Co-education In Michigan

During the 31 years that women have received degrees from the University one out of eight of the graduates of the University have been women. The first women graduated from the University received their degrees in 1871. During the thirty-one years, 1871-1901 (inclusive), 1,968 of the 15,802 degrees conferred were granted to 1,835 women- some receiving more than one degree. Among the degrees conferred on women were 152 higher degrees and four honorary degrees.

These degrees have been granted in the various departments is follows:

Literary department ...1,350 : Medical department ...398:  Homeopathic department  ...86:  Dental department ...46: Law department ...43: Pharmaceutical department ... 40: Engineering department ...1: Honorary degrees ... 4: University .....1,968

The graduating class of 1871 contained 4 women; that of 1881, 26; 1891, 70; and 1901, 156. The largest number to receive degrees in any one year was 169 in 1900. The  169 women were 21.75 per cent of the total number who received degrees that year. In 1897 23.06 per cent of the graduates were women. The percentage increased during the 31 years from less than 2 per cent in 1871 to over 20 per cent in 1901.

Some of the older graduates who bemoaned co-education have made the claim that women would lessen the number of men attending the University. That this is not true is shown by the  fact that while the number of women graduates increased from 4 in 1871 to 156 in 1901, number of men graduates increased from 304 in 1871 to 610 in 1901. While the women gained largely in percentage they increased 152 in number while the men increased 306.

Women have become a larger factor in the graduating classes of the literary department than in those of the University as a whole. Less than 3 per cent of the graduating class of 1872 were women, while more than 48 per cent of the class of 1901 were women. Numerically they increased from 2 in 1872 to 140 in 1901. Taking the period as a whole, 4,320 degrees were conferred, of which number 1,350, or 31.25 per cent, went to women.

The number of women in the classes graduated by the professional departments has always been small. The largest number in any one year was iu 1890, when there were 32. This number was about 7 per cent of the total number graduated from the professional schools that year. In 1886 women were about ten per cent of the graduates; in 1901 they were less than four per cent.

If the figures for the medical and homeopathic departments be separated from those of the professional schools as a whole, the showing made by women in these two departments is much more favorable. In a large number of classes bètween 20 and 30 per cent of the graduates were women.

During the early years of co-education at the University of Michigan, a larger number of women were graduated from the professional schools than from the literary department. Of late years, however, quite the contrary has been the case. Of the degrees conferred on women in the seventies, more than 65 per cent were upon graduates of the professional departments. Now Iess than 14 per cent are upon such graduates.