because they wouldn’t have the pressure of impressing men or (b) their parents don’t want them to be around men. There just isn’t that many men where they or their parents feel that it’s important not to be around women in their college years.