Co-ed housing debate lingers as semester ends

After months of debate, the furor surounding co-ed housing ended with no definite decision being made by the Student Life Committee (SLC) or Dean of Student Life and Services Charlene Cole-Newkirk on the Student Senate co-ed housing proposal.

Dye said she will discuss with the Board of Trustees where the Senate proposal is and the difficulties with that proposal. She said that she will also begin a conversation about reconfiguring housing on campus.

Two years ago, Student Senate drafted a proposal to allow roommates of opposite gender to live together in divided doubles and quads, provided both roommates were 18 and requested such a housing arrangement. Last year the Senate proposal passed the Housing and Dining Committee.

This spring, after the SLC passed the recommendations to the proposal, Dye and Cole-Newkirk asked to meet with SLC at its April 5 meeting to discuss the proposal.

At that meeting, it was agreed that Cole-Newkirk would draft a co-ed housing proposal that could possibly be implemented without approval from the General Faculty (GF). Cole-Newkirk agreed to present her proposal to the SLC after it was drafted for discussion and advice.

At the meeting, SLC members realized that because no rule exists preventing roommates of opposite gender from living together, co-ed housing of some kind could be implemented without passage through GF and the Board of Trustees.

Co-ed speak-out: Students listen to speakers at the Senate sponsored co-ed speak-out on May 2. (photo by Michelle Becker)

Dye and Cole-Newkirk have spoken out against the Senate plan, citing its sense of immediacy and lack of consultation with many different Oberlin constituencies, such as alumni, as reasons why it is not ready for implementation.

Cole-Newkirk said the decision to implement co-ed housing should include input from different committees and communities including the Parents' Council, the Board of Trustees and varying alumni. According to Cole-Newkirk, who graduated from Oberlin in 1973, the alumni are split, mainly by generation, "The ones before '63 were mainly opposed," said Cole-Newkirk. "The ones from [my time here] were for it, the '80's were against it and the more recent years were for it." She also said that the parents' council expressed concern about the idea.

Dye and Cole-Newkirk had both expressed that a plan for co-ed living is feasible, but want one which would take into account strategic issues dealing with the meaning of co-education at Oberlin and a discussion of what Oberlin accomplishes as a residential college.

The proposal Cole-Newkirk developed calls for a reconfiguration of Noah or South Hall into a collection of 6, 7, 9, 11 and 13-person suites. The proposal deals with the specifics the interior of such housing would entail, and concludes, "This is an important component in the College's long-range planning process, jointly embarked upon by faculty, staff and trustees."

Since Cole-Newkirk's plan would involve renovating residence halls, the Trustees would have to approve it.

As part of Cole-Newkirk's research to assess campus opinion about the plan, Cole-Newkirk sent out a survey to all students asking whether or not they would request co-ed housing if it was an option. Of the 300 women and 215 men who responded, 261 said they would use make use of such an option, while 258 said they would not.

According to Cole-Newkirk, the dorms will be reconfigured on a dorm-by-dorm basis. She said she intends to have students help with the redesign of the buildings.

But some feel Cole-Newkirk's proposal does not reflect what was originally requested by the Senate in its proposal.

"There is clear evidence that there is a lot of demand on campus about [co-ed housing]," said Professor of Politics and SLC member Chris Howell to the administrators present at the meeting where Cole-Newkirk presented her plan. "You essentially want to sidestep the rooming issues."

Senators also felt that their proposal was being shortchanged, and sponsored a speak-out for co-ed rooms.

Senator sophomore Marissa Demetrius said, "Many people think of this not a strategic issue but as a stalling tactic."

At the Senate meeting where the speak-out was planned, Blair Heiserman, senator sophomore, said, "We're getting screwed by the administration. The co-ed rooming proposal has gone down the toilet."

As the discussion wound down, senator senior Noah Bopp said, "We should … organize a campaign with speakers and posters … We need to have a speak-out about this."

The day before the speak-out, Senate met with Dye and other administrators to discuss co-ed housing.

"Coeducation is about gender equity at its base. I don't see any way in which this furthers gender equity," Dye said. "We have no evidence that says the best way to achieve gender equity is cozily in a dorm room." She also said that anyone who wants to share a room with a member of the opposite sex can do so in off-campus housing, where they can "worry about the rent, worry about the utilities and be grown-up."

The speak-out for co-ed rooms did not live to all of its original expectations.

"[The rally] was phenomenally weak," said Senator junior Chapin Benninghoff.

"A lot of people thought the language was too strong and trivialized what we were trying to do," Senator sophomore Matt Green said.

Bopp spoke first, claiming that the reason the Senate was holding the rally was because the administrative response to Senate's proposal "was pathetic," and "shows a lack of faith." He quoted such leaders as Malcolm X, Henry David Thoreau and Frederick Douglass throughout his speech, drawing upon ideas of civil disobedience in order to achieve what they want.

"In the history of the College not one person's been punished for living with someone in a co-ed room," Bopp said. The Senate encouraged anyone who wanted to live with someone of the opposite gender to sign up on a list the Senate was passing throughout the crowd. They were planning on circulating their own version of Fussers, the campus address and telephone directory, during the fall semester. "Widespread civil disobedience will give us co-ed rooms on a larger basis than what we originally asked for," Bopp said.

The clipboards which were being passed through the crowd got few signatures and Senators discussed what they thought of the results at their next meeting.

The administration was not swayed by the speak-out. "As I've said, my position - as it has always been - is that this is not an issue that the College should seek to make a policy about," Dye said. "The College is not in a position of accommodating or encouraging domestic relationship or enabling them to break up, either."

Howell said that the civil disobedience plan was a good one. "I think its an ingenious, frankly," Howell said. "It essentially creates a parallel housing policy which doesn't require the agreement of the College."

SLC's May 10 meeting was supposed to be crucial to determining the direction of co-ed housing, since Cole-Newkirk was supposed to bring her proposal before SLC for the second time, with additions and deletions.

Cole-Newkirk was unable to attend due to an "emergency situation," according to Director of Residential Life and Services Deb McNish. McNish also pointed out problems with hoping that any plan would be implemented too soon. "Every day [SLC] mulls over this we lose more people who'd take a certain option because the housing assignments are going on now," said McNish.

Howell, on behalf of the committee, said of Cole-Newkirk's proposal, "The SLC thinks [the proposal] is interesting and we look forward to working with Student Life on the strategic planning process concerning Residential Life at

Oberlin next year."