In this exhibit you can learn about the history of women students, faculty, and staff at Virginia Tech--from the admission of the first women students in 1920s to the campus leaders of today. By Suzanne Shelburne.
GRANTING WOMEN A SPACE—THE PUSH FOR CO-EDUCATION
“It is clear that nothing will be left undone to provide satisfactory conditions for all earnest women who come seeking the instruction provided in this institution.”
--Julian Burruss, 1921
With the passage of the 19th amendment in 1920, American women gained the right to vote. By 1921, President Julian Burruss advocated for the admission of women as full students to VPI. He believed that with the right to vote women became full citizens and land grant institutions, like Virginia Tech, could no longer exclude them from admission. Burruss urged the Board of Visitors to change the policy and admit Virginia’s women--meaning only white women, according to the segregationist educational system of the time--as full students.
It was predicted, by a campus newspaper, that female students would study gardening and horticulture. In the fall of 1921, 12 women enrolled at VPI and 5 were considered full-time students. None of these women majored in agricultural areas as previously predicted. The “first five” majored in engineering, chemistry and biology.
Excerpt from Board of Vistors minutes identifying the reasons for admitting women as full students.
Continuation of Board of Vistors minutes and additional reasons for admitting women as full students. Click the Image to access the entire document.
Prior to 1921, federal legislation helped stimulate debate on the issue of co-education at land-grant universities and create opportunities for women in higher education. The Smith-Lever Act (1914), allocated federal funds for the creation of the Cooperative Extension Services. This agency provided information about home economics and agriculture through the work of farm agents and home demonstration agents. The Smith-Lever Act helped prompt the creation of home economics programs where women would be educated to work as home demonstration agents. Home demonstration agents taught women in rural areas how to modernize common pratices related to both home and agricultural work. The creation of Cooperative Extension, with its need for home demonstration agents, furthered the case for co-education.
Ella Agnew was the first home demonstration or home economist agent in the United States. After 1916, she worked from the Blacksburg campus.
Ella Agnew was the first home demonstration agent in the country.
In 1914, she was retained by Virginia Tech when the school started extension work. Two years later, she relocated to Blacksburg when Cooperative Extension was given a permanent location on campus.Before the first full-time female students arrived at Virginia Tech, women were working on campus and with communities across the state in conjunction with Cooperative Extension. In addition, women also worked on campus in various service jobs.
