50 YEARS OF COED

UMHB YESTERYEAR

BY CHRISTI MAYS

UMHB MArkS 50 yeArS of going coedUcAtionAl

There were two conflicting schools of thought when Mary Hardin-Baylor College was contemplating going coeducational 50 years ago:

“Better Dead than Coed”—On one hand, many alumnae, some faculty members, and even the members of the Board of Trustees abhorrently opposed the idea of their beloved all-women’s school allowing male students the same privileges that only women had enjoyed for the last 125 years.

“Coed or Dead”—On the other hand, administrators were faced with an unsustainable deficit that was inching them closer every day to shutting the doors to the oldest women’s college this side of the Mississippi. They realized, the only means to save the college was to broaden its base of students by officially going coed and allowing men to finish their degrees at the school.

“We had the alumnae literally throwing hissy fits, but the current students couldn’t have cared less if we went coed,” said Vicki (Higgason) McKay ’71, adding that some of the alumnae protested the move to go coed with signs that read: “Better Dead than Coed.” “Some of them got over it and came back around 10 or 15 years ago, but it took them a long time. They fought it because of the many years of traditions.”

This past July 24, 2021, marked the 50-year anniversary when members of the board of trustees relented to call Mary Hardin-Baylor College “coeducational” and allowed men to finally walk across the stage to receive diplomas.

How it All StArted

Seeing men on campus attending classes wasn’t unusual. It had been the norm since 1922, when the acclaimed John C. Hardy had served as president. He created the “Campus Boys” program, a select group of 12 upstanding young men who lived on campus and worked in exchange for tuition. Throughout the years, other male “day students” were allowed to attend classes and obtain up to 90 hours of coursework. When the male students reached 90 hours, however, they had to finish their degrees elsewhere, and the nearest schools that offered bachelor’s degrees were in Austin and Waco.

In the spring of 1968, the board of trustees recognized that it was a hardship for men to leave Belton to finish their schooling, especially when many of them were married and starting families. The board decided to allow men to be granted degrees “as a community service.” Men were finally allowed to finish their degrees at Mary Hardin-Baylor!

However, because of the resistance, male graduates were not allowed to walk the graduation stage to receive their diplomas with their female classmates, but instead had “special arrangements.”

UMHB YESTERYEAR

The first male graduate, James P. Smith, a soldier from Fort Hood, quietly received his diploma in 1968. In 1969, the male graduates received their diplomas at a baccalaureate ceremony the day before the women walked across the stage. Two years later, the males were allowed to be in the chapel for the graduation ceremony, but not to march across the stage.

“We sat on the left side of the auditorium and they brought our diplomas to us on the side,” said Bill Elliott ’71. “I didn’t feel bad. I sort of chuckled. I knew everybody in the class and we were all together, so it didn’t matter at the time.”

According to Carol Younger’s biography, The Parker Years: A Bridge to the Future, the board of trustees knew that the current practice of graduating men (but not permitting them to participate in any campus activities like graduation ceremonies) was “not only wrong but illegal.”

In July, trustees realized they had to make a decision. Faced with breaking federal regulations concerning accreditation, the board was forced to either return to the status of an all-women’s school (which would have led to bankruptcy) or embrace the idea of going coed. To make matters even more complicated, Dr. William Tanner, who had served as president the last three years, had just left to serve as president at Oklahoma Baptist University. In his absence, Dr. Bobby Parker, who had worked as vice president for the last two years, was named interim president until trustees could find a new president. Even though Parker was known for wearing a proverbial “black hat” during his tenure as vice president, faculty, staff, and others wrote letters to the trustees in support of Parker taking the helm during this tumultuous time. He was named president, effective Aug. 1, 1971, just eight days after the college had gone coed.

“If it hadn’t been for Bobby Parker, we wouldn’t have a university,” said Bobby Johnson ’76, who worked under Parker’s administration as director of alumni development.

DAY STUDENTS

Before MHB went coed in 1971, Campus Boys and other male “day students” were allowed to accrue up to 90 hours of coursework, but then had to finish their degrees elsewhere. Pictured at the bottom are President Dr. William Tanner and Vice President Dr. Bobby Parker.

CAMPUS BOYS

Holding a picture from when they worked as Campus Boys are from left, Billy Johnson ’70, Bobby Johnson ’76, Bill Saunders ’70, Dennis Thornblom ’71, and Jerry Troy ’69. They gathered with classmates this summer at the 50th reunions for the classes of 1970 and ’71.

Even though Parker bore the brunt of those who were opposed to going coed, he forged forward with a new vision and new ideas to help the school stay open.

It wasn’t an easy path by any means, said Parker’s wife of 53 years, Marietta Parker, who is now 96. Just like it was yesterday, she remembers serving alongside her husband those first few years after going coed.

“In (Younger’s) book, it sounds like everyone was just thrilled to death that he was named president, but that was not so,” Marietta recalls.

“Half the faculty was aggravated, many of the alumnae were opposed to it, and we were a million dollars in debt,” she said. “Everyone said they wouldn’t blame Bobby for going coed, but they did.”

The Parkers received threatening letters and calls, but trudged ahead. “I have told people that I was the mother of coed of Mary Hardin-Baylor and it was a long and painful birth!” Marietta said with a laugh.

According to Gayle Crain, who served as interim alumni secretary during the first year after going coed, “Dr. Parker saw the direction that the college needed to go and led in that direction—at great cost to himself. He endured a great deal of opposition and criticism from opponents, but he stood fast and provided leadership that led to the development of a university that serves hundreds more students per year than we ever dreamed possible just a few years before.”

Younger wrote that Parker's presidency “will go down in future history books as a time of healing, growth, expansion, and significant stretching toward the goal of academic excellence.” Forging a new path under Parker’s leadership, the almost bankrupt college’s financial condition began to improve and by the early 1980s found itself standing on solid financial footing.

A new Beginning—wAlking tHe StAge

At the end of the fall semester in 1971, male graduates were allowed for the first time to walk the graduation stage and receive their diplomas alongside their female classmates.

Dennis Thornblom ’71 was working as a Campus Boy at MHB and vividly remembers being one of the first males to walk. He also proudly recalls being one of the first men to get to go through the infamous “Slime Line” initiation.

“I still have my freshman beanie in a memory box at

“i'M proUd of tHe ScHool. i'M proUd tHAt i'M A grAdUAte of tHe ScHool, And i'M proUd i wAlked AcroSS tHe StAge.”

— Arthur "Yogi" Prinz Class of 1971

home,” he said. “I am grateful to the college for giving me the opportunity to lay the foundation of my education.”

Bill Saunders ’70 remembers when he came as a Campus Boy, just one year prior to Dennis. He said there was a closeness among students, but that men were still excluded from participating in athletics, holding office positions, and joining in traditions like the Easter Pageant.

“We were pretty much excluded from everything,” he said. “We were just here to do our work and go to school and that was it.”

Carolyn (Foster) Reed ’71 served as student body president in 1970 just prior to turning coed. Apparently in force to keep male students in “their place,” she recalls some amusing rules in the student handbook that she helped rewrite that year, including one that stated: “A girl could not sit in a chair a male had gotten out of for 15 minutes until it had time to cool off.”

John Austin ’71 said there was also a rule that “no male student could drink out of a water fountain that a girl had just drunk from until a certain amount of time had passed.”

John graduated just prior to the July 24 vote to go coed and remembers being told they were not able to march with the women.

“We were just so happy to get the degree, we didn’t mind,” he said. “We sat several rows back and they just handed the diplomas to us. We weren’t upset at all. In fact, we didn’t know we should have been upset until we were invited to march two years ago,” he said, referring to the invitation he received from UMHB in 2018, inviting him to officially walk across the stage at the spring commencement ceremony on May 5. The university paid special tribute to the first male graduates of UMHB by asking all males from the classes of 1968 to 1971 to return to campus for a special recognition at commencement. Eleven men, including John, came and participated in the ceremony and were given the chance to finally walk across the graduation stage— almost 50 years later!

Arthur “Yogi” Prinz remembers when he received his invitation and thinking it was “silly.” After all, it had been 49 years! After his daughters, who are also UMHB grads, convinced him to do it, he now says he’s glad he did, and it meant the world to him and his family. “There was a subtlety that I had never experienced at that level. I’m glad UMHB did that for us.”

Even though he and his male classmates were originally excluded from walking the stage with their female counterparts, Yogi can honestly say he’s never held a grudge. The self-described “Crusader at heart” says it was a good experience for him.

“I’m proud of the school. I’m proud that I’m a graduate, and, I’m proud I walked across the stage.”

glory to god

Going coed may have been the “single most important decision Mary Hardin-Baylor College faced in the second half of the 20th century,” Younger wrote, but many who were familiar with the circumstances know that God put the right man in the right place at the right time.

“Our first five years (at MHB) were hard ones,” said Marietta Parker. “Nobody realizes just how little my husband slept those first five years. Many early morning hours were spent in his study, praying, seeking the Lord’s will.”

In a 1985 speech at the Second Century trustee dinner, Dr. Bobby Parker reflected on the tough decisions and hard work so many members of his team faced in saving the college.

“The people in this room saw the need for a plan and stood by the plan,” he said during the speech. “Yes, a lump comes to my throat as I look upon your faces—those who saw the need of a coeducational Mary Hardin-Baylor. We are a full-grown co-educational institution. As such, we have faith in ourselves and in the future because of our faith in God.”