By Margie Shetterly
As Lynchburg College ends its era of “Separation of the Sexes,” characterized by cross-campus hikes to visit members of the opposite sex, it must prepare itself for a new mode of living — one of coed dorms.
Throughout the country, numerous universities and colleges have experimented with coed living. Attempting to promote more honest and healthy relations between the sexes, schools have shed their Victorian policies and have adopted new coed dorm policies. These policies range from the more conservative policies that designate specific floors for men and women residents to those that permit men and women to live on the same hall and, in some schools, share suites.
A variety of opinions have surfaced with the advent of coed dorms. While most residents of the coed dorms agree that this new living situation creates a more honest, caring attitude between the sexes and promotes genuine friendships outside the dating scene, this new beauty of college living does have some beastly flaws.
Privacy, an infrequent visitor to college students who share a room, can become a total stranger in a coed living situation. Roommates must acknowledge and respect each other’s privacy rights, or at least the right to privacy from members of the opposite sex. A disasterous example of this lack of consideration surfaced in the form of a lawsuit. A college coed took her roommate and her boyfriend to court on charges of invasion of privacy after she was continually “kicked out” of her room.
Traditionally, men’s dorms have been louder and rowdier than women’s dorms. In coed dorms, a compromise between two different lifestyles is essential to any hall and dorm harmony. Again, the fundamental point is consideration, spiced with a bit of compromise.
Dorm damage is a vital issue in the coed dorm question. At least on this campus, dorm destruction and damage are more widespread in the men’s dorms. While the argument that the presence of females in a daily living situation will stop much of the rampant destruction that plagues the men’s dorms may prove to be correct, one cannot blame the Administration for hesitating in their decision to convert women’s dorms into coed dorms.
Hopefully, Lynchburg College students will be responsible and mature enough to recognize and resolve these problems of coed living. If successful, coed dorms can make a student’s career at Lynchburg College an “education for living” where a mature atmosphere of respect, consideration, and friendship prevails, regardless of one’s sex. The future of coed dorms at Lynchburg College depends on the students.Link to full issue: https://www.virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=COG19741113
