today, i'm ali us. night. you know that old riddle that begins when a tree falls in a forest? it's worth noting since single sex education at the college level has been slowly disappearing. the sweet briar college case is just the latest. it's not over yet. it's an uphill battle. one of my guests tonight is doing all she can to help.

we'll talk more broadly about single sex education as colleges and universities continue to close. later on our program, we'll take you back to israel and ask our reporter how early reports of a razor-close election ended up in a resounding victory for prime minister benjamin netanyahu. it's the inside story. if you looked at a list of all the women's colleges in the history of the united states, you'll quickly notice a pattern. in most cases, the dates note that when a school closed, went coed, or merged with a larger institution the all women's college is an endangered species

subject to many pressures of any college or university. then wider challenges, wider opportunities for women. earning degrees, completing on time, even heading on to grad school. when the board of sweet briar college in lynchburg, virginia chose to immediately close its doors, that got our attention. >> even though in recent years our marketing and admissions efforts have brought us significantly greater numbers of applications, the percentage of accepted students who have chosen to enroll in sweet briar is at an all time and unsustainable low. in addition to these endeavors, we also pursued alternative models for education such as coeducation, mergers, and collaborations with other institutions. unfortunately, it is now clear that none of our strategies have

provided nor will they provide the solutions sweet briar could require to continue to operate as a higher education institution. >> how are they so convinced? what was embedded there in the trends, applications, the number of women who actually enrolled after being accepted that convinced them there was no choice but to close and quick. for decades, there have been more women in college than men. why haven't women's colleges managed to maintain a niche by attracting a steady but small number of high school seniors. i'm joined by jesse martin, sweet briar college class of

2002. and pat mc guire. >> for the record we asked sweet briar to join the conversation but they would not accept the opportunity. i don't want to put you in the position of speaking for all women but why was a higher education for women attractive to you? >> i grew up in pennsylvania. i'm from the northeast. when i was in high school all my friends were looking at small liberal arts schools that were coed and they were private and i wasn't looking in the south and certainly not for single sex education or institution but i discovered sweet briar when i was visiting a relative in virginia and upon my visit i discovered a glorious campus, a

treasure. it's 2,500 acres. it's a gem. and the students were warm and friendly and kind and after i received an acceptance letter i had a fantastic scholarship follow that and it sealed the deal for me. i wouldn't be who i am today if college. >> and in the course of those four years, did that sense that i belong here, i can do this only deepen or where there times when you're snowed in with all the gals in the dorm and you think i could be somewhere else. >> great question. little bit of both. it's in a rural location. d.c. is three hours away. so there were times where

we -- we could just be who we wanted to be and explore whatever we years. >> who is the woman, the young woman, who decides to attend an all women's institution for four years? >> at trinity today the young woman is very different from the ones that went to trinity when i was a student in 1970. we were mostly still young women from the catholic enclaves of the east coast. but we were mostly chit, mostly middle to upper class young catholic women. today the women who enroll in women's colleges are african-american and la tina. there are many low income women for these populations who are new populations in higher education. they love women's colleges. they're not in the past for them. very much in the present. they want to be empowered.

and by the way, we enroll a significantly number of older women as well in their 30s and 40s who come back to school to finish degree that they deferred. so the new women's college is significantly more urban. it is significantly representative of new populations and higher education and it's very accessible to low income women when is not the history of women's colleges. >> that's a positive and up lifting profile. why have they had such a rough half century. >> when you look at that data because i've studied the original 230 and in fact about 90 of the original colleges closed or merges but a lot of them were small catholic colleges who worked for nuns for free. then those women left the con vent and the economic model collapsed. it was different in schools already paying their faculties. so the original institutions are

still around. a few of them went coed . but they are still largely female institutions. 70 to 80%. women's colleges seem to be the only sector where you take one man and suddenly you're not a women's colleges anymore. catholic colleges have a lot of muslim and baptist and indian students. the modern women's college has -- we are a modern institution and the women's colleges in fact 63% of all of the women's colleges that still operate as women's colleges are growing in the last ten years 63% grew. about 40 peek grew smaller. some surely will continue to go out of existence. but so will small liberal arts colleges. the main issue is not being a women's college but a small

liberal arts college and location also counts. >> that was a tough challenge for sweet briar where it is you can't simply pick it up. it's 2,500 acres of loveliness and move it close to a subway line or a cool place to be. >> at sweet briar ten years ago there was an understanding and no official public announcement that the school needed to change course but we were not blind and we were aware what other womens colleges were doing, neighboring colleges. hollins expanded to be a university. randolph-macon as well. while the decision was devastating to me it wasn't a shock.

wasn't something out of the blue entirely. i think that it's a challenge that sweet briar has been facing for a long time and maybe if it hasn't been up front and center there's always been an underlying current that it's been a risk and change course or consider alternatives. >> i remember such famous names as vassar and sarah lawrence when they went coed and the backlash from alumbar nigh. for you, that wasn't an option? if they said we allow men we can make it? >> to be honest, i don't think the school would be the same if it were to go coed. it is steeped in tradition and i don't know how it would fold and become coed. when the founder of the school died she said i expect this land and estate to be used for all

women's education. >> is this fight over? >> no. students are graduates, current students, faculty is fighting the decision in an effort to reverse it. >> doesn't the board have a final say? >> it has made a decision and i think it's going to be an uphill battle to reverse course. i'm hopeful it's successful. at the same time, i'm afraid the damage has been done and it's going to be difficult to convince the students accepted for fall of 2015 and encontrol and feel confident that they can graduate with a degree. i would also worry about the faculty and staff. bringing in new faculty and staff you lose the incentive to join the college because there has to be an underlying concern that unless there's a major sustainable. >> we'll be back with more inside story after a short break.

when we return, the strategies that work with a 21st century student body when you accept the idea that all women's colleges have a place, what's working to keep the applications and the first years coming. stay with us.

welcome back to inside story on al jazeera america. sweet briar college, educating women since 1901 may be heading for

arts

school. >> as you look at the landscape, are we near a dwell point? are the remaining schools sort of in a steady state where they can hang on with the assets they have and the young students coming in and sort of maintain a presence for women's education

in the overall mix. >> i don't think any small private liberal arts college can stay just a small private liberal arts college if all you do is undergraduate lib cal arts education. you said young students. in fact, many of these thriving institutions today have a very healthy adult education and a traditional age population. adult women were the driving force to change the whole complexion of women's colleges in america. that was a model we used when we diversed in trinity. you have to go into the disciplines that will show the students the bridge between liberal learning and work life.

if you don't show them how they're going to pay for it in their life long learning, they're going to shy away from liberal arts and i love liberal arts. but you also have to connect it to things like criminal justice or psychology or nursing and healthcare and that's what modern women's colleges and growthful liberal arts colleges are doing that. that's the wave of the future. >> before we close, there are parents watches or maybe college-age people watching. give me the elevator pitch for a women's college. you're talking to a rising senior or someone just starting the search. say listen to me, i went to one of these places. this is why it's great. >> from the sweet briar background, it is just an unparalleled liberal arts education. it allowed me because of the

small teacher faculty student ratio, i was able to double mayor and go abroad for two years in different corners of the bodily injuried. the bonds you form with the women are just unbreakable and amazing and incredible and they're sustainable to today and the networking once you've graduated. the career services center, outreach from graduates looking to recruit sweet briar graduates to their country. it's phenomenal. >> it's the old girls network. >> too late for me but i'm sold. great to have you with us. >> thank you. >> when we come back, we'll take a closer look inside the results of the israeli elections. pollsters are trying to explain how they missed his decisive victory.

dana lewis joins us from jerusalem. the latest on the vote and the new government the once and future prime minister hopes to form. it's inside story. stay with us. >> the stream, >> your digital community >> you pick the hot topics and express your thoughts the stream it's your chance to join the conversation only on al jazeera america

you're watching inside story. the margin of victory for israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu in yesterday's israeli elections caught pollsters by surprise and made the early and confident declaration of victory look like an act of bravado but he was right. the early exit polls that showed a tie were wrong. he won a clear victory over isaac herzog. dana lewis joins us now from jerusalem.

it wasn't until late in the going that everybody was saying this was a tie. what happened? >>reporter: well, everybody went by the television exit polls and they were wrong. they got it wrong. and for whatever reason whether there were technical difficulties or the voter turnout or where they were doing some of their exit polling, they got it wrong. a number of television stations got it wrong to the point that herzog made a victory speech saying they're coming to power and putting their government together. netanyahu also made his victory speech. it doesn't get more bizarre that. >> by the time the real shape of the numbers started to come in, was it time for the president to move away from his earlier call for a national unity government and go ahead and say to prime minister netanyahu no bb you

take the first crack. >> essentially for netanyahu he's always had the edge when it came to any kind of even election so even at 27-27 which were the initial exit poll results, it would have been hard going from the left wing to try to put together a coalition government. they had a chance though at that point but with a six seat edge now netanyahu having 30 seats more than the zionist union, i think nobody calls into question the idea that he can do it and easily get more than 61 needed seats. the president is going to do a news conference i believe here on sunday and no doubt, he will give prime minister netanyahu his mandate to try to put together his government and he'll have 45 days to do so. it will be an easy job in the sense that he'll easily put together the coalition. the question is there is so much haggling over cabinet and committee posts and how much

money people are going to get for different things so there's a lot of horse trading to go on in the next few weeks in israel. >> so what should those of us who are far away from israel watching it from outside be looking for from the once and future prime minister? more of the same or does this strengthen netanyahu's hand when it comes to security policy, relations in the neighborhood. his approach to the united states. >> well, i think the columnist said today, you know, a lot of people woke up this morning hoping for a new, bright dawn and what they got is they woke up to more of yesterday in essence. so, i mean, nobody feels that there's going to be much change inside israel but certainly there are great questions being asked from washington and all through the various parliaments in europe. i mean, how serious was netanyahu when he started to get very extreme according to the

left wing three days before the election? i mean, he largely was pretty silent throughout the campaign. he started to panic when he saw the preelection polls a couple of days before the election and started saying that's the end of two-state solution, it's irrelevant and we're going to start expanding settlements. so the question is how much does netanyahu believe what he said? were they just campaign promises to rally the right around his party and does he mean it and if so he'll undergo a tremendous amount of international pressure over things he's said. even washington was questioning it today. the palestinians were questioning the outcome and will continue now to put more pressure on israel through the international stage and the international criminal court. >> that's dana lewis joining us once again from jerusalem. thanks for joining us. get in touch on facebook, follow on twitter, and watch us next time.

in washington, i'm ray suarez. >> on "america tonight": >> king's bay is one of the only places in the world where you can swim with and even touch groups of endangered florida man manatees. >> ma'am, you're not supposed to be in there. >> set off a passionate debate. >> where do you draw the line? >> i think people should not touch the animals or attempt to. >> in his spare time when he's not running his septic business doug has become a one man police watchdog. he's also become a critic of the