<p>When I visited URichmond, there seemed to be some things that were divided by gender, like the student government, and having two deans..for what seemed like to sustain the history of the women and men's college. I didn't know if this was a huge issue, but for some reason it didn't seem too appealing. Is it something that makes URichmond different or appealing? So far, this is my only concern for this university and was hoping for some insight from others choosing to go here, or do go here.</p>
<p>The two things you listed - the separate deans and student governments - are really the only thing affected by the coordinate college system. I don’t know why it would be seen as a bad thing. The way I think about it is that it allows students a closer relationship with their dean (because they only have half of the student body to deal with) and allows twice as many positions on student government.</p>
<p>Up until 2002, the women were on the Westhampton side of the lake (D-hall’s side) and the men were on the Richmond College side (where most of the academic buildings are). The coordinate system is set up to allow the most opportunities for student leadership and to focus on the unique needs for men and women. Having a dean’s office to cater to the genders is another thing that sets UR apart from other schools and help make it unique. I think it helps with the individual attention, as the staff of the dean’s office only have 1/2 the population to worry about.</p>
<p>As a personal example of the benefit of unique deans, I was having some girl issues my freshman year and was really allowing it to affect other parts of my life. I was called into the dean’s office about grades and shared my experience with the dean. He was able to relate to the issue and openly talked about his past as well. As much as I like Dean Landphair (Westhampton College Dean), I wouldn’t have felt comfortable sharing those issues with her, just as I’m sure women wouldn’t feel as freely to discuss any issues with the RC dean.</p>
<p>Here’s just a quick read on the coordinate system for you. [University</a> of Richmond: Richmond College, Coordinate System](<a href=“http://rc.richmond.edu/aboutus/coordinatesystem.html]University”>http://rc.richmond.edu/aboutus/coordinatesystem.html) Just curious though as to why you didn’t think having separate deans and governments sounded appealing.</p>
<p>Thank you kelliebm and Spiders05. I can see how the two deans and expanded oppertunities for student leadership are advantageous for students.</p>
<p>Mainly, I didn’t see it as a benefit for the same reason, as an extreme example, I wouldn’t prefer a single-ed institution. Integration of gender seems more realistic as it allows for interactions and competitions that will likely be faced after school college.</p>