20 DECEMBER 1963, Page 11

New College I see no reason why the proposal to

admit women undergraduates to New College should not be accepted—within the next 800 years. But the difficulties should not be underestimated. First, there is the legislation. Both Houses will have to find time for debates which are certain to be as prolonged and unrelenting as those on the Prayer Book. Again, if women are to be admitted to men's colleges, men will have to be admitted to women's colleges, and one's memory is that they are not physically equipped to cope with such a problem. Yet again, if there are to be women undergraduates, presumably there ought to be women fellows as well, and it is on that point that would expect the rearguard to fight with no attention to scruple. No doubt, it will all work out in the end, but I cannot help wondering what reason will eventually be left for keeping monas- teries separate from nunneries.