This is Amy Wagenaar from the Historical Society of Michigan with a Michigan history moment. In 1870, the University of Michigan embarked on what most educational experts called a dangerous experiment. What was it? Admitting female students. A few institutions admitted women in the years before the Civil War. Oberlin College in Ohio opened in 1833 and was the nation's first college to admit female students. Nevertheless, when U of M opened its doors to female students in 1870, less than 1% of America's young women attended any institution of higher learning. In recent years, the history of coeducation has become a celebrated theme, but it was not as welcomed as some people would claim today. Admission to the university did not mean equality. When women first entered U of M's medical school, three faculty members wrote to the Board of Regents that it was at best an experiment of doubtful utility and one not calculated to increase the dignity of man nor the modesty of women. Female medical students were dubbed hen medics. Professors refused to allow male and female students to attend the same lectures or dissection studies. After they wearied of repeating lectures, the faculty admitted women but painted a red line through the seating area as a boundary between the sexes. The line remained until 1903. Opposition to female students extended beyond the classroom, too. Townspeople expressed their antagonism to what they called the university girls. One woman recalled that the antagonism of the townspeople was in some ways harder to bear than that of the few students who did protest. Women also faced male hazing and disorderly violence both on and off campus. In 1874, Mary Marston wrote home about an incident in the college chapel. They say boys will be boys, which seems to mean boys will be horrid. At any rate, they never say it when boys are agreeable. Gender discrimination extended into campus organizations. For example, the Students Christian association admitted female students in the 1870s. But women were never chosen to represent the organization at conferences, nor were they given any leadership role beyond that of Secretary. CO education gained increasing acceptance as the decades passed. Since 1981, the majority of American college students have been Women, and in 2019, Women for the first time made up a majority of the nation's college educated labor force. This Michigan history moment was brought to you by michiganhistorymagazine.org.