Catholic Univ Sued For Same Sex Dorms

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

[quote name='CatherineM' timestamp='1311022203' post='2269613']
Gender neutral bathrooms allows them to re-purpose the building if they get a change in demographics.
[/quote]

That is exactly what the University of Chicago did. They turned a former men's dorm into a coed dorm.

In their new dorm, there are rooms with both gender-neutral bathrooms and rooms with single-sex bathrooms. The new gender-neutral bathrooms do not have urinals. At first, some of the male students were confused, and thought they had stumbled into the women's bathroom.

My niece lived in a dorm with a gender neutral bathroom and said it was no big deal at all. All the bathroom stall doors locked, for example. I used the bathroom twice, and it was fine. (Of course, only my niece and I were in the bathroom at the time. LOL) It wouldn't be my choice.

The Univ of Chicago has a "house" system, in which all Houses have both men and women, so there are no single-sex dorms. But, there ARE single sex floors, and only a few of the dorms have gender-neutral bathrooms. There are also dorms in which you have your own bathroom, or you share a bathroom with a person of the same sex. (BTW--I am neither supporting nor objecting to this system. I didn't go to the Univ of Chicago---just passing along information. When I went to Berkeley, I lived in an all women's dorm.)

Even living in an all-women's dorm, I found that people still found ways to have sex. My experience as a devout Christian (not Catholic, but holding the same values as Catholics hold regarding premarital sex) was that I was a stronger Christian because I was living my faith in a world where people around me were acting differently.

This is not a statement against Catholic schools with only single-sex dorms, only that, as humans, we have a choice over our behavior. My parents, as non-Christians, would not have paid for me to go to a Christian school. And, because of the University of California system, I was able to attend college and graduate school without any student loans. There were a number of groups of very strong Christians (and, I assume Catholic groups, as well) who lived very moral lives and we supported each other's values. After freshman year, I lived in an apartment with three other Christian women.

Also, many people, even after attending a Catholic college, find themselves in a secular job, surrounded by people with very different lifestyles and morals, so they are no longer in a Catholic environment. In the end, it is OUR responsibility to lead a moral life.

[EcceNovaFacioOmni]

Apart from Dr. Garvey's reasons for instituting single-sex dorms, which I think are good ones, there is just a general difference in campus culture when things are arranged this way. It's not primarily about sex, as others have pointed out, since that can be had rather easily either way. Having lived on both types of campuses, the single-sex was much more active and fun. Students used the dorm as home base, doing work, and relaxing in the evening. It was nice to have that space with only guys, in my case. It promoted getting out and getting active, instead of sitting around the dorm. My freshman year, most of the guys in my section lived a social life that went only as far as the girls they knew on the adjacent floors. We even had a dining station in our basement, so you could spend an entire weekend without moving except in and out of an elevator. Lame it was.

[homeschoolmom]

[quote name='CatherineM' timestamp='1311022203' post='2269613']
Gender neutral bathrooms allows them to re-purpose the building if they get a change in demographics.
[/quote]
My sophomore dorm room was on a formerly male floor. We put potted plants in the urinals.

[Basilisa Marie]

[quote][color=#595959][font=arial, verdana, sans-serif][size=4]Even living in an all-women's dorm, I found that people still found ways to have sex. My experience as a devout Christian (not Catholic, but holding the same values as Catholics hold regarding premarital sex) was that I was a stronger Christian because I was living my faith in a world where people around me were acting differently.. [/size][/font][/color][/quote]


I've found this to be generally true as well. It was easier for me to be excited about my faith and generally act like a better Christian when I was attending public school in the most secular area of the US. Then I went to a Catholic college in Maryland, where Catholics are the majority. Although there were plenty of great spiritual examples and leaders, I felt like it was easier to spiritually slack off. But then there are other people I know who had their faith strengthened by going to a Catholic college. Guess it just shows it really depends on the person.

[krissylou]

Well, "co-ed" can mean a lot of things.

At my college (mid-to-late-90s), there was one all-women dorm, a few were co-ed by floor (men on the first floor, women on the second floor, that sort of things) and the others were co-ed by room (men would only room with men, women would only room with women, but a roomful of men could be right next to a roomful of women). There were separate bathrooms for men and women on each floor. I was in dorms that were co-ed by room until my senior year when I was in a three-bedroom (college owned) apartment with five other women. The apartment next door to us could have been an apartment of men.

This never bothered me. And I graduated with virtue intact.

There had previously been one freshman dorm that was all men and one freshman dorm that was all women, but starting with my class they became co-ed by floor. I am not up on the literature, but my impression was that young women often did better in single-sex buildings, but young men often did better in co-ed ones (maybe co-ed by hall or by floor rather than by room.)

Apparently we civilize them or something.

My college's experience with the formerly single-sex freshmen dorms seemed to bear this out.

Catholic U's co-ed dorms weren't ever co-ed like my dorms were. They would have a floor of men, and a floor of women, with restricted hours for visiting between them. (How much those restrictions were enforced, I have no idea. It probably varied from RA to RA.)

In my mind, halls that are co-ed by room are VERY different. But I don't see much difference between having men and women separated by floors rather than by rooms. I don't really see the point.

That having been said, I cannot imagine what basis there could be for a lawsuit. Catholic is legally free to do what it likes.

[Brother Adam]

I think it is much better to have single sex dorm buildings with eucharistic chapels in every building along with Sisters or Brothers. You can build an authentic masculine or feminine culture in that building, including healthy boundaries with the same and opposite sex. Men really need to relearn how to be men and women likewise in our insane culture of gender-neutrality.

[MissScripture]

[quote name='krissylou' timestamp='1311200973' post='2272012']
Well, "co-ed" can mean a lot of things.

At my college (mid-to-late-90s), there was one all-women dorm, a few were co-ed by floor (men on the first floor, women on the second floor, that sort of things) and the others were co-ed by room (men would only room with men, women would only room with women, but a roomful of men could be right next to a roomful of women). There were separate bathrooms for men and women on each floor. I was in dorms that were co-ed by room until my senior year when I was in a three-bedroom (college owned) apartment with five other women. The apartment next door to us could have been an apartment of men.

This never bothered me. And I graduated with virtue intact.

There had previously been one freshman dorm that was all men and one freshman dorm that was all women, but starting with my class they became co-ed by floor. I am not up on the literature, but my impression was that young women often did better in single-sex buildings, but young men often did better in co-ed ones (maybe co-ed by hall or by floor rather than by room.)

Apparently we civilize them or something.

My college's experience with the formerly single-sex freshmen dorms seemed to bear this out.

Catholic U's co-ed dorms weren't ever co-ed like my dorms were. They would have a floor of men, and a floor of women, with restricted hours for visiting between them. (How much those restrictions were enforced, I have no idea. It probably varied from RA to RA.)

In my mind, halls that are co-ed by room are VERY different. But I don't see much difference between having men and women separated by floors rather than by rooms. I don't really see the point.

That having been said, I cannot imagine what basis there could be for a lawsuit. Catholic is legally free to do what it likes.
[/quote]
I had heard that about the men, Idk if it extends to how they actually do in school, but they are at least less destructive to the dorms when there are women around. That being said, I think it went both ways for the amount of binge drinking and sex being increased in co-ed dorms.

[4588686]

I thought that gender neutral bathrooms meant that men and women used the same bathrooms at the same time not that they were simply functionally gender neutral.

All the bathrooms at UNC are functionally gender neutral. That's not some leftist scheme it's just practical. The dorm residents are constantly in flux as during the summers they have to host CTOPS, various exchange and youth programs, and different Living Learning Community programs. So to allow for greater flexibility in terms of the gender of a set hall they just make everything functionally gender neutral so they can switch back and forth depending on the needs of the university.

[Papist]

I always thought that gender neutral bathroom was the woods.