<p>For my son yes, for my daughter no.</p>
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Several posters have voiced this opinion. What about it would be your biggest concern? </p>
<p>ETA: I think it’s fine for OP to lead a discussion about some college-related topic. Perhaps she will one day moderate debates ;).</p>
<p>It’s awkward enough to share a room with a stranger; adding opposite gender makes it that much more. </p>
<p>I think this is simply a societal norm. When I’ve gone on business trips with female coworkers, I’ve “accepted” sharing a room if it freed up money to go do something fun. I wouldn’t share a room with a male coworker; no one would expect me to. </p>
<p>I am not aware of mixed-gender locker rooms at health clubs / fitness facilities. How come those aren’t the norm? </p>
<p>^I can understand that. I’m having trouble coming up with a view on this myself. “Awkward” does not, in itself, seem like enough of a reason for me. </p>
<p>My father had some issues with opposite-gender roommates when my sister was away from home for her first undergraduate stint (now she is a part-time undergraduate night student, with an administrative assistant day job), but, since I would be looking at out-of-campus housing as a prospective PhD student, I have no issues with platonic relationships with opposite-gender roommates.</p>
<p>For my father, it’s a question of whether one is an undergraduate or a graduate student as to whether there is an issue about opposite-gender roommates, and undergraduates are, to his eyes, more immature than PhD students.</p>
<p>If you are sharing a traditional dorm room with someone of the opposite sex, how would one undress or change clothing when the two of you happened to be in the room? I just don’t think this makes much sense.</p>
<p>HarvestMoon1, all my same-sex roommates and myself never changed in the room when another roomie was there, we always changed in the bathroom anyway (we had bathrooms in our apartments/suites). But I don’t see it as a big deal either way, I wouldn’t particularly care about changing in front of a guy any more than I would a female roommate, and besides, they could just turn around</p>
<p>There is no way my girls would agree to room with a guy. I don’t think they would really want to share an apartment with men either. The only reason they would want to share an apartment (as oppose to having their own room) would be so they could get ready for parties with their friends. D2 is in the process of finding an apartment for 2015. I suggested maybe she would want to live by herself. It would be more expensive, but it would be less drama. She said, “But who would I have to get ready to go to parties (formals) with?”<br>
Not sure about other girls, but I know my girls like to walk around with very little on when they are getting ready to go out. Having guys around would cramp their style. This is not something we ever considered.
Most schools have 50-50 girls/boys, not sure why it is necessary to have gender neutral dorms, unless they are just trying to be hip. Growing up, I didn’t have to share a room with my brothers, why would my girls want to share a room with guys who are total strangers to them.<br>
Sometimes I think schools are trying too hard to be “politically correct.” </p>
<p>My son is fine with it. Daughter, never.</p>
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<p>What? I think what this thread is talking about is the students (by choice) living in one room with a person of the opposite gender. So… you are okay if your son decides to room with a girl, but not if your daughter decides to room with a guy. What kind of misogynist BS is that?</p>
<p>I think some same sex room-sharing roomies do change their clothes in front of each other, so that could be an issue with platonic opposite sex roomies. </p>
<p>I just don’t like the idea of romantic partners sharing an on-campus room because we all know how these relationships break-up at any given time. I would hate working in the Housing office trying to move all these broken relationships to other rooms…and who gets moved? The dumper or the dumpee?</p>
<p>OMG…lol…The Harrod Experiment…well, that was different</p>
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<li><p>Am still wondering IF there are any colleges that will randomly assign an opposite gendered roommate in a dorm environment. From what I’ve seen at my LAC which has had allowed for opposite gendered roommates since the late '60s, such arrangements are done on a voluntary opt-in basis by students interested in them. If you don’t opt in, you don’t get an opposite gendered roommate. What’s the issue, then?</p></li>
<li><p>In practice, opposite gendered roommates at my LAC tend to be assigned to “split-doubles” which effectively means both students get their own rooms. Only snag is the roommate with the room closest to the front door needs to put up with his/her roommate going through his/her room to exit/enter his/her room and the roommate furthest from the door needs to go through his/her roommate’s space to access the front door. </p></li>
<li><p>Not even roommates of the same gender are comfortable changing in their rooms due to issues ranging from shyness to lack of space to comfortably do so depending on amount of space and way it’s arranged. One can sometimes be surprised at how cramped and oddly configured some doubles/triples can be. For other students, this is a non-issue even with opposite gendered roommates. </p></li>
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<p>Merely living in the same dorm…even if same floor isn’t enough for this to be an issue. </p>
<p>On the other hand, haring mixed-gendered bathrooms when one’s at his/her worst while doing one’s business might be. </p>
<p>While my college classmates were pretty mellow about it for the most part, I have witnessed one instance of a bunch of college dudes running screaming in terror upon seeing college women leaving a nearby bathroom in bathrobes wearing mud masks at another college in the Boston area. </p>
<p>My friend and I did a double-take of those dudes before ROTFLOLing at them. </p>
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<p>Can’t think of any. Seems like the only time when it might happen (unintentionally from the college’s point of view) is if someone changes gender while living in a shared dorm room.</p>
<p>The idea of randomly assigning mixed-gender students to rooms would be crazy. It should be voluntary, and kids should pick who that person will be, but not a romantic situation.</p>
<p>“I wouldn’t particularly care about changing in front of a guy any more than I would a female roommate, and besides, they could just turn around”</p>
<p>But this is where I call bs. Go back to my work example. Your office goes on a business trip. You get to the hotel. There’s been a mix up and there aren’t enough rooms. Some of you are going to have to double up. No one is romantically involved, so remove that from the equation. The guys would pair up and the girls would pair up. Come on now. </p>
<p>The other reason I call bs is that there are societal norms against undressing in front of the opposite sex (unless you’re romantically involved). I have a husband, college age son, college age daughter. My H would undress in front of my son, and of course me, but not my daughter. I would undress in front of my daughter and of course H, but not my son. The kids would not undress in front of one another. If my D isn’t going to undress in front of her own brother, why would she undress in front of a male roommate (that she wasn’t involved with)? </p>
<p>I imagine that spouses/ SOs would NOT like the idea of opposite gender workers sharing a hotel room during a business trip. </p>
<p>My daughter lived with a guy, in a college dorm, not her freshman year, by choice. The room had a partial wall down the middle, and she had to walk through his half to get to the door and the bathroom (which they shared). He was (is) gay, and one of her best friends. I was fine with the arrangement. (I have no idea if every time she walked through she announced it – I never asked).</p>
<p>I wouldn’t want freshmen to be randomly assigned to mixed gender rooms. This might be a longterm goal, but I don’t think society is ready for that for several reasons. But I think if a sophomore/junior/senior guy and a girl decide they want to share a room, they should be allowed. </p>
<p>What if the university added a question to the freshmen roommate survey:" check here if you are OK rooming with someone of the opposite sex," and only matched those who checked the box? </p>
<p>Look this concept can work well in apartments or suite arrangements where there is some separation of living space and some privacy. I don’t think it is a workable arrangement for most people in your traditional dorm room. Besides the obvious privacy issues it is fraught with other potential problems - one roommate comes back to the room totally wasted from a party and encounters the other roommate (who happens to be very good looking) with little or no clothes on as he/she is changing……………… Just a recipe for disaster.</p>
<p>PG, how can you call BS on someone else’s comfort level? </p>
<p>I’m another who does not give a hoot about changing in front of anyone. I’ve changed in front of my male friends more than once. When I played on a coed basketball team, I had no problem changing in front of the guys. </p>
<p>OTOH, my first (female) roommate would never, ever change in front of me. If I was in the room, she’d go to the bathroom and change. </p>
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<p>I’ve vacationed with male friends before with my partner and he with female friends. Heck, I shared a bed with my best friend when I went down to visit him in Florida a month or so ago. Not only did my partner know, he’s the one that told me to do it because I don’t like sleeping alone! lol </p>
<p>My parents have also shared hotel rooms with opposite-gender people while on business or personal trips. No big deal.</p>
<p>To each his/her own. </p>
<p>The only thing I can say is don’t yuck someone else’s yum. Just because you don’t get it or it doesn’t work for you, doesn’t mean it can’t work for others. Do I think people should be forced into opposite-gender housing? No. Would I support my child if he/she made that choice? Yes. </p>