Sexism, Segregation and Student Government: The Coordinate College System’s Role in Gender and Social Justice at UR

It’s no secret that higher education suffers from problems of gender inequality and segregation. However, it is often a surprise to new students at University of Richmond that everyone is enrolled into one of two colleges—Richmond College for maleidentifying people and Westhampton College for female-identifying people— which students are separated by in some settings, such as assigned deans, student spaces on campus, and most importantly, student government organizations.

This coordinate college system upholds segregation, non-inclusivity, and sexism, and its elimination would be a giant step forward for the school’s culture.

To start, why does this divide exist? It comes from the conception of UR as Richmond College, an all-boys white Baptist college for aspiring ministers founded in 1843.

In 1914, Westhampton College was established for women as a separate college. Later in the 20th century, the colleges were united under the University of Richmond and most parts of the university gradually became completely coeducational, but the traditions of separated student government and deans by gender remained and still exist today.

The only way I was able to find the page was by googling “Westhampton College,” which one would only know how to do if they already knew of its existence. Nobody affiliated with the university seems particularly proud of the system or eager to tell anyone about the division.

I found it unusual that this system was still around, but I found it even more strange that I didn’t know about its existence until I came to UR a few months ago, a sentiment that I’ve heard many other students express. I even stayed on campus previously for several days for the Richmond Scholar Snapshot in March 2023, during which nobody–students, staff, anyone–mentioned any sort of division between Richmond and Westhampton Colleges. It isn’t easy to find out online either. On the website for Richmond College, there is no explicit statement that indicates Richmond College is for male-identifying people; just pictures of male students and a tab labeled “Being a Guy” that leads to some information about modern masculinity. The Westhampton College webpage does state that it is “dedicated to the support of underrepresented genders, including women, genderexpansive individuals, and all who identify with [Westhampton] college,” but that page is difficult to find unless you already know about the division. It isn’t directly linked on the UR website’s main page under any tab, and it doesn’t come up when you Google University of Richmond, given its entirely different name. 51

In addition to the coordinate college system, another phenomenon I’ve observed at Richmond is a culture of division between genders, at least in the organizations I am a part of or have witnessed. For example, when I attended the first Counterculture Magazine meeting, it struck me that I was the only male identifying person there. I also noticed that I was one of four male identifying people in a 20+ person health policy class, while my roommate’s classes, largely business and finance related, seemed to be full of men. Overarchingly, I continued to see more progressive classes and organizations focused on social justice be overwhelmingly female, with males in more businessfocused settings. To learn more about the dynamics of genders at UR, I spoke with Daniel Polonia, a former member of RCSGA and active member of many organizations, including the Inclusive Committee Council (ICC), the will* program (an organization for students interested in gender and social justice), and Resident Assistants (RAs).

Polonia cited a lack of drive for diversity and inclusion on campus and within RCSGA as his primary reason for leaving the organization. He felt that the many progressive organizations he was a part of had conflicting interests with RCSGA. He believes that several things uphold gender inequality and divisions at UR, but the RC/WC divide is among the most important. Polonia left RCSGA when he joined the ICC, explaining his thought process at the time as “If I get into the ICC, I’m more affiliated into trying to do work on campus towards diversity anyway and throughout the whole year in [RCSGA] I just didn’t feel like I could’ve.” RCSGA is notorious for having racist and sexist members, and Polonia feels that the eradication of the coordinate college system, or at least the student government divide, could make progress towards inclusivity in RCSGA.

To get another perspective, I spoke with Lauren Oligino, president of WCGA. When asked about the advantages and disadvantages of the separated colleges, Oligino brought up a big point in the coordinate college debate: Westhampton College is often seen as a safe space for women, students identifying outside of the gender binary, and students who have experienced stress and trauma related to their gender. If RCSGA and WCGA influence the culture of the school, as Polonia implied, then eliminating that division could also lead to those students feeling that they have less of a safe space on campus. She also had a more positive outlook on the culture of the school, saying “I haven’t seen it” when asked if there was a culture of division or segregation of genders.

Additionally, I asked whether she believes the division between genders leads to or enables sexism, to which she responded that it can, but “Overall, not really. I think the deans do a really good job of trying to make it standardized” (referring to resources available to students in both colleges).

However, it is important to note that Oligino is both the president of WCGA and a cisgendered woman, and as such is likely to support the organization. Many students don’t see WC as the safe space that she refers to it as, specifically transgender and non-binary students. I spoke with a UR alum who identifies as nonbinary and transferred from Richmond College to Westhampton College. They said that their transition to WC went smoothly on the bureaucratic end, which may be attributable to their appearance as a white, malepresenting, able-bodied person, but they did not feel welcome among other WC students. As a malepresenting person, they experienced many dirty glares and conversations in which they were told that “they thought Westhampton was only for girls.” Their answer to whether WC is safe for transgender and non-binary students was no, because it reinforces a gender binary where students outside of the binary feel unwelcome. They added that “The coordinate college system needs to go” and noted that it is only still around to garner money from donors.

While it may be true that many students do feel more safe in WC, the argument that it serves as a safe space for transgender and non-binary students ultimately is flawed, and the elimination of the coordinate college system would likely be better for these students.

Among many changes in the direction of gender unity, such as the integration of Richmond College Students into the will* program, even Oligino said that she sees student government as “the one holdout” in terms of separation, and believes that within the next few years, it is likely that the student governments will unify since many students support a unification.

Another thing Polonia mentioned that I found pertinent was Greek life. While only around 30% of undergraduate students participate in Greek life, those organizations host most of the parties for UR students. Outside of the divisions between colleges, fraternities and sororities are essentially the only organizations that formally divide students by gender. Upon being asked if he feels there exists a culture of gender segregation, he immediately went to Greek life. He focused on fraternities specifically, stating that “fraternities probably do uphold and create more of a divide between genders.” He discussed the phenomenon of “dirty rushing,” in which fraternities select who gets into parties based on gender in order to give the guys there more girls to pursue. “The ratio” (of genders at a party) is a large part of Greek culture and a trademark of rape culture, as it intentionally gives men the easiest possible circumstances to take advantage of women. 53

However, he also believes that eliminating the student government divide would have a positive effect on attitudes outside of the organizations and in places like fraternity parties, and that many students both inside and outside of student government would support it.

“A lot of the guys in Richmond College are people who would never seek out education on how to be more acceptable to other genders,” he says, and he believes that “hearing [WCGA members] talk and having a place where they can absorb that can maybe trickle out, go to the frats, go to the other places that kind of uphold that dichotomy.”

In essence, Polonia believes that places where gender divisions and sexism exist outside of student government can be positively impacted by the elimination of the student government divide by creating a culture of unity and inclusiveness.

So, given the inclination of students to unify the student government, how might that be accomplished, and what other steps can the university take towards gender equality? The answer may be found in another recent social movement at UR. In 2022, the UR Board of Trustees voted to rename six buildings formerly bearing the names of racists due to a widespread student movement, in which students that were part of many organizations at UR disaffiliated from the school, most importantly the Black Student Coalition.

This change was difficult to make because, as Polonia puts it, “we are an alumni-based school. We run this school on people that used to go here’s money.” But, when students started refusing to do work for or represent the school, which in turn drew widespread media attention, it forced the hand of the Board of Trustees.

“The reason why it worked was because almost all the students of colors and allies that were interested in the cause were disaffiliating” and “they realized this school changes because of the students, like, the students are doing all the work,” Polonia said. The Board of Trustees that voted to change those names is the same organization that is the primary reason the student government division still exists. Alumni donors and representatives like to keep the university the way it was when they were here. However, a student-driven movement that shows the Board of Trustees and alumni donors how important the students are could again force the university to change its system, and possibly move towards gender equality or a decrease in gender segregation.

The coordinate college system at UR is an outdated system that upholds sexist, misogynist, and racist culture among its students and makes many feel unwelcome. It only still exists because people who no longer go to the school want to maintain pointless traditions. It is time for a change, and we know how to make it.