The first one was an accident.

Although the 169 women enrolled at Lehigh in 1971 were the first female students to officially join the University as undergraduates, a French woman named Jean beat them to it in 1937. Mistakenly believing that “Jean” was the French version of “John,” the registrar enrolled her. Jean attended classes for several months before accepting President Clement Williams’ offer to transfer her to a coed engineering school.

It wasn’t until January 1969 that a thirteen-member committee met to “examine the desirability and feasibility of undergraduate co-education at Lehigh.” This group of administrators, faculty, alumni, and students recommended bringing co-education to campus by a vote of 12 to 1.

The Board of Trustees agreed to admit 100 women for the 1971-1972 academic year. In reality, 169 women enrolled that first year, most in the fields of science and mathematics.