from: http://www.alumni.umn.edu/The_Broom_Brigade.html

"Word of these happenings at the U spread beyond the campus, but not everyone who heard the legend of Company Q was as charmed as the poet. The Minneapolis Tribune was brutal in its assessment: "The girls [at the University] should be taught to sweep, dust, sew, promenade the floor with twenty-five bundles, build kitchen fires, and other domestic feats, instead of being initiated into the mysteries of military tactics," it published in a December 1888 editorial.

Back on campus, the editors at Ariel took a more sophisticated stance on the matter—and dipped it in sarcasm:

"In spite of all statements to the contrary, and in spite of the fact that the women of our day practice law and medicine, edit newspapers, engage in politics and even teach school, we assert that the equality of the sexes is far from established, even in the advanced civilization which is supposed to permeate the University. If it were, we should not have to record the unjust discrimination which was exercised against the ladies in the matter of military instruction. Of course the ladies are entitled to the advantages of military drill and we are glad that they have made known their wishes to the faculty. A 'broom brigade' will doubtless add materially to the value of the University as an educational center."