The protests are coming because the trustees' vote was seen as coming at them "out-of-the-blue," from behind closed doors with the breakdown of the vote not made known. There were rumors of going coed for a long time, but nothing specific. Parents and young women who chose this school because of the way it has been promoted have felt betrayed, not so much by the decision, but because they were not informed it was coming imminently and could not provide input.
If revenue (as it often is), and enrollment were severe problems there could have been focus on improvement in these areas, especially in recruiting. At my daughters high school in a neighboring state Wells was not even in the radar as a possible school choice. One Wells student group is requesting a marketing study before the decision is enacted. This makes good sense.
Opening the doors to the few males who will enroll remains to be seen if this will improve financial status of the college. Also, Wells is now open to Cornell males who wish to take classes there, and how many of them are doing so? Very few.
As far as the comments about Wells being a school for "dykes", that's just plain stupid. From the posts here, a number of freepers are Wells graduates, or married to Wells graduates. We went the college search route for two years in a row, and ALL of the colleges we searched had prominent gay/lesbian organizations promoting "diversity." The purpose of an all-women's college is not lesbianism.
Then how do you explain the protesters' banners and chants proclaiming "Coeducation silences women"? It can't simply be a matter of having more people on campus. The protesters claim that Wells can and should increase enrollment through better marketing. If that were successful, and, say, the number of students doubled, than the statistical chance of being a leader would be reduced regardless of sex.
To identify "coeducation" as the problem clearly reflects a fear that men are likely to dominate.
As for lesbianism on campus: several Wells students have estimated to me that 75% of Wells students are lesbians.
I have no problem with that, nor do I have a problem with students wanting an all-girls school that is a safe haven for lesbians. I only ask that people not be hypocritical. Don't demand single-sex rights for yourselves, while seeking to deny them to men at their colleges and clubs.
When I went to Wells, I was persuaded by the faculty-- they all came from great schools and they all really wanted to be there. Another selling point was the student faculty ratio of 8 to 1, which is great for the classroom.
The school had its fanatics of whatever PC persuasion, but that wasn't the whole school. I had been in a mostly male high school and it was a nice change to go to an all female school. But it's more important to maintain the quality of the education than the memory of an all female school.
PS There were plenty of dates with fun guys. Cornellies, Hamilton guys came down regularly and there were some really nice guys that I met on campus. The drawback in going to their parties was that by the time we got there, many of the fun guys were already in advanced stages of inebriation :) It's kinda hard to have a conversation with someone who is sprawled over the table:)