The Ad Hoc Committee on the Purposes of a Residential College was established in 1967 by members of the Board of Trustees Committee on Religion and Student Life to assess the social dimension of the Mount Holyoke College experience. The committee's charge was to examine the role of a residential versus a commuter institution, a women's versus a coeducational college, and a private versus a public setting. The committee also provided a sounding board for the problems and desires of students. Members of the committee were two representatives from the Student Government Association; the parents of a student trustees "Peggy" (Irene) Gillette Steiner and Louis F. Oldershaw; faculty members Edward Chittenden and Isabelle B. Sprague; College administrators Ruth Warfel and Mary Tuttle; and Elizabeth Rogers, an alumna.