Last "All female" college to allow men

Governors of Oxford University's last women-only college voted Wednesday to admit men for the first time.

Teaching staff at St. Hilda's College voted by a margin of more than two to one to allow male students, a proposal that has pitted traditionalists against modernizers at the 113-year-old college. A similar vote three years ago was defeated.

Men also will be allowed to become faculty, or fellows, of the college for the first time.

In recent years, St. Hilda's has found it increasingly difficult to attract students and recruit fellows.

In February, 77 per cent of St. Hilda's undergraduates voted in favour of admitting men as fellows, and 55 per cent in favour of admitting them as students.

The college's principal, Judith English, said St. Hilda's would continue to make supporting women a priority.

“We are proud of our heritage as a women's college, but plan to build on that with a new focus for the 21st century, now that women can go to every college in Oxford,” she said.

“We want to ensure that St. Hilda's provides an excellent environment for women, but within a mixed community.”

The college said the first male students would be admitted at “a date to be decided in consultation with current students.”

St. Hilda's was founded in 1893, at a time when the vast majority of Oxford's 30-plus colleges did not admit women. Women were not allowed to receive degrees until 1920. Most of the men-only colleges had become co-educational by the 1980s.