"Co-education in the College!!!" In Alumni News. May/June 1970.
University of Virginia Special Collections

“Co-education: Yes Virginia, there is a Senta Klaus...” In Corks and Curls. 1971.

University of Virginia Special Collections

 

Corks and Curls. 1974.
University of Virginia Special Collections

"Separation: a New Milestone." In MWC Today. Vol. 1, no. 1. Fredericksburg: Mary Washington College, 1972.
University of Virginia Special Collections

Over the course of their four years here, the first class of women admitted to the College proved to be highly motivated achievers. The admissions office had intentionally selected women who excelled in the classroom and in leadership positions in order to establish a successful trend for female students at U.Va. Their determination and their abilities proved to their classmates and themselves that they belonged at the University.

By 1971, the University received applications from 2,500 women – an increase of 150 percent from the previous year. By the 1974-75 school year, women made up 42 percent of the entering class.


The University of Virginia's decision to become a coeducational institution led to the end of the affiliation between the University and its co-ordinate college, Mary Washington. The Woody Committee's 1968 report had alluded to the possible effects of coeducation on Virginia’s all-female institutions.

In September 1970, 91 Mary Washington students applied to transfer to U.Va., and 107 transferred the following year. More transfers to U.Va. came from Mary Washington than from any other institution.

Governor Linwood Holton signed Senate Bill 433 on April 10, 1972, officially ending the affiliation between Mary Washington College and the University of Virginia.