Not just men
Until May, my daughter was a legacy student in the top 10 percent of her junior class at Peace, receiving scholarships and academic honors. Due to the elimination of her major and the breaking of the university’s promise to “teach through the major,” she transferred, losing funding as well as a year of credits.
I wish, when journalists report the statistics that William Peace University President Debra M. Townsley bandies about, they would report on the percentage of students transferring out of WPU whether or not those students transferred to another all-women’s college.
The emphasis on the coed matter has shrouded students’ genuine concerns, originating as soon as Townsley and her Nichols College associates arrived at 15 E. Peace Street in 2010, well in advance of the announcement to go coed and change the school’s mission and name.
Articles such as yours Dec. 10 perpetuate the myth that the only difference between Peace College and WPU is that now men matriculate there. In our experience, the cultural and moral tone, the mission, the traditions and the academic standards and offerings are so dramatically altered to effectively render WPU an institution completely distinct from Peace College; the only thing the two institutions share is an address.
Susan Murray
Wake Forest
