<p>Same question as in the harvard forum:</p>
<p>I'm a very liberal educated European so it's not that obvious for me if there are any policies on living with someone of different sex, so are there?
Are there whole dormitories for only one gender or is it well mixed.
If divided is it by floor, house, room etc?</p>
<p>Thanks for information.</p>
<p>You cannot have a roomate of the other gender, most rooms at columbia are single rooms, some students have single rooms all four years, so if you want to live with a someone from the opposite sex it's your business. If you have a double room, your roomate might mind if your partner is over all the time. very few floors in certain dorms are single sex, some dorms have co-ed bathrooms. No dormitory is single sex.</p>
<p>i'd like to add that suites are coed but individual rooms may not be....with the exception of some apartment style housing senior year.</p>
<p>A ROOM is not co-ed. However, there are small two-bedroom apartments - in East Campus and in Watt - where two people of opposite genders may share the apartment.</p>
<p>In practice, sometimes two couples will have the guys take a double and the girls take a double, and move in with their significant others anyway. Or if someone has a big single, their gfs will practically live at their place.</p>
<p>single-sex housing constitutes one floor in carman for first-year girls, one half-floor in carman for first-year guys, and one floor each for upperclass students (the girls' is in Wien i believe). there's certainly nothing widespread, there are just a few requests each year that Housing tries to accommodate.</p>
<p>No offense, but...</p>
<p>Why does everybody consider people of opposite genders living with each other being a couple or in a relationship?
Is it impossible in the US just to live with friends of opposite genders?
The standard student living community in Berlin is two girls and two guys, since residential colleges are very uncommon, and that works perfectly. I think it's an enrichment to live with people of different gender and to manage to work as a community.</p>
<p>Bottom line: Is it that uncommon that people of opposite genders live with each other not being a couple or more than just friends? Why? What's the big deal?</p>
<p>"Is it that uncommon that people of opposite genders live with each other not being a couple or more than just friends? Why? What's the big deal?"</p>
<p>european cultures are far more liberal than american, try pulling this off in a developing country in asia and people will think you're from a different planet.</p>
<p>in us college there is plenty of interaction, but guys and girls just don't live in the same room unless they're a couple, they might live in the same hallway, might live in the same suite and so interaction is high, but the line is drawn at rooming together. no big deal just a more conservative culture.</p>
<p>When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
I can live with that.</p>
<p>As I said, I didn't want to offend or judge anybody for his countries conservatism, I guess most people at CC and especially at CU aren't that happy about it anyway. So I was just curious if it might be different in a place like CU. After all it's not that important at all, as I said, just curious.</p>
<p>^actually noone complains about how housing is set up, they all seem quite content, when their same-sex vs opposite sex interaction, they might complain about facilities but that's a different story. disciplinary and social rules and regulations at columbia are amongst the best of any university. It's pretty free.</p>
<p>I meant that most CU students aren't happy about the average american attitude (don't want to universalize anything...^^) not about the rules about housing. As I said, that's not a big deal and I totally believe you that CU is a very liberal place, probably among the most liberal places in the whole country.</p>
<p>For a guy, the only reason to live with a girl is if you get to, um, @#$% her. Besides that, girls are a total pain to live with. I was in Hartley-Wallach co-ed suites where guys and girls shared a bathroom, and having girls use the bathroom meant 100 bottles of makeup/lotion/other crap all over the bathroom, them hogging the showers/sinks forever when you needed to get going, them complaining about pee on the bowl / not putting the seat down, etc.</p>
<p>Also, when you put guys and girls in the same room, there's going to be inevitable sexual tension.</p>
<p>I think any sane person would complain about pee on the bowl.</p>
<p>I think it's a good experience for a guy to live with girls even though there is no sexual relationship. I really don't think that "the only reason for a guy to live with a girl is if you get to **** her." Why can't you live with female friend just like you live with a male friend. And nobody would force you to live with a girl, it's still your choice. I'm not talking about hypothetical scenarios, even though I'm still a high school student, I've lived with girls for a few weeks and I know many university students that live in gender-mixed living communities - more than students that live in either boy's or girl's living communities. I personally had always more female friends without having any sexual relationship with them - and btw I'm not gay.
I don' see any reason to reduce the interaction between guys and girls to sex.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I think any sane person would complain about pee on the bowl.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>It's a fact of life that guys pee on the bowl. I'm not talking about some drunk dude peeing all over the bowl, but, rather, the inevitable traces that "miss the basket" due to the physics of doing your business standing up (particularly in the morning. </p>
<p>
[quote]
I don' see any reason to reduce the interaction between guys and girls to sex.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Guys living with girls is different than guys being friends with girls. Guys think girls are annoying to live with. Girls think guys are annoying to live with. But guys and girls are often friends.</p>
<p>Yeah, but you could at least clean it up</p>
<p>
[quote]
Yeah, but you could at least clean it up
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Do you clean the sink every time you brush your teeth and spit into the sink?</p>
<p>Yes</p>
<p>............</p>
<p>With a paper towel? With cleaning substances?</p>
<p>Well, you're generalizing. I know for a fact that
1. not all boys think girls are annoying to live with
2. not all girls think boys are annoying to live with
3. not all boys pee standing up, what's the point anyway, there's no advantage and for a bigger business you have to sit down anyway.</p>
<p>OK, first of all, Setarkos, go watch When Harry Met Sally. The thesis of that movie, which is rather well argued, is that straight guys and girls CAN'T be "just friends" if they're close. There is inevitable sexual tension and sooner or later things happen. Plus Billy Crystal is hysterical so you won't be wasting your time.</p>
<p>Secondly, you say you're just trying to understand the culture, but phrasing things like this makes you sound very judgmental:
[quote]
Why does everybody consider people of opposite genders living with each other being a couple or in a relationship?
Is it impossible in the US just to live with friends of opposite genders?
[/quote]
[quote]
I really don't think that "the only reason for a guy to live with a girl is if you get to **** her." Why can't you live with female friend just like you live with a male friend.
[/quote]
regardless of whether you're right or not, you're being argumentative.</p>
<p>Living in an apartment together is very different from sharing a room. It's not an issue of sharing a bathroom or sharing a kitchen, it's an issue of sharing living space. Of having to go to bed at the same time, listen to music together, study, of spreading out your belongings and how messy your room is. That's what we're talking about.</p>
<p>Columbia lets guys and girls share apartments. They don't let them be roommates in a double room. That's the distinction I think you may be missing here.</p>
<p>Yes, I'm being argumentative. At first I was asking a question and got the information I wanted, then I was discussing and making a point, but I think here are just slightly different opinions that won't change, so I appreciate that you answered my question and I don't have any problem with other people's opinions.</p>