Plea for help
Hey there, guys. I haven't been around any MMs lately because I've had a big issue come up and I could really use some help from you guys. On Saturday, the Board of Trustees of my college voted to make our school coed after 115 years as a single-sex institution. I can't tell you how heartbreaking this is for me because my school is such an amazing place that allows women so much personal and intellectual growth as a result of all of our school traditions (and there are many) and because our school is single-sex.
We've made national news with our fight, you can read about it here:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-09-09-randoph-macon_x.htm
The B.O.T.'s argument is that our school is in for financial ruin (charts they had showed our school's current endowment of $140 million getting progressively lower over the next fifteen years). However, they were not willing to delay their vote on this coed decision for a year or two to allow alumae the time to try to raise funds to keep the school functioning as a woman's college. Despite numerous proposals of alternate options other than going coed, the B.O.T. still pressed forward with their decision.
Protests were held all day on Saturday while the Board was making their decision. You can watch footage of the protests here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDQo0Tkh6Do
Then see the reaction of the announcement here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaTFWoxYc70
As of right now, the student body of the school has gone on strike to protest the Board's decision. They are striking from their classes, the dining hall, and their on-campus jobs. Alumnae of the school (myself included) are doing everything we can during this time to support them by helping to supplement their income while they are not working their on-campus jobs and to feed them while they are boycotting the dining hall.
I'm asking for your help in the fight. Please take a couple minutes of your time to read and sign this petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/rmwc/petition.html
We need 13,000 signatures and still have a long ways to go!
Thank you guys for any help you can provide as we fight to keep our school!
We've made national news with our fight, you can read about it here:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-09-09-randoph-macon_x.htm
The B.O.T.'s argument is that our school is in for financial ruin (charts they had showed our school's current endowment of $140 million getting progressively lower over the next fifteen years). However, they were not willing to delay their vote on this coed decision for a year or two to allow alumae the time to try to raise funds to keep the school functioning as a woman's college. Despite numerous proposals of alternate options other than going coed, the B.O.T. still pressed forward with their decision.
Protests were held all day on Saturday while the Board was making their decision. You can watch footage of the protests here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDQo0Tkh6Do
Then see the reaction of the announcement here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaTFWoxYc70
As of right now, the student body of the school has gone on strike to protest the Board's decision. They are striking from their classes, the dining hall, and their on-campus jobs. Alumnae of the school (myself included) are doing everything we can during this time to support them by helping to supplement their income while they are not working their on-campus jobs and to feed them while they are boycotting the dining hall.
I'm asking for your help in the fight. Please take a couple minutes of your time to read and sign this petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/rmwc/petition.html
We need 13,000 signatures and still have a long ways to go!
Thank you guys for any help you can provide as we fight to keep our school!