<p>John Garvey, President of The Catholic University in Washington, D.C. , explains why all C.U. freshmen will live in single-sex dorms this fall (and eventually none of the university's residence halls will be coed): John</a> Garvey: Why We're Going Back to Single-Sex Dorms - WSJ.com </p>
<p>I never thought I'd be old enough (or stuffy enough) to agree, but I also believe that single-sex dorms are a good idea ... if not for an entire university, at least for freshmen and sophomores. </p>
<p>I think that, aside from the reasons that Garvey presents in this article (less binge drinking, fewer accidents, even less depression that has been linked to sexual "hook ups", etc.), single-sex dorms provide a sense of community that coed dorms are less likely to offer and which can be especially valuable in the first year or two of college.</p>
<p>Well of course he’d want single sex dorms. </p>
<p>Some schools have single sex dorms for girls if they want it, but it shouldn’t be forced on everyone. College students are legally adults and don’t need to be shielded from the opposite sex like Puritans.</p>
<p>I agree. Being around the opposite sex is an important part of college life. I think it should be an option for sure, but we’re all adults here.</p>
<p>I think it should definitely be an option, but it shouldn’t be forced on people. I thoroughly enjoyed living in a coed dorm, even though I didn’t participate in the “binge drinking and casual hook up” aspect of college.<br>
I wouldn’t like having a roommate of the opposite gender, but I liked the opportunity to have discussions with them in the laundry room, while waiting for the elevator, etc. I met some amazing people doing that and wouldn’t trade it for the world.</p>
<p>It’s part of college life, agreed. I don’t think my college has any single-sex dorms. I couple of other colleges I applied to had that. One just had that option for girls (one dorm for it, none of those single-sex ones for boys though), and another had most dorms as single-sex dorms (it was a Catholic university too).</p>
<p>That article shows a simple mix up of cause and effect. It assumes that single-sex dorms cause students to not drink or hook up as much. But, who is it to say that students who are less inclined to drink and hookup aren’t just attracted to these dorms? For all we know, the fact that there is less “shenanigans” at single-sex dorms is purely attributable to the type of students that choose those styles of dorms. There is no proof that forces students who like to part into these dorms would change their partying ways.</p>
<p>As for the point of Women being depressed after having multiple partners partners. Who says that these women weren’t already depressed, and took on partners in hopes of possibly cheering up?</p>
<p>The author is mixing up correlation and causality.</p>
Well I agree single sex and coed dorms form communities that most students would find different … I don’t agree that single sex dorms are necessarily the better option. As a male who has always had more female close friends than male friends forcing me to live in a single sex dorm would have diminshed my dorm experience … of that I am very sure.</p>
<p>Frankly, I think a much more interesting discussion is to be had about which is a better set-up … having all freshman dorms … or having dorms of mixed years.</p>
<p>I moved into an all-female dorm for my second year in the dorms and it was a much better experience. I’d never go back, and I had always been that girl in a group of guys up until I had that experience. Single sex was still the way to go-- and it had nothing to do with hook ups or anything like that. Just a much more pleasant environment.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine not living in coed dorms…I go to UChicago, and in our dorm even the bathrooms are coed. It’s never been a problem and provides a nice balance.</p>
<p>Oh hell no. I don’t get along with girls that well and I was constantly on the guys’ floor (even when my ex and I were still together and he didn’t live at my U). Plus, I might not have met my current bf had we not been in the same residential college… which wouldn’t be possible in a single sex dorm. (Despite all my time on the guys’ floor, I still managed to be a 3.8+ gpa student who has never been that drunk nor had a random hook-up… hmm…)</p>
<p>If I wanted to live in an all-girls dorm, I would have chosen that option. But I would never do that to myself. Hell, if I had it my way, I probably would have had a male roommate.</p>
<p>Given that my group of friends leans toward being slightly more males than females, I don’t think that single-sex dorms would have been good for my social development in college. I tend to hang out with a nerdier crowd of geeks and gamers, which tends to be more male in composition. </p>
<p>Realistically, I also think that college is a place where a lot of people find their future spouses. I don’t know that limiting those interactions would be very conducive to allowing people to develop those kinds of relationships, though I do know that they managed to develop back when college housing was still segregated by gender. </p>
<p>I do think that single-sex dorms should be an option, though it seems that logistically there tends to only be female-only options as opposed to the other way around.</p>
<p>It’s hard to pick my favorite flawed quote of the article, so I’m picking this entire paragraph:
“The point about sex is no surprise. The point about drinking is. I would have thought that young women would have a civilizing influence on young men. Yet the causal arrow seems to run the other way. Young women are trying to keep up—and young men are encouraging them (maybe because it facilitates hooking up).”</p>
<p>Really?..People are still listening to this man?</p>
<p>And what about the statistic that says that people in single sex dorms are less likely to drink? Of course they are. Girls who choose the single sex dorm are more likely to be religious, have more than average influence on them from their parents, or be too focused on their schoolwork to want to deal with the whole co-ed thing…Of course they drink less and have fewer sexual partners. It’s the people that choose the residence hall, not how the residence hall makes the people.</p>
<p>From freshman year I had a group of eight close friends including myself. Half boys, half girls, all in the same dorm but the guys lived on a different floor. Now, one girl other girl and three of the guys are still close enough for me to consider them my best friends. The two other girls in the group ended up rooming together sophomore year and drama ensued. They tried to get us to take sides, but me and the other girl simply went with the guy side of not getting involved in petty ****.</p>
<p>I personally would not like to have to deal with copious amounts of “girl drama” when I go to college in the fall. I’m very excited about the fact that I’m going to have guys on my floor - not because I’m interested in drinking a lot or hooking up with them, but because I’ll probably get along with them better than my female suitemates. Also, guys don’t get PMS. I need them around incase my roommate does.</p>
<p>In a way this topic can be considered a bit controversial. Of course we are all adults once we entered university, but most are young adults who is inevitably vulnerable to peer pressure and hormones. However, these adults should be the ones to assess if they want to practice safe sex first and be in a single-sex dorms, which I also think better for most young people.</p>
It seems to me a lot of people think coed dorms lead to lots of sex between the people in the dorm … in my experience I think for most people it works the other way. Having all single sex dorms sets up the other sex as “them” over there who need to sought out. Instead I believe for most poeple having coed dorms takes a lot of the sexuality out of the female-male relationships. Did I meet people in my dorm in which I was interested while I was in college absolutley a few … but I also met a ton of women each year who were like my sisters (dating them would have been weird and any male that crossed them had a h*** of a lot of “brothers” with which they would have to deal). I think coed dorms help reduce the split across the sexes and helps most people become more comfortable and natural with the opposite sex. IMO schools should provide both options so students can pick the option they prefer.</p>
<p>There should be a choice for both. Although some girls might like the idea of living co-ed, others need and want their privacy and certainly should not be denied it.</p>
<p>Well, personally, I’m not planning on drinking or having any random hookups (I don’t think my boyfriend would like that too much), but I absolutely chose a co-ed dorm to live in. I don’t get along well with a lot of girls, whereas, as long as a guy isn’t Super-******, I tend to get along with him.</p>
<p>I’ve had my fair share of spending time with girls… I did Varsity Cheerleading for four years, and although I got along with most of the girls, I only would have been able to spend an extended amount of time with a couple of them.</p>
<p>I’m actually really nervous about my suitemates. They’re both from my rival high school and they don’t seem to be the types I’d get along with, but we’ll see.</p>