OBERLIN, Ohio — The Oberlin College senior walked into an art history class and did a quick head count: two men and 20 women.

        Too bad, thought Meg Spearman, a senior from Philadelphia. Men are mouthy in class and spark vigorous discussions. “The classes with more guys are more verbal,” Ms. Spearman said.

        The dearth of men gets noticed outside class, too — there aren't many guys around to date, she said. “That's the joke on campus,” agreed Victoria Der, another senior at Oberlin.

        A historically liberal college that pioneered racial integration and coeducation, Oberlin now finds itself — like other small colleges — discussing how to keep men interested in the school.

        Harry Dawe, associate director of admissions at Oberlin, fueled the discussion last fall when he organized a national forum called “Are Our Boys at Risk?”

        While recruiting of racial minorities and women is commonplace, Mr. Dawe calls the idea of affirmative action for men “the issue that dare not speak its name.”

        Women have outnumbered men on U.S. campuses since 1978. Women now make up 55 percent of college enrollment — about 6.8 million women to 5.5 million men.

        How did men become such a minority? One common theory is that teen-age boys are eager to get working and are more likely than girls to skip college.

        “Boys like to strut and make claims and tell everyone they are going to do something and then they don't do it,” said Clifford Adelman, senior research analyst with the U.S. Department of Education.

        The gender gap is more pronounced at liberal arts colleges, where women make up 61 percent of the enrollment, according to an analysis by the American Council on Education. Big research universities have a more even split.

        At Oberlin, 59 percent of the 2,905 students are women.

        Over the past three years, the male share of Oberlin acceptances has increased from 38 percent to 43 percent, in part because men have sometimes received a second look.

        Mr. Dawe said teen-age boys often develop slower than girls, and may lack high grades and SAT scores that catch the eye of admission officers.

        Instead, Mr. Dawe said he might look for an applicant's passionate interest in some area.

        “We're looking for students who haven't (yet) become intellectuals,” Mr. Dawe said. “If that means looking at boys differently, we're going to do it.”

        The idea of recruiting men gets into some dangerous political territory, said Nancy C. Dowling, a guidance counselor at Aurora High School in suburban Cleveland.

        Schools wouldn't dare hang out the “Men Wanted” sign at college night activities, she said.

        “I think there would be a lot of backlash from women's groups,” she said.

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