Wellesley to Stay Female, Spend Extra $71 Million

The president of Wellesley College announced yesterday that the college will begin a ten-year $70.7 million development program.

The college will continue its policy of granting degrees to women only, Barbara W. Newell said yesterday. The development fund money will be used primarily to increase the college's strengths and to research new programs "which meet the needs of women and prepare them for their varying and changing roles," she said.

Horner's Research

Newell said that she felt the research done by Matina Horner, president of Radcliffe, on women's fear of success, had been important to the decision to continue developing Wellesley as a woman's school.

Women in a coeducational school receive "conflicting signals on the 'femininity' of intellectual vigor and do not take full advantage of college," Newell said. She said she hoped the study of women's roles "will be an area of cooperation between Radcliffe and Wellesley."

Horner said yesterday that she and Newell will be meeting soon to discuss ways in which the two institutions can benefit each other in this area. She said, however, that Wellesley's decision to remain closed to males was a separate decision that would have no effect on the future of Radcliffe under the non-merger merger.

Adele D. Allen, president of the student government association at Wellesley, said yesterday that at Wellesley both men and women professors--there are about 50 per cent of each--were interested in educating women.

"In a coeducational school the implication is that only the men will go out and succeed," she said.

Newell said that research has shown that women educated at coeducational colleges hold positions of responsibility in later life less often than those educated at women's schools. "Wellesley's department of economics produces proportionately more women economists than any other college or university," she said.

Centennial Fund Drive

Newell said she expects the college to receive most of the $70.7 million from private contributions. The fund drive is part of Wellesley's contennial development. The college celebrates its centennial in 1975.

She said the money would be used for faculty salaries, educational research, an increase in financial aid to undergraduates and for a new building fund. The college plans to construct a $14 million science complex as part of the development project.

Newell said that the college needed the good financial base in order to make a "significant contribution to women's education in this country." She said that the new financial plan--and the decision to remain segregated--was decided after a four-year study by the college administration, trustees and students.

She said that the decision of any college or university to exclude members of one sex may be declared unconstitutional if the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution is passed. She said that she hoped that Wellesley could learn enough about women's education to retain an educational advantage even if it was eventually forced to admit men