Bygone DePaul is a series highlighting DePaul’s campus and how it has changed through the years.
DePaul has oft claimed to be the first Catholic University to admit women. Is the claim true? Like most historical questions, the answer gets complicated.
In 1911, DePaul began offering a degree-related teaching qualification summer school program to either Catholic nuns and lay women, or just Catholic nuns (historical sources differ). The program enrolled 125 women from five states. Two of the first women enrolled, Sister Mary Clemenza Leahy and Sister Mary Teresita, received their degrees in 1912. The claim that DePaul University was the first to admit women in any capacity is therefore false; other Catholic universities (including Marquette) allowed women to attend summer schools starting in 1909. However, these programs were not degree related and, in the case of Marquette, lasted only until 1911. This makes DePaul’s claims partly true: DePaul is undeniably the first Catholic institution to offer sustained degree-related training to women.
Women were admitted into the four year liberal arts college in 1916 under the direction of President Francis McCabe. McCabe sought permission after the fact; he stated in a 1917 letter to Cardinal Mundelein, the Archbishop of Chicago:
“A number of applications have come in of late from young women who desire to be admitted to your classes in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. They prefer to come here rather than to enter one of the secular universities, but since it has not been our policy to admit them (except in Summer School, and in Extension Classes, 4:15-6:15 P.M. and Saturday mornings), they will in all probability go to Northwestern University, University of Chicago or University of Illinois. According to our charter, we can scarcely bar such applicants and we should be pleased to know what you think of the matter.”
Mundelein responded negatively to the request, saying:
“I wish to reaffirm again the decision that I gave you before to the effect that I do not desire DePaul University to accept any young women as students in your College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. You will readily understand that I have given this matter quite some thought and that the decision is therefore final.”
McCabe disregarded Mundelein’s prohibitions. A separate college for women, conceived as a sister-school for DePaul, was in the planning stages at this time. It was to be called Jeanne D’Arc College for Women. Whether Mundelein refused his permission or the planning simply fell through, Jeanne D’Arc College never went beyond planning and women stayed enrolled at DePaul. Today, DePaul’s student body consists of nearly 60% women.
Contact DePaul’s University Archives for more information.