Abstract
CAMBRIDGE.—The proposal to admit women to membership of the University on equal terms with men was rejected on December 8 by 904 votes to 712. The next step, presumably, will be a vote on Report B, the alternative proposal offered by the recent syndicate. This is, in effect, a suggestion on the part of the University that it would welcome the foundation of a separate University for women at Cambridge, and would extend to it the same facilities for educational purposes as are at present offered to the members of Girton and Newnham Colleges. This proposal does not in any way meet the greater number of the difficulties that were raised in connection with the rejected scheme, in particular the question of numbers and accommodation. It has already been rejected by the women's colleges, which have declared that they have no intention of taking action in the matter of forming a separate University even if Report? is passed. Already three of the six signatories of Report B have, in a sense, abandoned it for some scheme which shall more nearly meet the women's needs, a scheme the details of which have yet to be worked out. It does not look as though the adoption or rejection of Report? by the University will bring the problem nearer to an agreed settlement. In the interests of the University as a whole, and of the, women's qolleges in particular, an early settlement must be reached, and it looks as though the next move must lie with “the party of thirteen,” who have in view a scheme which will give the women the full privileges of membership of the University without anv control over the men's education. If they take early and effective action they may be able to justify the vote of last Wednesday; otherwise, this vote must bring a reaction which may, in due course, sweep much farther than the original proposals.
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University and Educational Intelligence. Nature 106, 518–520 (1920). https://doi.org/10.1038/106518c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/106518c0