Many Orangemen don’t need the statistics to tell them – they already know they’re outnumbered.

As the percentage of female college students continues to rise across the country, SU is riding the national trend with 54 percent of its undergrads being female, as well as boasting a freshman class that is 56 percent female.

In 1973, the story would have read very differently, said Vice President of Enrollment David Smith. At the time, the situation was the opposite, with males making up 55 to 56 percent of SU undergrads.

Smith cited a study done by Thomas Mortenson, a senior scholar with the Pell Institute, as a source for answers to this phenomenon.

Mortenson’s study states that women entering college are two-thirds more likely to be in the National Honor Society, one-third more likely to have an A average and three-fourths less likely to have a learning disability. These qualities help give female applicants an edge over their male counterparts in the college admissions process.

Colleges across Central New York have watched their female student populations rise for nearly a decade, and as of yet, no colleges have taken any steps to even out the difference.

‘The trend is one of the realities of today,’ Smith said. ‘It’s hard to put a finger on what to do about this.’

In fact, Smith is not at all certain that SU’s current numbers warrant any action.

‘If the statistics rose to 70/30, that would be a whole different situation,’ he said.

The most direct solution to the disparity – creating a special initiative to recruit more men – has been deemed by SU and other area colleges as unnecessary, Smith said.

‘It is difficult to see how that would help anything,’ he said.

Some students’ agreed with Smith’s assurance that the numbers, as they stand, are not an issue.

‘I knew coming into the university that there were more women than men, but I didn’t completely notice it until I sat down in one of my recitations,’ said Dennis Jacobs, a freshman speech and rhetorical studies major. ‘I don’t think it’s an issue for the university. It shows how far we have come as a society – 50 years ago, women were just starting to enter the work force; now they’re outnumbering men in universities.’

The very closeness of the numbers has led some Orangewomen to generally accept the population as it stands.

Jaime Tan, a freshman architecture major, said that while females seem like the majority on campus, the disparity poses no problems that she could see.

‘I don’t really care about the ratios,’ she said. ‘It’s not that big of a difference. I don’t notice it in everyday life.’

SU will address the problem accordingly if the ratio becomes too skewed, Smith said. For now, many in the SU community are content with the population as it exists today.

‘I think it’s fine,’ said Maxine Squires, a freshman in the College of Human Services and Health Professions. ‘There’s not really an overwhelming difference in numbers.’

Published on September 29, 2003 at 12:00 pm