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A Rolling Stone? Obstacles to Vassar's move are many. Founded by an endowment from Poughkeepsie Millionaire Matthew Vassar in 1861, the college has strong emotional ties to the town, which depends heavily on its $7,000,000-a-year payroll. Vassar would have to find a suitable buyer for its 950-acre campus, including 77 buildings and two lakes, acquire enough cash to finance new lodgings in New Haven. Chartered as a New York institution, Vassar would also have to fight through the legal red tape involved in getting re-established as a Connecticut college.
Then, of course, the college must take into account the views of the vociferous Vassar alumnae, many of whom are convinced that the idyllic isolation from male distraction is good enough for their daughters if it was good enough for them. "I would hate to see this rock of permanence become another rolling stone," says Mrs. Robert Sloane of New Haven, a member of the class of '58. On the other hand, one of Vassar's best-known living graduates thinks that the connection with Yale is just dandy. "They deserve each other," said Novelist Mary (The Group) McCarthy.