Nancy Malkiel, Professor Emeritus of History at Princeton, will give a talk to celebrate the publication of her new book “Keep the Damned Women Out”: The Struggle for Coeducation.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s several Ivy League universities in the USA and colleges in Cambridge and Oxford made the decision to embrace coeducation. Why did
very traditional, very conservative, very elite institutions decide to embark on such
a fundamental change? Why did so many colleges act at this time? How was coeducation accomplished in the face of strong opposition? What was the role of institutional leadership? And, with the admission of students of the opposite sex to formerly single-sex colleges, what happened? In other words, how well did coeducation
work in its early incarnations? Professor Malkiel’s talk will focus on these questions,
with particular attention to the similarities and differences between coeducation at
Cambridge and Oxford (including Brasenose, Hertford, Jesus, St. Catherine’s, and
Wadham colleges) and coeducation in the Ivy League.

Following the talk there will be books for sale and refreshment.

Free and open to the public