Corpus of Modern Scottish Writing (CMSW) - www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk/cmsw/

Document : 540

Title: Statement by Professor McKendrick, Regarding the Application by Women Students for Permission to Attend the Physiology Class

Author(s): McKendrick, John Gray

13 Oct 1904



Statement
by
Professor McKendrick
regarding the
Application by Women
students for permission
to attend the physiology
class at the University.
13th October 1904.


Statement by Professor McKendrick
regarding the Application by women
students for permission to attend the
Physiology Class at the University.
13th October 1904.

1. I desire to inform the Senate that during the last
eleven years I have given to women, in conjunction with the
Muirhead Demonstrator in Physiology, a separate
course of systematic lectures during the winter
session and a separate course of instruction in
Practical Physiology during the summer session.
The Winter lectures have been delivered partly at
Queen Margaret College and partly at the
University, but as it has been found more and
more difficult to transport apparatus daily to
Queen Margaret College for the illustration of
the lectures, most of the lectures during the last
two or three years have been given at the
University. As nearly as possible the same
lectures, illustrated by the same experiments
and diagrams, have been delivered to the
women as to the men, and I have found that
the women students prefer to have the lectures at
the University because they recognise that these
can be more fully illustrated in the Physiology
class room than at Queen Margaret College.
The course of Practical Histology
during the summer has always been given at
Queen Margaret College, and the short course of
instruction in Physiological Chemistry has been
given in the University, as there were no facilities
for doing that kind of work at Queen Margaret
College. For several years, also, women have been
admitted to the Winter course of Advanced
Practical Physiology suitable for candidates for
degrees in science, and in this class they have
worked in the laboratories along with men. I
may also explain that for assisting me in
conducting these courses of instruction to women,
my assistant, the Muirhead Demonstrator,
has received from the course the annual
sum of £100.

2. Without discussing the general question of the
expediency of having mixed classes in
medical subjects of study, I desire to say that
as far as I am personally concerned I would
have no difficulty in lecturing on Physiology
to a mixed class of male and female students,
and I could also devise such arrangements in
the laboratory as would enable both sexes to
meet for practical instruction.

3. The present, however, I submit, is an inopportune
time for making a change, even if the Court
and Senate decided in favor of mixed classes.
For two reasons:- In the first place, my present
class room is just sufficient for the accommo¬
dation of male students and the space for overcoats,
hats, is inadequate even for them.
The addition of from ten to twenty women
would be a serious inconvenience. On the other
hand, in the new class-room and laboratories,
which may be ready for the Winter session
of 1906-7, there will be ample accommodation
for students of both sexes if it is
then thought desirable to institute a
mixed class.

In the second place, it so happens that I have
asked the Court to appoint a Committee to
confer with me regarding the reorganisation of
the physiology department, and this may
lead to important changes, financial and
otherwise, changes which may be expected to
increase the efficiency of the department, more
especially when it reaches the new buildings.
For these reasons I would advise that the
present application of women students for
permission to attend the Physiology class at
the University should not acceded to and that
consideration of the question should at all events
be deferred until the new class rooms and
laboratories are opened.

I therefore beg to move that the Senate
represent to the Court that in their opinion it is
inexpedient at present to admit women
students to the class of men at the
University.

I would also suggest that this
statement be transmitted to the Court
for their information.



        John G.McKendrick