Thursday, October 13,1994
Is co-ed living an option
on Penn State campuses?
by Alicia Hartman
Co-Editor
It has always bothered me that
on campus males can live
together and females can live
together, but that a male and
female can NOT live together.
I view this as a form of
heterosexual discrimination.
If you recall, most material
that Penn State publishes has a
particular statement at the end of
it Part of this statement reads:
"...The Pennsylvania State
University does not discriminate
against any person because of
age, ancestry, color, disability or
handicap, national origin, race,
religious creed, sex, sexual
orientation, or veteran status..."
If Penn State does not
discriminate against sexual
orientation, why doesn't it allow
men and women to room
together?
James Bowen, manager of
Housing and Foods Service at
Behrend, said there is no written
policy stating that men and
women can not live together.
Reading through Behrend's
"Term, Conditions, and
Regulations" for fall 1994
through summer 1995, I found
nothing pertaining to a gender
requirement for roommates.
Bowen said it's just
"traditionally known that we
don't have co-ed residence halls."
I'm sure when on-campus
housing was created males lived
only with males and females
only with females because of
"the sex thing." However today
sex is going to happen no matter
who's living with who, what
gender they are, or what sexual
orientation they have.
At Behrend the suites alternate
male/female, and in Niagara and
Lawrence Halls there are two
floors of women and one Soar of
men. This is as close to "co-ed"
housing as it gets.
Bowen said that some colleges
in the West have co-ed
residential arrangements, but
doesn't "feel it would be well
accepted in the Bast." Park) is "family housing."
My question is, what if you're However, to be eligible for this
engaged, married or just very housing you must have children
close with someone of the (it does not matter whether you
opposite sex and you want to
live on campus? The answer:
you can't
The only other alternative on
campus housing arrangement
offered in die Penn State system
(and only available at University
are married or single).
My problem with "family
housing" is that numerous
definitions of family do NOT
include children. (More
discrimination here!) "Family”
can also be defined as those
people living in the same
household, those related by
ancestry or marriage or people
who share similar features.
I think not allowing men and
women to live together is a form
of heterosexual discrimination
because two men or two women
who are committed to each other
ARE permitted to live together.
This is permissible for
homosexuals but not for
heterosexual? Is this not
discrimination based on sexual
orientation?
I believe that colleges and
universities which do not
currently offer co-ed housing
should do so or at least try it.
My idea of co-ed housing is not
a total overhaul of existing
residential arrangements, but
rather a modification.
Upper classmen living quarters
such as apartments should
definitely be made co-ed (not that
everyone has to or wants to live
like this). Dorms could perhaps
be one-fifth co-ed and four-fifths
male/male or female/female.
Making dorms co-ed may be
more difficult because parents of
younger-age college students
may disagree with the idea and
not send their "children" to a
school that has co-ed housing.
Some people may ask what do
you do if the couple terminates
its relationship? The answer:
follow the same procedure that
already exists for roommate
conflict If you think about it,
the same types of problems can
arise in homosexual
relationships in which two men
or two women are living
together.
If co-ed housing was available,
more students may decide to live
on campus. It all depends on a
college's culture and if it wants
more students living on campus.
Without a written policy
stating that men and women
can't live together, heterosexuals
should fight for co-ed housing.
Isn't it a right they have?
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