New York college can go co-ed despite contract suit

Wells College can go ahead and enroll male students next year, after a New York state judge denied a preliminary injunction to prevent it.  Two female students had sought the injunction, claiming the school had breached its contractual promise to them that the school would remain single-sex through 2008.

Acting State Supreme Court Justice Peter Corning credited testimony from the college that it was losing $5 million a year and needed male students to make ends meet.  From news reports, he doesn’t sound like he actually gave much scrutiny to the claim, though.  “Trustees have an obligation to preserve the institution,” he reportedly said from the bench. “I cannot second-guess the trustees.”

Corning did not pass on the merits of the contract case, which will go forward.