There is a new movement on campuses to try to be gender-inclusive and welcoming. Colleges are giving more freedom to incoming freshmen, and this can be seen in residence halls.
At the Colorado School of Mines (CSM), a new residence hall was built in 2020 and has a capacity to hold 1,000 students. However, it has one new feature: coed bathrooms – shared bathrooms between sexes.
During the summer, incoming students had the ability to attend a weekend of fun events at CSM called Oredigger Camp to learn more about the school and meet new people. However, all students had to stay inside the newly built residence hall. This was a very new experience for many students, and most thought it was awkward.
One female student – let’s call her Ellie – attended this camp, excited to learn more about her school. All of the students were put into groups of 10 for group activities over the whole weekend. Ellie was put with an all-male group, which was not a problem at the time.
However, she had an uncomfortable experience concerning the bathroom situation. A male in the same group – let’s call him Dean – was staying on the same floor.
One night before bed, he asked her, “Which bathroom do you use?” She was perplexed by the question posed as they were walking up the stairs. Innocently, she told him “the bathroom around the corner.” He responded, “maybe I will see you in there later.”
Highly discomforted, she stayed in her room for twenty minutes, trying to outlast running into him. After a while of waiting, Ellie walked to the bathroom and had an unfortunate interaction with him. She tried to make the conversation short with the intent to leave the situation, for they were alone in the bathroom.
Thankfully, nothing came out of this experience. However, coed bathrooms do allow for many uncomfortable and, in some tragic instances, dangerous situations to occur.
Once the semester started, Ellie saw Dean around school and tried to ignore him as much as possible. Thankfully, she chose to live on a floor with the same gender as her; although the entire building she lived in was coed.
Despite her decision, other odd instances began to arise. She noticed that all residents within the building, male and female, had access to all floors. She has seen multiple groups of men walking down her hall with no invitation, rhyme, or reason, at late times of the night. At least the dorm-room doors have locks on them.
Come to find out, Dean had other instances with other female students. Another female student – let’s call her Jane – shared how she had heard the male make multiple unsolicited and disturbing sexual comments towards her.
Jane lives in the same residence hall as him, meaning he has access to the floor she lives on. She did not enjoy living in fear of being a victim to a sexual predator. For a time, she even lived in a sorority house because she was uncomfortable at the thought of him coming into her room. Jane filed a Title IX, sharing her experiences with authorities in the attempt to get him moved off-campus.
Exploration in college is necessary for growth and individualization. Although, it seems as though colleges are opening the doors for unfortunate events to occur when they could have been prevented all along.
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