PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONANDY GOTTESMAN/THE LANTERN
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Margot Sandler does not see a problem in living with the opposite sex. “Just because I live with someone, doesn’t necessarily mean I’m going to sleep with them,” she said.
Sandler, a junior in finance, has lived off-campus with male roommates for the past two years. She said she wishes she would have had the same option on campus.
“The dorms should give you the option of living with either gender. There are a lot of girls like me who are just more compatible with a guy roommate,” she said. “If I’d been given the option of rooming with my guy friends, I might have actually lived on campus.”
Sandler’s request is not far-fetched. A growing number of colleges and universities are offering the option of coed dorm rooms, referred to as open housing. An article in the May 2, 2008 issue of USA Today cited at least two dozen schools that allow students to live on-campus with a member of the opposite sex.
Among those schools are the University of Pennsylvania and Brown University. Both say the decision has been a success.
“We’ve never received any complaints that I’m aware of,” said Ronald Ozio, director of media relations for the University of Pennsylvania.
Ozio said that while only about 110 of their 10,275 undergraduate students request the option, those who do seem happy with it.
Mark Nickel, director of university communications for Brown University, said they have had a similar experience during their first year with open housing.
“There were a small number of students who thought it was the right option for them so they took advantage of it and things seem to have worked out very well,” he said.
Will Ohio State follow suit and offer open housing? Not yet, says Christy Blessing, director of Housing Services.
“It’s a very controversial subject and I don’t know that OSU is ready to go down that path,” she said. “The room change process we have now is significant and I can only imagine that would go up if we started mixing the genders. I don’t know that it would be a helpful process for our students just yet.”
One of the dangers associated with open housing, Blessing said, involves students in relationships.
“Brown University was very specific that this arrangement is not for people who are in any sort of relationship, we actively discouraged that,” she said.
It seems like Sandler’s preference is a rarity, at least at OSU.
“We hear the question of whether or not we offer it maybe once or twice a year,” Blessing said.
When Sandler found out that OSU will not be changing its policy anytime soon, she recovered quickly from her initial disappointment.
“Oh well, as long as I have my own bathroom I’ll be fine,” she said.
Richard Oviatt can be reached at [email protected].
