Hi Everybody & Billie Rood & Marilyn Hesse: I thought some of you would enjoy this article published in the Meadville Tribune, April 20th, 1991 on Allegheny College. WELCOMING WOMEN Allegheny first admitted women in 1870, but as President Daniel Sullivan reported in a recent commencement address, the college charged tham an extra $6.00 each term because "the complexity of women's nervous systems caused the college additional cost." According to Adelle Williams --who, with Mary Darrow (sister of famous U.S. Attorney and former Allegheny student Clarence Darrow) and Almira Marsteller, were the first female matriculants in September 1870-- the women found the "special privilege" of paying an additional fee an imposition, and Miss Darrow, who was always ready to shoulder arms at any infringement of our rights, was in favor of refusing to pay it." Williams recalls that "the decision to admit ladies to Allegheny was an innovation not universally applauded. Probably three fourths of the friends of the college viewed it with disapproval, and many with strong opposition. Some were sure that it marked the beginning of the downfall of the institution." Although she enrolled one year later, Ella Nash passed advanced examination and was admitted to the junior class. According to Allegheny historian Ernest Ashton Smith, she became in 1873, Allegheny's first female graduate. Three years later, Titusville native Ida Tarbell enrolled at Allegheny. A noted muckraker and biographer of Lincoln, she went on to become one of Allegheny's most famous alumni -- male or female. Although reluctant to receive women at first, acceptance came quickly. Tarbell became one of the first editors of The Campus, and in 1886 both seniors and juniors elected a woman president. Today, there are slightly more women than men at the college. Enjoy- Bev