1894 Publications
This editorial from a very early issue of The Lantern addresses the views of the general public in regards to female college students. The author calls out as illogical the belief that a girl who leaves the house to study at college for four years is "wickedly abandoning" her home, while no such ill opinion of those who leave the house to be married existed.
The author also discusses the belief that studying at college would be detrimental to a girl's health. She dismisses this as untrue, and points out that in fact at Bryn Mawr students are encouraged to exercise. Anyone who does 'break down' at college, she claims, either was not in good health at the start of her time there or did not study and exercise in moderation as she should have; either way, it would not be the inherent fault of the college education that caused the health concerns.
Interestingly, the author uses the term "girls" when discussing women at college, but uses the term "men" rather than referring to them as 'boys'.