Stanford Abolishes Ratios For Sex-Blind Admissions

Stanford University has eliminated its rule restricting enrollment to a 60-40 male to female ratio in favor of a sex blind admissions policy.

The Board of Trustees at Stanford successfully petitioned a California Court last month to amend the University's founding grant and remove the restrictions on enrollment of women at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Fred C. Hargadon, dean of Admissions at Stanford College, said yesterday, "It is a coincidence that the undergraduate admissions ratio is actually the same as the limit fixed on the books, because we have always given equal advantages to both sexes in admissions."

The undergraduate ratio is currently 67 per cent men to 33 per cent women at Stanford. Hargadon said that the college will not make a special effort to recruit more women applicants.

"Our present undergraduate applicant pool has a 2-1 male to female ratio, and we don't expect any drastic changes until more women begin entering the engineering program," he said.

Hargadon added that the absence of an undergraduate program in education and nursing may also account for the lower number of female applicants at the college.

He explained that the trustees eliminated the fixed ratio because "the continued presence of an apparent restriction may be a factor inhibiting a greater number of women from applying to the undergraduate and graduate schools of the University."

Hargadon also said that the ratio restrictions were illegal and might have prevented Stanford from receiving government contracts.

The founding grant, established in 1885 by Leland Stanford Sr., gave equal admission advantages to both sexes, making it one of the first coeducational universities in the nation.

However, following an early influx of women students, Stanford's wife amended the grant, limiting female enrollment to 500.

The male to female ratio climbed until there were 2800 men and 500 women in 1933. The trustees then adopted a resolution maintaining the same ratio that had existed when Stanford amended the grant. The ratio was approximately 60 per cent men to 40 per cent women.