The following recommendation was made by the president and administrative staff of Grove College, a private institution, to the college's governing committee."We recommend that Grove College preserve its century­old tradition of all­female education rat

The President and administrative staff make the recommendation to preserve the tradition of all-female education rather than admit men. They support their recommendation with the help of surveys among the students and alumni . It further goes on to predict that all female college will improve the morale among students and convince alumni to support college financially. However the argument suffers from flaws and there is need to answer a number of questions before the recommendation is considered sound.

Firstly, there is question of sample size of the surveys that have been conducted, whether it is large enough. It may be that 80% may not be a big number if survey includes responses of only 100 students among 1000 students. This means only 80 students are against the change among 1000. It may be similar situation even regarding the survey conducted among the alumni. As more than half may mean only six among 10 alumni respondents as rest are too busy to respond, while the alumni size runs in thousands. Without data regarding the sample sizes it is very difficult to conclude that the students and alumni are really against the change. This may make the recommendation feeble.

Secondly, there is a question of whether keeping the college all female will actually improve the morale among the students. It may be possible that keeping the college all-female may not actually increase the morale of the students and in all probability will remain constant.On the contrary the morale of students may actually increase because of change if the survey findings are proved to be wrong. Without any evidence in support of the claim it is difficult to justify the recommendation made on basis of such a claim and in fact makes it suspect.

Finally, there is question of whether turning college into coeducation one will dissuade the alumni to support them financially. May be they would still continue to support the college despite the change. There is no evidence presented to support the claim. Moreover, it may be entirely possible that because of increased number of applications because of the change, it will actually result in increased intake and further improve the financial conditions of the college. In such a case the college may not actually require the financial support of alumni in the future. Without adequate information regarding the prospective changes in financial situation in the college and the motivations of alumni to support the college in light of the change, the recommendation appears dubious at best.

In conclusion, there is need for adequate information for answering the questions that arise out of the premises of the recommendation. Unless the information regarding actual sample size of surveys, motivation of alumni regarding continuing financial support and information regarding the future morale of students, the argument is suspect at best.