Co-ed? Co-Everything!

FOR almost four decades, college administrators—faced with successive waves of the sexual revolution—have followed a policy that might be labeled “aggressive appeasement.” First, women’s curfews were abolished. Next, dorms were rendered “coeducational” (and “sleepovers” accepted as a matter of course). Soon, university health services were routinely distributing or even pushing condoms; gay-advocacy groups were being given official sanction, even at Catholic schools; and Williams College led the way in abolishing single-sex bathrooms.

As Neville Chamberlain might with hindsight have conceded, appeasement tends only to heighten the demands of those being appeased. So, what might there be left for sexual liberators to demand? Haverford College recently announced that beginning next fall, it will allow men and women to share bedrooms in dormitories. The administration’s decision comes partly in response to complaints of discrimination from the school’s homosexual population. These students claim that the current requirement that roommates be of the same gender sometimes forces them to live in uncomfortable situations. While there are a few other colleges around the country—Hampshire, Antioch, Wesleyan—that allow for coed rooming arrangements, Haverford may be the first “mainstream” liberalarts institution to adopt this policy.

NS

About the Author

Naomi Schaefer

Featured Tags

FOR almost four decades, college administrators—faced with successive waves of the sexual revolution—have followed a policy that might be labeled “aggressive appeasement.” First, women’s curfews were abolished. Next, dorms were rendered “coeducational” (and “sleepovers” accepted as a matter of course). Soon, university health services were routinely distributing or even pushing condoms; gay-advocacy groups were being given official sanction, even at Catholic schools; and Williams College led the way in abolishing single-sex bathrooms.

As Neville Chamberlain might with hindsight have conceded, appeasement tends only to heighten the demands of those being appeased. So, what might there be left for sexual liberators to demand? Haverford College recently announced that beginning next fall, it will allow men and women to share bedrooms in dormitories. The administration’s decision comes partly in response to complaints of discrimination from the school’s homosexual population. These students claim that the current requirement that roommates be of the same gender sometimes forces them to live in uncomfortable situations. While there are a few other colleges around the country—Hampshire, Antioch, Wesleyan—that allow for coed rooming arrangements, Haverford may be the first “mainstream” liberalarts institution to adopt this policy.