Central Michigan Life

Issue date: 11/5/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Jeffrey LaMonde Laingsburg freshman Travis Granger, left, aims for the cue ball during a game of pool with his roommate, South Gate freshman Randy Solis in the Merrill Hall lobby. Granger and Solis live in the same room in Merrill Hall, an all-male residence hall. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Jeffrey LaMonde Lansing freshman Amanda Anderson cuts out some decorations from construction paper Wednesday evening in her all-female Sweeney Hall room. Anderson said she likes the layout of the residence hall better than the coed residence halls. [Click to enlarge]

Katie Stacks has learned the difference between coed and single-sex living.

Last year, the Cheboygan sophomore lived in Larzelere Hall. This year, she switched to Sweeny.

Stacks said she likes living in an all-girls residence hall because of the laid-back atmosphere.

"I like it better because it's more relaxing," Stacks said. "You don't have to worry about guys running around, and it's a lot cleaner."

However, indicators show Stacks may be among a shrinking group of students looking for such living arrangements.

Requests for single-sex living have declined over the years, said Joan Schmidt, associate director of Residence Life.

"Due to a high demand, we had to make the change of turning Thorpe and Beddow into coed halls," she said.

Now, Sweeney and Merrill are the only same-sex residence halls that remain on Central Michigan University's campus.

When deciding where to live on campus, gender, location, room size, socializing, roommate compatibility and parent control can all play key roles for students.

Faye Reber, Sweeney Residence Hall director, said she doesn't believe parents have a lot of control over where their kids live on campus because many students take care of that on their own.

"Room registration is now done online and, I think, because college is a step into adulthood, students feel choosing where they want to live is completely up to them," she said.

Students don't always move into the residence halls they request. Some people prefer to live in a single-sex hall, but the majority is made up of freshmen who get what's left, Reber said.

Grand Rapids freshman Patrick Meyer said he originally chose to live in Merrill because of the location.

"It was more about picking where I wanted to be on campus than who would be in my hall," he said. "I didn't ask my parents what they thought, but I can see why they might not want their kids living in coed dorms."

Even though the halls are exclusively male or female, it doesn't mean the residents don't socialize with the opposite sex.

Reber said Sweeney hosts a lot of female-orientated activities, but also puts on coed programs with other halls in the south quad.

"When you are surrounded by other women all the time you can let your guard down and you can walk around in your sweats and not care about what guys are thinking of you," Reber said.

As for other differences, Beddow Hall Residence Director Linda Vanloon said the biggest one she notices is that coed halls are louder and corridors tend to be messy.

There is not a significant difference in the amount of alcohol violations between the two types of halls, Schmidt said.

Tony Voisin, director of Student Life, said there were times in the past when Thorpe and Sweeney (then single-sex halls) had the most alcohol violations on campus.

However, he said he believes it was because there was a high freshman residency in those years.

"Typically, every year the Towers have the most violations and I think it's safe to say it is because many students there are incoming freshmen," he said.

Voisin said this is mainly because incoming freshmen are newly free from parental restraints and test the waters by partying in their rooms.


news@cm-life.com

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