Different Courses for Women and Men

Prior to the 1970s, different rules based on sex and gender were in place for students.

Men's and women's gymnasiums, circa 1902 From CMU Bulletin, 1902-03

In the earliest days of the institution, the curriculum reflected a differentiated approach to education. For instance, in the first 30 years of course offerings, men and women enrolled in separate manual arts courses: Farm Carpentry for the men and Home Economics for the women.

The starkest example of differentiated education programs was physical education. From the beginning of physical training through the mid-1970s, women enrolled in Physical Education for Women courses while men enrolled in classes specifically for men.

Early on, separate physical education courses were reinforced with respective physical training spaces. The gymnasium in the Old Main Building was originally divided by a partition to separate the male and female students. This was because the head of buildings and grounds at the time, E.E. Wille, did not approve of co-educational physical training. The two gyms were too small to play basketball or other sports, and the physical education instructors wanted a single larger gymnasium. During the winter break of 1904-05, Coach Charles Tambling arranged to have the wall demolished and with the new 60-foot by 80-foot space, "one of the finest basket ball courts in the state was laid out and provisions made for seating 250 people."

Separate curricula for women and men, which slowly faded throughout the twentieth century, was not the only way that students' experiences at CMU were differentiated by sex and gender—women and men had different rules for extracurricular student activities, too.