Five years shy of its 150th anniversary the Board of Trustees of Chatham College for Women has indicated that it intends to secure and decide upon a study as to there is any value in continuing the college as a single-sex educational entity.  This fund will be used to support an alumnae driven, community effort, to preserve the women's college.

It may be used for the following purposes, but is not limited to these purposes: establishing a website, permit fees for assemblies, paying postage and certified mailing costs, costs of duplication and binding of proposals, travel and housing expenses for advocates to travel to and from campus, markers, paint, t-shirts, screening printing, business lunches with Trustees, catering for organizing meetings, etc.  We hope to preserve the option of a single-sex secondary education for those who have never had and will never have the opportunity to have the experience which we have had. We are hopeful that alumnae, community members, and graduates of women's colleges around the globe will support this effort to fund a grassroots movement to save Chatham. Small amounts of even $8 will cover UPS ground mailings and T-shirts. Please give what you can when you can.  For those who are not alumnae, we thank you for investing in this grassroots movement.

Consider donating to this fund, which is independent of any internal fund maintained at Chatham and which is accessible to independent advocates of the women's college whom are not staff. This fund will be maintained by a licensed attorney subject to criminal punishment and disbarment in multiple jurisdictions for any unethical conduct or misuse of these funds. The balance of this fund, if any remains at the close of our effort or following the Board's vote in June 2014, will be turned over to Chatham University as a donation from the alumnae body but with the sole condition that it will be used only to fund scholarship programs for undergraduate women. 

The value of a single-sex women's only secondary educational institutions should be apparent. Not only is Chatham threatened, women's colleges across the nation are threatened. Women's colleges are not obsolete. Women's colleges are not outmoded affirmative action plans intended to function only until women occupied equal seats in large co-educational institutions. The work of a women's college (its faculty, students and alumnae) maintains equality, once achieved and if achieved, ensuring it remains the status quo. However, moreso than this equality function, women's colleges simply offer women an exceptional, unique, highly valuable educational experience that dramatically alters their ability to self-actualize and achieve positive outcomes in life. 

Women's colleges offer environments where women can focus on developing self-identity and achieving their educational goals without the burdens and distractions present elsewhere in society. This is an intensive experience which readies us to enter into a diverse world and agitate against injustice throughout the rest of our lives. Women's colleges offer safe spaces for students seeking security from sexual harrassment, unequal treatment, sexual assault, and sex and gender bias. Women's colleges create an educational environment which does more than encourage class participation; they instruct students that even silence has meaning, they encourage unbounded free expression, they cultivate critical thinking skills and self-advocacy skills, and foster the development of excellent above-average verbal and written communication skills. Women's colleges encourage women to explore non-traditional fields, they proactively support women in their efforts to enter medicine, law, the sciences, and fields wherein they might find that they are less represented, more slowly promoted, or underpaid (irregardless of the quality of their work, education or work experience). 

We do not believe present conditions require a change of mission or the abandonment of valuable work.We have ideas and we wil be heard. Women's colleges can survive and thrive. Women's colleges are valuable. The value of an institution is not always monetarily defined. We have bold innovative visions and we hope that you will support us in our effort to put them in front of decisionmakers and the world.Chatham needs to work harder, and think creatively, to continue its good work.