MOOR VS. MOOR: Coed Dorms – Yay or Nay

JANET GUAN
Staff Writer

Students feel most comfortable in a place they know is safe. As seniors graduate, many will move to take on college and live in on-campus dorms, depending on their school requirements and distance from home. Up to 90 percent of college dorms in the US are coed, according to Seattlepi.com. As a college student’s temporary home for up to four years, coed dorms are not dangerous and encourage a realistic social development.

As students continue their development into adulthood, they must learn to behave as accountable as adults do. The social dynamic in coed dorms is very similar to the dynamic in apartment complexes; with the addition of one or two roommates, every person in a dorm is a neighbor, regardless of gender. Restricting living quarters to one gender limits personal interaction to the opposite gender to just outside the dorm.

Since college is a stepping stone to productive adulthood, dorms provide a way for students to learn how to act as mature adults. Overall, coed dorms can be a comfortable environment with multiple benefits for students. After all, a pleasant environment is the ideal place to learn effectively and interact proactively.

FARRAH LUU
Staff Writer

Living in dorms is part of the college experience. Colleges all over America are beginning to become more open to the option of coed dorms. Opposite genders can reside in the same hall and dorm building, but not the same room. However, sharing a dorm with the opposite gender brings about more difficulties than simply living in a single gender dorm.

When students partake in coed dorms there may be complications regarding students’ welfare. Safety is ultimately a large concern and something to consider. Thus, added precautions are needed. When students live in a coed dorm they have to be sure to always be modestly dressed even when walking down the hallways to use the restroom, according to Synonym.com. Sexual harassment and assault is a prominent aspect on college campus and coed dorms make it much easier for rape to take place due to the close proximity of both genders.

Although colleges are allowing coed dorms, single gender dorms have been the option for students for ages. There is no need to bring an added option that creates more complications than benefits for both the college and its students.