The vase of flowers in the Niedfeldt Residence lobby at- tests to the feminine influence its new residents have exerted, just as the residents attest to an unusual shift in the demograph- ic of the incoming freshmen class.
Of the 389 freshmen, only 43 percent are male, compared to 57 percent women. This is a significant trend away from last year’s overall enrollment, where there was only a four percent gap in favor of women.
“There’s a bigger gap than normal,” said Dean of Men Aaron Petersen. “But it’s a trend everywhere that there are more women enrolling in college than men. We’ve been able to avoid it this far, but it looks like this year we didn’t.”
In the late 1970s, female enrollment surpassed male enrollment for the first time in American history, according to numbers from the National Cen-
ter for Education Statistics. The national upward trend continued through the turn of the century as more and more
women pursued degrees. In the mid-2000s, the gender gap stabilized. Since then, men have consistently represented 43 percent of enrollment, reported the American Council on Edu- cation.
But Hillsdale’s demographic shift to the national norm is not expected to alter significantly student interactions on campus, said the deans’ office.
“I haven’t noticed anything different, and I was watching carefully,” said Dean of Women Diane Philipp. “So it’s prob- ably not going to have a huge impact. Maybe if it was a trend for four straight years, but this could be the only year, and it only impacted one dorm.”
In order to accommodate the additional female students, Niedfeldt Residence was turned into a women’s dorm, housing 50 percent freshmen, with the other half sophomores, juniors, and seniors. It is the only wom-
en’s dorm on campus where all four classes are represented, Philipp said.
This year, all freshmen men live in Simpson Hall and Gal- loway Hall, whereas in years past, they were also housed in Niedfeldt.
“I think this is the first time that we’ve had all of the fresh- men men in two dorms and I’m curious to see how it affects community,” said Dean of Men Aaron Petersen. “But I’m an- ticipating we have more upsides than downsides.”
By having the freshmen men grouped closer physically, they will develop more connections with each other, Peterson said.
Of the 305 men in Galloway, 66 percent are freshmen, which is only a 10 percent increase from past years, Petersen said.
As only preliminary numbers are available at this time, the admissions office was unable to say if this year’s 389 incoming freshman class has raised the academic standards for admit- tance to Hillsdale, as the past 10 classes have done.
Senior Abby Newman said she’s seen a lot freshman girls on campus and not many guys.
“The women all seem very opinionated and very indepen- dent,” Newman said. “Some guys might find that a little scary. You know, intimidating. But my freshman class had more guys than girls and we never had any kinds of issues. So, who knows?”
Preliminary numbers state that 12 percent of the incoming class were homeschooled. Six percent are transfers, 44 percent attended public school, and 38 percent attended either private or parochial schools. These proportions do not significantly differ from past years’, Lantis said.
The incoming students repre- sent 40 different states – 64 per- cent outside of Michigan – and four foreign countries, including Kenya, China, Germany, and Zimbabwe.
Final numbers, including test score averages, will be released on Sept. 12.
