<p>fatherofthe boarder, read about the recent flap at Davidson when they lost or were threatened with the loss substantial funding over their lack of enough Christianity. I can't remember precisely but I believe a major donor (John Belk Trust if I remember right) pulled funding (or threatened to) over removal of a plank that required a majority of something (the board? The faculty?) to be Christian.</p>
<p>I think you'll see that your charectorization, while technically correct, is a bit off base. </p>
<p>For the record- My D's school, also Presbyterian and in the south, does not warrant a Southern Christian College moniker either.</p>
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I can't remember precisely but I believe a major donor (John Belk Trust if I remember right) pulled funding (or threatened to) over removal of a plank that required a majority of something (the board? The faculty?) to be Christian.
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<p>Not the majority. To serve on the Board, period... No Jews.</p>
<p>A young man I know well is a freshman at Wesleyan. He called me his first day on campus to tell me about the co-ed bathrooms. He said, "Mrs. kelsmom, it's just going to be too weird to be at the sink shaving while some hot girl is doing her business in the stall next to me!" A couple weeks later he emailed to tell me it wasn't an issue, because he says there aren't any hot girls at Wes! :) My apologies to those with ties to young ladies at Wes ---I'm sure they are just fine. It just struck me as funny.</p>
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Recently, Davidson College, a small LAC in a tony town outside of Charlotte, voted to allow coed housing.
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<p>No it didn't based on the information you provided because</p>
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The committee voted to recommend the proposal to President Bobby Vagt
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CCRL is a committee of students, staff and faculty that makes policy recommendations to the president.
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<p>Everybody, and anybody, can make recommendations to the president of a school. That doesn't mean that it becomes school policy. Did the President accept the recommendation?</p>
<p>I just want to say that the three girls I know currently at Wesleyan (friends of my kids) could all be characterized as "hot". In a classy, preppy way, of course.</p>
<p>tsdad -- your skepticism is noticed and answered.</p>
<p>Davidson will have co-ed housing for a test period. From their newspaper on February 21, 2007:</p>
<p>* President Bobby Vagt and Dean of Students Tom Shandley agreed on Fri. to pass the co-ed housing resolution with a stipulation that the policy be reviewed after two years.</p>
<p>"Having talked to lots of students and recognizing some reservations, we're going to implement for a two-year trial period the recommendations of the CCRL," Vagt said. "The only reason is that it forces us to take a look at it and see if it's working."</p>
<p>The Committee on Campus and Religious Life (CCRL) had submitted the proposal to Vagt and Shandley on Feb. 7. The committee voted to recommend the proposal to Vagt with a stipulation that the coed living application process include a clarifying waiver.</p>
<p>This waiver will clarify what the Residence Life Office (RLO) can and cannot do to address awkward situations that may arise from men and women living together.</p>
<p>Groups will have to sign this waiver to be eligible.</p>
<p>Richmond Blake '09, who led the effort to bring co-ed housing to Davidson, was pleased with the decision.</p>
<p>"The new co-ed housing measures ensure that students will have the option to live in the most appropriate and comfortable living arrangements for their varying situations," Blake said.</p>
<p>"I am just happy to have been able to work on this issue through SGA, and I look forward to the benefits it will have on our campus."
*</p>
<p>I don't have a strong opinion either way regarding the bathroom situation, but why did some schools decide to switch to co-ed bathrooms in the first place? Don't most dorm halls usually have two bathrooms? I can't imagine the students were clamoring to go the co-ed route (or were they?).
Just wondering--</p>
<p>but why did some schools decide to switch to co-ed bathrooms in the first place</p>
<p>I am only guessing, but some of the reasons might have been that it was easier just for everyone to use the same family style bathroom, rather than to have discussions about GLBT students and which bathroom was more appropriate .</p>
<p>If there are two bathrooms, one at each end of the floor, and you can go to the one that is closest- that would be easier as well.</p>
<p>tsdad -- please understand that I am not seeking to start a crusade.</p>
<p>For the record -- I am not opposed to the concept of coed roommates. It is novel, but the responses shown on this site prove to me that it is an evolving and growing concern on many campuses. Davidson, which is not considered one of more liberal colleges, caught my attention as it is leading the charge (with noted others) on this issue. </p>
<p>I started this thread as I am legitimately curious to hear other people's opinions. </p>
<p>My dorm living conditions (now 30 years removed) were very open -- 80% was coed by room and all but four dorms had coed bathrooms. In fact, after visiting schools with daughter, I noticed the bathroom and room division to be less coed than when I attended. At that time, and still, I wonder if the difference is my college or the times. Have schools become more conservative about accomodations? Or, was my school outside of the norm then (and today) as it remains more "coed" than the schools that I visited in 2005-2006?</p>
<p>I don't think you're on a crusade. Sharing bathrooms is not my idea of romance. </p>
<p>The ideas that males, especially young men, have about women generally do not include an interest in or knowledge of female bodily functions. Coed bathroom will probably lead to a decline in sexual interest by males in females as realities replace fantasies.</p>
<p>The issue presented is not for coed bathrooms alone. That issue is already 30+ years old. I never resided in a dorm that did not have coed bathrooms. And, I was out of college in the 1970's.</p>
<p>The new and unique issue is that your roommate can be of the opposite gender. That is a very interesting development. A school like Davidson, which does have stronger connections to the Christian faith than many of its peer LACs, will permit this cohabitation to occur -- so long as the waiver forms are signed . . . The fact that a Wesleyan or Dartmouth may be doing the same is not as surprising to me. But, I am not young enough to claim that I am not a little surprised at this development.</p>
<p>I wonder, would such a development dissuade parents from looking at colleges that provide such housing accomodations? Would parents prohibit their children from enrolling in such a school? I personally have an opinion that it does not. Heck, the cohabitation in college dorms is a fact -- just not sanctioned by the administration. </p>
<p>I (and probably the colleges which are addressing this issue) are curious to know how the parents perceive this "official" change in college campus dorm living.</p>
<p>Coed bathroom evolution had nothing to do with GLBT issues. They've existed since the early 1970s when dorms first started going co-ed - hardly anyone was talking about gay issues then. I know in my dorm it was simply what was easiest for the students. The floor was co-ed and there was only one communal bathroom on the floor. Showers and toilets had doors. I never thought it was a big deal.</p>
<p>I didn't share the Wesleyan story to share an insult. I shared it because it reminded me that in college, the students who live together in close quarters like that find each other much less of a mystery. The same girl who would be hot if she went to some other school becomes much less so when she is your bathroom-mate! In other words, I sense that the co-ed bathroom situation is lessening the mystery of the other sex!! Problem with posting: things tend to get lost in the translation.</p>