What’s all the ruckus about coed dorms?
The president of Catholic University was in the news today announcing that the school would begin to phase out coed dorms and resort to the “old fashioned” way of living: single sex dormitories. The school has decided to take these measures as a means to battling “binge drinking and casual hook-ups.”
Hmm, this reminds me of that moment when I was younger and my mom said “don’t touch the stove” and of course, if you tell a toddler not to do something, they’re instantly on a mission to do the complete opposite — just to see what will happen.
But back to the topic at hand: segregating the guys from the girls won’t necessarily stop the casual hook-ups and binge drinking. That’s partially what college is all about! (Well that and your education of course!)
So it won’t matter if you have to go across the hall or across the campus; students are going to continue to drink & hook up as they please.
But I digress. I suppose there are a few pros and cons to having coed dorms.
Pros:
- gender neutral dorms promote a more LGBT-friendly campus.
- couples have the option of co-habitating
- coed dorms promote a more communal feel to campus living (uh, not sure of anyone’s noticed but the single sex homes aren’t doing too well in the real estate market. That was a joke by the way.)
Cons:
- More hooking up (yeah right)
- Binge drinking (um, have you ever been to a frat party? Those guys can drink until they can’t feel their toes: no girls necessary!)
- Safety: perhaps school admins are fearful of “domestic” violence issues increasing with guys & girls living together
- Enforcement: having single sex dorms would obviously require extra security/ or RAs. Some one would need to monitor the dorms at all times to make sure that people aren’t sneaking in.
So here’s my biggest issue: You can’t request to live in a single sex neighborhood, or to work with only girls or only guys when looking for a job, so why make dorms that way?
If colleges are supposed to prepare us for the “real world,” why are some of these institutions so against the norms of the real world? If you ask me, transitioning from coed dorms to single sex dorms is backwards, and anti-progressive. What do you think?