202 



NATURE 



[October 14, 1920 



There remains the question of finance, which 

 we have from the beginnin^f recognised as the 

 really serious question. This has been compli- 

 cated, unnecessarily we believe, by a comparison 

 of the supposed value of the present King's 

 College site with the Bloomsbury site; but if the 

 former is, as appears to be admitted, inadequate 

 for its purpose, a comparison of site values seems 

 beside the point, and it is surely no derogation to 

 a good bargain that both parties derive benefit 

 from it. The criticism that the Government should 

 continue to be responsible for rates and mainten- 

 ance charges is of a different kind. Here we 

 think the Senate was on strong ground, and we 

 are glad that it has elicited from Mr. Fisher a 

 statement that these charges will continue to be 

 borne by the Government. 



We are glad, too, to see the explicit declaration 

 of the President of the Board of Education that 

 acceptance of the Bloomsbury site will not close 

 the door against building grants from the 

 Treasury. Apart from the technical obstacle to a 

 Government pledging its successors to expenditure 

 for this purpose, it is, we think, apparent that at 

 the present time the Government, faced with 

 demands for economy, might well hesitate to 

 promise unconditionally a large sum for buildings. 

 On the other hand, we are convinced that if the 

 University embarks in earnest upon the provision 

 of a birilding, neither this nor any future Govern- 

 ment could or would withhold its support. 



We can only repeat our most earnest hope that 

 the University will decide to accept the Govern- 

 ment's offer. The present time may not be the 

 most propitious for embarking upon an appeal for 

 funds, but we are convinced that a courageous 

 policy is the right one, and that the Senate, if it 

 fails to take advantage of the opportunity now 

 offered to it, will have done a serious injury to the 

 future of the University, and lost for many years 

 any claim upon the Government or the public. 



Women at Cambridge. 



AT Cambridge to-day, October 14, is to be held 

 the official discussion-of the proposal to admit 

 women to the membership of the only University 

 in the Empire which gives women no rights. 

 Weeks of somewhat bitter fighting in the Press 

 will follow, and the vote should be taken towards 

 the end of this term or early next term. We will 

 for the moment consider only how the interests 

 of scientific teaching and research are affected by 

 the proposals. 



NO. 2659, VOL. 106] 



Two reports are to be presented for discussion. 

 Report A proposes a simple statute for adoption, 

 the net result of which is to give women the same 

 opportunities and rights within their own colleges 

 as men have in theirs. They will, as at present, 

 attend the regular courses of teaching in the 

 University and take the University examinations. 

 There will, however, be this difference : success 

 in the examinations will secure for them a degree, 

 as in the case of men students, and women will 

 be able to compete for University prizes, scholar- 

 ships, and studentships from which they are now 

 debarred. The degree will secure for them in due 

 course, as for men, voting power in the Uni- 

 versity ; at present they receive only the Parlia- 

 mentary vote for the University member, and a 

 place in a published class list in return for success 

 in the University final examinations. Thus it is 

 proposed that an anomalous and unsatisfactory 

 state of affairs should be ended, and equality of 

 opportunity secured for men and women inside 

 the University. Provision is rightly made in the 

 proposed statute to secure the rights of past 

 students of Girton and Newnham to degrees. 



As regards the colleges, the supporters of 

 Report A recognise fully the need to guard against 

 men and women both being members of the same 

 residential college. They therefore propose that 

 the University shall refuse to recognise in any 

 way a woman as a member of a men's college or 

 a man as a member of a women's college. The 

 University has no power to stop a men's college 

 from admitting a woman, but it can see to it that 

 a woman shall gain nothing, so far as the Uni- 

 versity is concerned, by joining a men's college, 

 and that is what Report A provides for. It should 

 be added that, in this matter, full support is given 

 by the authorities of Girton and Newnham Col- 

 leges. The bogey of the mixed college is con- 

 jured up only by the supporters of Report B in the 

 hope of securing votes for their scheme, .^t any 

 rate, they suggest no steps to guard against it. 



By the alternative scheme proposed in Report B, 

 the University is to give its blessing to the founda- 

 tion of a women's University at Cambridge, and 

 to express a desire to continue -to afford to 

 students of the new University the privileges as 

 regards instruction, examination, and access to 

 libraries, museums, and laboratories which are at 

 present accorded to students of Girton and Newn- 

 ham Colleges. This gives the women their 

 degrees, not of Cambridge University, but of a 

 new University at Cambridge. Ther« are argu- 

 ments on both sides on this point based on senti- 



