Imagine for a moment that you're in a dorm
bathroom, just stepping out of the shower. You
adjust your towel to cover the necessary parts,
and as you look up, the cutie down the hall is
standing inches from you. You've lusted after your
neighbor's hot body for months, and now you've
finally met — in the bathroom.
Increasingly, schools are allowing male and female
students to share bathrooms, suites, and in some
cases, individual rooms. If you struggle to resist
sexual urges on a club dance floor, or at a party,
imagine sharing a room with someone of the
opposite sex. Schools like Haverford College in
Pennsylvania, Wesleyan University in Connecticut,
and Hampshire College in Massachusetts have
already adopted liberal housing policies, whereas
Tufts University, located outside Boston, recently
rejected the idea.
Nick D'Avella, a senior at Haverford, says, "I've
been sharing a bathroom with women since my
freshman year, and now I am living in an apartment
with a woman. It's so not a big deal; it's
ridiculous. I'm really surprised everyone outside
the college (including a bunch of alums) seem to
see this as an easy way for college kids to have
sex or something."
Coed living forces everyone to be sensitive to
hygiene and cleanliness issues, as the presence of
a mere bathtub hairball can spark a bathroom war.
Junior Thea Pratt at Wesleyan recalls how her dorm
floor had both a coed bathroom and singlesex
facilities, and boys were requested to use the
urinal only in their bathroom. Some even use
special signals to request privacy in the
bathroom, like a secret door handle decoration or
magnet.
Signs are useful for reminding suitemates to
remove hair from the drain, or wipe toothpaste
from the sink, although they can seem immature.
Haverford senior Erin Armstrong notes that some
suites at her school have had locks installed, an
easy way to create a sense of privacy.
The obvious drawback of coed living arrangements
is that some students will inevitably choose to
live with a significant other, leaving residence
administrators to sort out bitter breakups.
Haverford junior Rob Barry thinks, "If people are
stupid enough to take advantage of this freedom by
living with a significant other, then frankly it's
better if they make the mistake while still in
college rather than out in the real world." Living
with a significant other might be great at the
outset, but once an argument erupts, coming home
will seem like a nightmare.
D'Avella knew some couples whose relationship
soured midyear, and says, "Some of them deal with
it fine (the breakup — the actual dating isn't
really a problem) and for some it's messy. You
just deal with it. Kind of like if you suddenly
start hating your best friend that you live with I
guess...just work something out and get through
the year." Unless the residential life department
ships one of you out, it's probably best to just
confront the situation and work out a truce.
Wesleyan has a decidedly mature approach to its
coed policy, essentially disclaiming
responsibility for sorting out students' bad
decisions. The school's residential life office
says bluntly that "a male and female student can
choose to live together," implying that the school
really doesn't mind either way. Of course, this
liberal approach is no surprise coming from the
only school with an official Cunt Club.
Anyone considering living in a coed room should
first weigh the problems that might arise, and
whether you are ready to put up with annoying
bathroom or bedroom habits. Living with the
opposite sex is usually great, just as long as you
use some common sense.
Brock McCormack lives with two women, and he
loves it.
