Some Colleges Allow Co-ed Dorm Rooms

[Northstarmom]

"In the prim 1950s, college dorms were off-limits to members of the opposite sex. Then came the 1970s, when male and female students started crossing paths in coed dormitories. Now, to the astonishment of some Baby Boomer parents, a growing number of colleges are going even further: coed rooms.

At least two dozen schools, including Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania, Oberlin College, Clark University and the California Institute of Technology, allow some or all students to share a room with anyone they choose—including someone of the opposite sex. This spring, as students sign up for next year's room, more schools are following suit, including Stanford University.

As shocking as it sounds to some parents, some students and schools say it's not about sex.

Instead, they say the demand is mostly from heterosexual students who want to live with close friends who happen to be of the opposite sex. Some gay students who feel more comfortable rooming with someone of the opposite sex are also taking advantage of the option...."

Colleges are allowing coed dorm rooms - Marin Independent Journal

[franglish]

It's also about trans-gender students.

[historymom]

Kaneko commons at Willamette allows it for this^^^ reason but it will be interesting to see how it pans out in reality.

[Grejuni]

As shocking as it sounded to me when I read the headline, I have to say that when I went to college we all lived off campus after our first year and people lived however they wanted to. Of course, most of us didn't share ROOMS, just houses and apartments. I didn't know anyone who shared a room with anyone.

It is interesting that most students aren't choosing it as an option.

[KrazyKow]

At my school (Carnegie Mellon), it is an option that was piloted for the first time last year. As far as I know, it still exists, but it's something that most students don't know about, isn't available to freshmen, and is only in one apartment building. It seems to be having a minimal impact on everyone I know.

I'm a female in a male-dominated major without many female friends, so it's hard to find a female roommate. This year I settled for a random roommate because the females I knew already had roommates. I didn't have a horrible roommate experience, but she was inconsiderate and a complete mess, as well as a smoker. It probably would have been a better experience to live with a male friend in the building that is gender-neutral. Next year I'm moving off campus so that I can live with (male) friends but have my own room.

[Antiquark]

At Caltech, housing is about as gender-blind as they could get away with. Every single hall, House, and room is co-ed and, for the most part, bathrooms and showers are co-ed. The one exception I can think of? You're not allowed to be forced into having a roommate of the opposite gender if you don't want to. In practice, people aren't forced into having a roommate they don't want in general regardless of gender. This only really applies for the one week or so that freshmen have to live with randomly-assigned temporary roommates at the beginning of the year. Generally, you are forced to have to use co-ed bathrooms and showers, but it's not a big deal since they all have stalls/locks. It's not awkward after the first week.

Gender-blind housing is great not just for gay/transgendered people, but also for those of us whose closest friends are of the opposite gender. I like being treated like an adult by my school.

[alwaysamom]

NYU started this when my D was there. It was not available to freshmen and there was a special application process, at least initially. Another of my Ds lived in a dorm last year at Univ. of Toronto in a mixed-gender suite (all single rooms). When I was in college, back in the dark ages, we had co-ed dorms available, and in those, as well as in the single gender dorms, there were often unofficial co-ed rooming situations. I, for one, am not a parent who finds this story shocking.

[roshke]

There was a book (and movie) back in the 1970s called the Harrad Experiment that featured coed rooms and open relationships on an experimental college campus as its premise. It seemed about as far fetched as science fiction at the time, the times notwithstanding. I remember that one of the characters in the book decided to move to a small (southern?) state after graduation and run for political office as a stepping stone to the presidency. Hmm....

[justbreathe]

Speaking from Brown, which implemented this for the first timethis year with our housing lottery

Most people are very wary of the idea of dating someone they even live within a suite with(because that's just awkward for everyone when you break up)...so people are similarly mature when choosing who to room with. If the two really are totally platonic opposite gender friends, it's cool. But people are totally bright enough to know not to room with ppl with whom there might someday be 'more' or with ppl they're actually dating.

It's also a GREAT idea for gay and transgender people. There's also talk of creating more unisex bathrooms for transgender people and there's housing available for freshmen(who live in single sex doubles) who are transgender.

[DonnaL]

Are there really that many transgender students at Brown that this is a big issue, as a matter of practice rather than simply of principle?

[1of42]

I was actually going to mention Caltech, Antiquark. I thought it was very interesting how totally integrated housing was. However, I'm not sure it would work that well anywhere else.

On another note, it's not like co-ed housing doesn't happen anyways. Here at Princeton, I know at least a few couples who drew singles beside each other (in Whitman, the new residential college, you can actually get singles with a door between them...) and thus have a bedroom and a study room. Not quite single sex rooming.

[paying3tuitions]

It seems a matter of choice, enlarging choices, and simple fairness.

If I were a lesbian student, I'd want a chance to room with someone male where there's no possibility of sexual tension in the air. That's the same old wisdom that's justified same-gender housing since forever.

DonnaL's question is interesting, of course, but I think housing policies can be put into place based upon principle rather than actual numbers or requests. For example, the US Fair Housing Act makes housing available to all people regardless of race, and it applies everywhere from rural Wyoming to the middle of our largest cities. That way, anybody knows they can move anywhere in the country. If a college sets itself up so that options are in place for students regardless of sexual orientation, they are free to enrol with one less worry on their minds.

[etselec]

My college maintains a variety of housing options--from single-sex halls to coed halls to gender-neutral housing (which can either have gender-neutral bathrooms or gendered bathrooms).

It's about making everyone feel comfortable in their living spaces. The idea of co-ed rooms make some people uncomfortable. But it makes other people uncomfortable to have a roommate of the same gender. There's no reason that we can't have options that allow both groups of people, and everyone in between, to live in campus housing that meets their needs.

[csleslie51]

At least two dozen colleges allow students to mix it up in living quarters
Colleges are allowing coed dorm rooms - Education - MSNBC.com

[Atlmom]

Colleges going coed ROOMs. What do you think about this?
Colleges are allowing coed dorm rooms | ajc.com