| Western College for Women | |
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Clawson Hall |
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| Active | 1855–1974 |
| Type | Women's College |
| Location | Oxford, Ohio, United States |
Western College for Women was a women's college in Oxford, Ohio between 1855 and 1974.
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Western College was founded in 1853 as Western Female Seminary. It was a daughter school of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Its first principal Helen Peabody and most of the early faculty had been students and teachers at Mount Holyoke. Mary Lyon Hall on the Western campus is named for Mount Holyoke's founder.
Western remained an independent women's college until 1970 when it formed a "committee of cooperation" with the adjacent Miami University, which opened enrollment between the colleges on a limited basis. This allowed Western students to take classes at Miami and use Miami's computer and hospital facilities, for example, while allowing Miami students access to intramural fields, library space, and cross-country runways on Western grounds. Before the 1973-74 school years, both presidents signed an agreement for an affiliation between the two schools. In 1974, Western became part of Miami.
In June 1964 a civil rights demonstration orientation program for Freedom Summer was held at Western College. Two days after they left for Mississippi, three young volunteers were murdered. Public uproar helped pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act a few months later.
In 1974, the Western College for Women merged with Miami University and became the Western College Program (School of Interdisciplinary Studies). In 2007, the Western College Program was integrated into the College of Arts and Sciences and is now known as the Western Program at Miami University.[1]
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