In the spring of 2008, my second year of teaching as an adjunct, the president of the women’s college told the students in a hastily called meeting just before midterms that the school began to consider co-education.

“If they’re talking about it,” Gordon told me that night, over the phone, “then it’s probably going to happen.”

I walked down the hill and onto Fifth Avenue to walk back to my apartment, distraught. I could still hear the gasps of students, and I could still see students hugging each other outside of the chapel as I rushed out. I thought back to my last trip to Smith, when I’d stopped in Northampton for an overnight after visiting my brother in Vermont. I took a picture of Haven-Wesley and emailed it to Lainey from my iPhone. I sat next to P...

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