Less than 17 percent of Wells College's alumnae say the board of trustees' October 2004 decision to admit men this fall is necessary for Wells to keep its college gates open, according to a survey released by Wells College alumnae opposing the decision.

Sixty percent of the survey respondents say their biggest concern with the co-educational transition is not the presence of men on campus, but their perception of mismanagement and secretive decision-making by top college officials.

The survey was e-mailed to 1,455 Wells alumnae, and 25 percent responded.

College officials responded that keeping Wells single-sex was not an option because of low enrollment.

The collective student body size has not been above 600 since 1973, said Ann Rollo, Wells' vice president for external relations. Wells' current goal is to raise its student body to 450 residential full-time students and at least 100 commuter students.

"There are good people on campus really working toward a viable future," Rollo said.

Some alumnae said that the college hasn't shown proof that the college is in dire financial conditions, necessitating the switch to admitting men.

"There is no financial crisis that warrants this," said Karen Nadder Lago, an alumnae who graduated in 1972 and whose daughter is a current senior at Wells.

Lago said two current students, Lauren Searle-Lebel, a first-year student from Arcata, Calif., and Jennifer LaBarbera, a sophomore from Fredonia, along with alumnae and parental support, have pursued a lawsuit against Wells because they are not being included in the decision-making processes at the college and have not received proof of Wells' purported financial troubles.

Rollo said that some financial information was confidential to the board of trustees, but that college president Lisa Marsh Ryerson has been open in sharing and describing Wells' financial challenges to various college constituencies. College officials have said that Wells has been running in the red and tapping into its endowment to cover operating costs.

Alumnae counter that admitting male students won't solve the deeper problem of effective leadership at the college.

"If they couldn't do their job to keep Wells a place for women's education, then do you think they can do it now? The answer is no. The problem now is mismanagement," Lago said.

In the 2005 U.S. News and World Report's college rankings, Wells College was listed at the bottom of the ranking of 217 liberal arts schools.

Alumnae also say they feel Ryerson has indicated the focus at Wells will no longer be on women.

College officials countered that women's colleges shift to admitting men historically remain nurturing places for female students.

"We're the experts on educating women. There's no reason to imagine we won't remain experts at educating women," Rollo said.

Rollo said the college is not seeing a trend of students transferring out of Wells; only four students have indicated they are transferring because the school is going co-ed.

Rollo also said the college is not concerned it will lose alumnae donations because other women's colleges that transistioned to co-educational status eventually had donations by alumnae return to normal levels.

"Immediately following the decision there is some unrest, but frankly the opportunity for fundraising from alumnae and their constituencies increases," Rollo said.

Judge Peter Corning did not grant a preliminary injunction last month in the students' lawsuit, though the case is pending. Lago hopes the discovery stage in the case will allow alumnae to see the financial information Wells officials are not releasing, information she said that might even indicate that Wells going co-educational was a "smoke screen" for poor leadership at the liberal arts institution.

"You've got an angry group of alumnae staring (Ryerson) right in the face," Lago said.

Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net