According to Gewertz, the addition of this department and major was important to Amherst's 1975 switch to coeducation. Many faculty members, including female faculty, were unsure that the new department would be a success and were opposed to the big step. Olver, the committee chair, explained that people were opposed to the WAGS department because "it was a commitment of faculty and of financial resources of the college," according to an article in The Amherst Student. However, she was confident that because many students had expressed interest in WAGS, it would be an excellent addition to the curriculum and majors.
Olver also emphasized the need to create a WAGS department because the lack of formal organization hindered many students from exploring the subject. According to The Student, she stated that the creation of a WAGS department "would organize and structure a major of what is already provided." The rest of the Committee also agreed that Gender Studies courses were seen as "compensatory" instead of as an established field of study.
During this time there were already about 30 Women's and Gender-related courses offered in various departments at Amherst and throughout the Five College Consortium. The Committee of Six was in charge of appointing another committee to help structure and organize the new department to utilize all of the College's resources. The committee wanted to model the department after the American Studies department-professors would be allowed to hold joint appointments in the new department and in another College department. WAGS has remained a popular major at Amherst.