 Early in the history of the university , female students were separated from male students in many ways . For example , they had a separate entrance and lounges in Willard Straight Hall , a separate student government , and a separate page ( edited by women ) in the Cornell Daily Sun . The male students were required to take " drill " ( a precursor to ROTC ) , but the women were exempt . One account of the history of coeducation at Cornell claims that in the very beginning , " [ m ] ale students were almost unanimously opposed to co @-@ education , and vigorously protested the arrival of a group of 16 women , who promptly formed a women 's club with a broom for their standard , and ' In hoc signo vinces ' as their motto . " In the 1870s and 1880s , female Cornell students on campus were generally ignored by male students . Women did not have a formal role in the annual commencement ceremony until 1935 , when the student government selected a woman to be Class Poet . In 1936 , the Willard Straight Hall Board of Managers voted to allow women to eat in its cafeteria . Until the 1970s , male students resided in west campus dormitories while women were housed in the north campus . As of 2010 , the only remaining women 's dormitory is Balch Hall , due to a restriction in the gift that funded it . Lyon Hall ( which for most of its history was a men @-@ only dormintory ) , also currently disallows male residents on its lower floors . All other dormitories were converted to co @-@ educational housing in the late 1970s . 
