 Cornell historians largely assumed that the " experiment " to which Cornell referred was that of coeducation , given that Sage Hall was to be a women 's dormitory and that coeducation was still a controversial issue at the time . However , when the letter was finally unearthed in 1997 , its focus was revealed to be the university 's nonsectarian status — a principle which had invited equal controversy in the 19th century , given that most universities of the time had specific religious affiliations . Cornell wrote : 
