Student Life Committee discusses co-ed rooms

SLC discusses restrictions on co-ed room proposal

The Student Life Committee (SLC) was planning to meet today with President Nancy Dye to discuss a restrictive section of the co-ed dorm rooms proposal that was passed as a recommendation last month.

Dye was planning to attend the SLC meeting today. She said that she was not requesting SLC to reconsider the vote. Dye plans to consult with SLC members concerning the section of the proposal.

Different members of the SLC have explained the status of the proposal in very different ways. Some have said a proposal has passed already while others have said there was no vote on it.

In the section of the proposal that was recommended, it states that no student under 18 years old would be allowed to share a room with a person of another sex. The proposal also stated that only students who request them would live in co-ed rooms.

Before the proposal becomes College policy, it must also be approved by the General Faculty (GF) and by the Board of Trustees.

Dean of Student Life and Services Charlene Cole said that SLC proposals are sometimes impulsive and the full impact of the proposal is not considered. "I talked to the committee lately about refocusing," said Cole-Newkirk. She also said that she didn't think SLC members took into consideration parents, alumni, trustees, or a sense of how all students feel about coed room when they passed the section of the proposal.

Cole, however, said, "I'm not saying it won't happen."

Student Senator Melissa Prager, a college sophomore, said concerning Dye's request to consult with SLC members, "Why are we reviewing something we already passed?"

At today's meeting, Dye is planning to review the section of the proposal that was passed. If SLC members decide to reconsider the section that passed, two-thirds of the committee must vote to reconsider or the proposal will go on to the GF, a body consisting of all members of the college and Conservatory faculties.

The SLC includes six faculty, five students, and five staff members. vIf two-thirds of the committee votes in favor of a reconsideration, the original proposal will be voted on again. To stay alive, it would need a simple majority.

Andreas Pape, a sophomore Senator and SLC member, said that if GF approves the proposal, the Board of Trustees would have the right to review the decision.

Pape said he believed that the SLC had passed a co-ed rooms proposal at its March 8 meeting and that Dye was asking the committee to reconsider.

Pape said he believes that the trustees would review the proposal if it passed GF.

Pape also said that he found out about Dye's request to reconsider only through the agenda of the upcoming meeting. He called the request "vague" and said that perhaps students members of the committe had been uninformed intentionally. Pape said that he was unsure of the probable outcome of the meeting."On one hand, President Dye is well respected and because of that the faculty might change their minds. On the other hand, the faculty feels they have said.

"[If] enough student committee members show up, then there could be enough votes in favor of the proposal [at the meeting today]," Pape said.

Another committee member, Gloria White, associate dean of Student Academic Services, said that personally she was opposed to co-ed rooms on campus. She cited a lack of appropriate facilities as a reason. "The facilities don't lend themselves [to co-ed]. Perhaps with changes in facilities in the future it may be possible," White said.

She pointed to facilities at institutions outside of Oberlin as an example of appropriate facilities.

"Housing units at other institutions have partitions with doors that lock. A co-ed room is different, because it is considered a common space that can't just be partitioned like a housing unit," White said.

Cole-Newkirk also said that the structures were not designed for co-ed rooms. She said that Oberlin was stuck where it was 20 years ago, referring to housing options available to students. She mentioned apartments and town houses as options other schools have adopted to meet students' housing needs.

According to Cole-Newkirk, two to three housing professionals will consult with Residential Life next week.