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Women at Hope College in the 1930's and 1940's

Voorhees Hall

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Women's Education at Hope

Hope College was both typical in its foundation in classical training and unique in its emphasis on secular science. However, our question is how women factored into this complex relationship. Albertus Van Raalte, the founder of Holland and Hope College, considered female education to be a “pet project” of his [1]. As early as the second meeting of the executive committee in August 1866, plans were discussed to provide female education in the Hope College preparatory school and later, the college.

Sixty acres were purchased for a designated “Hope Female Seminary.” The female seminary was never constructed and many faculty opposed taking on the responsibility of a separate school. Eventually, this plot of land was sold to finance the school. Instead, the Grammar School opened classes for both sexes in 1875 [2]. Eventually, there was a Ladies Department of Hope College, though there were difficulties with finances and spacing [3]. It took another eleven years until the college admitted females.
Though attempts have been made to find a clear reason for why women were admitted for the first time in 1878 as opposed to other years, there has been no conclusive data found. The Hope College Circular from 1876-1877 gave this explanation
The higher education of females seems to furnish the proper medium between the spirit of oriental barbarism which regards women as fitted to be only mother and housekeeper, and the infidelity of women’s rights, false so called. [4]
Regardless, the decision was not taken lightly. The Board of Trustees minutes from this time period show multiple conversations about women in higher education that never reached a conclusion. However, in the 1878 minutes from June 19th, the Board of Trustees made a decision as the discussion was "resolved that the academic department be opened for the admission of ladies" [5].
The creation of Voorhees Hall in 1907, the first women’s dorm, provided a place for women to live. Women were admitted to Hope College in 1863, and by 1916, 63 women had graduated from Hope helped by the creation of Voorhees Hall [6]. Eventually, national gender ratios continued to equalize so that women were no longer a minority. After 1980, women became the majority on college campuses nationally and at Hope [7].

[1] Nyenhuis, Hope College at 150, 512.
[2] Wynand Wichers, A Century of Hope (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1968), 87-89.
[3] Wichers, A Century of Hope, 89.
[4] 1876-1877. Circular. (Holland: Hope College, 1876), 91, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/catalogs/9/.
[5] "19 June, 1878", Board of Trustees (H88-0246), Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[6] Wichers, A Century of Hope, 90.
[7] Claudia Goldin, Lawrence F. Katz, and Ilyana Kuziemko, “The Homecoming of American College Women: The Reversal of the College Gender Gap,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 20, no. 4 (Fall 2006): 134, 10.1257/jep.20.4.133.
Pop Up Definition - Voorhees Voorhees Hall is one of Hope's oldest dorms. Currently, it houses Freshmen and Sophomore men and women. However, in the 1930's and 1940's, it housed all women on campus - Freshmen to Seniors. It also held rooms designated for each sorority on campus.

Dean of Women: The Dean of Women was responsible for the female students at Hope College. This faculty member often lived in Voorhees Hall, the only female dormitory until Van Vleck transformed into a female dorm during World War II. She also met with female studnets and established and enforced the House Rules.

Voorhees House Rules and Honors System: Voorhees established extensive rules for the female students to follow. Elizabeth Lichty traversed the Honor's System during her time as Dean of Women to encourage women to follow the Voorhees House Rules. These rules dictated Quiet Hours, Signing In and Out, Permissions, Hours, Guests, Meals, Telephone, Spread Rules, Fire Rules and Drills, and the Report System.