(Editor’s Note: This is an abridged version of an article originally published in The GUIDON’s August 1973 issue, written barely three months after the undergraduate school turned coeducational.)
“Pare, may chicks na tayo!”
“Ano, paano ang mga banyo coed din!”
“Si Nora Aunor ba, tinanggap?”
Comments like these greeted co-education’s entrance to the Ateneo college. In freshman year alone, 147 girls were accepted. Then, we also have transfer students plus old faces cross-registering in the different science courses. But the question primarily in this writer’s mind has been: how has the Atenean taken coeducation? For no matter what we may have said before, no matter how great a majority voted for coeducation in college, nothing has been greater than the actual entrance of our skirted sisters last June. Thus, it was that even during registration, one could still hear a lot of varied opinions about the new Ateneo scene. Here are some of them:
Q: What are your impressions on coeducation?
Well, it was a new experience for me, coming from a convent school like Maryknoll. But it’s a challenge for me to be able to compete with those not your own sex. It’s a change seeing Ateneans away from their usual party selves. They’re stripped down–wala nang papel! Margie Logarta: I AB Communication Arts
“I find Ateneans not too impressive so far and I’m having a hard time adjusting. It’s different when you come from a ‘formal’ school then enter one which is quite liberal. But I find nothing wrong with coeducation.” Sophie Lizares: III AB Sociology
“I hated it the first week. There were a lot of disappointments. I had my fears and tensions too, especially since I did not know too many people.” Miren Dominguez: I BS Biology
Q: And yet after a few weeks of adjustment, how did you find Ateneo?
“Well, I changed – I got to know a lot of people and somehow got beyond my superficial adjustment period. Everyone’s good to you, specially if you’re a girl. I’m enjoying every one minute of it.”
Q: What were your first impression on coeducation?
“During registration and freshman orientation, it was like watching one big fashion show. Both the girls and the guys were plastic and faking. The atmosphere was tense. Juan Kanapi, Jr.: II AB Psychology
RED, WHITE AND BLUE
Q: Jun, what were your observations regarding the girls of Ateneo?
“Oh, I observed a lot! There were red ones, blue ones, and many white ones… and there was one without one!” Jun Simon: IV AB Economics
Q: Did you find that you had to adjust?
“Yes. Before, my favourite place in the library used to be the Filipiniana section. Now it’s the reference section.”
Q: But let’s be serious. Do you think coeducation really changed the Atenean”
“Well, yes, but I think you should ask the freshmen because they should have been more affected by it.”
ACADEMIC STANDARD
“I think coeducation was pretty well handled in the Ateneo. It’s not what I hear about La Salle – being an exclusive boy’s school, they really didn’t want to accept girls. But the Ateneans are better. I think we should have more coeds. Boy Reyes: I BS Management
Q: How do you find the atmosphere here?
It’s so relaxed. But mind you, although I think on the whole, girls are accepted, I still feel a little uneasy. I notice that guys look down on girls. For example, if you get a low mark, they ask how you got accepted in the first place. Patty del Rosario: I AB Economics
Q: About the question of adjustment…
Guys say that they were forced to adjust. They should remember that we girls had to adjust, too.
Without doubt, the Ateneo has changed. This does not merely refer to the sudden multiplication of the ladies’ rooms (and the proportionate decrease in men’s rooms), or the significantly higher male attendance rate during rainy days, or even the (shocking) sight of two Ateneans holding hands. Perhaps it will never be the same again. We say this not with as much regret as foreboding-presentiment.
