Do you think separating men/women in dorms is a good idea?

I agree! When at college, some students like to study in their dorm rooms and you don't need the distraction of the opposite sex to interfere. Besides, a dorm has to be a place of safe and appropriate behavior without fear of harassment by the opposite sex. Why do you think many colleges set up such an arrangement to avoid the drama of constant male-female interaction!?

I have had both experiences. My first college was gender by floor and my second was co-ed.

Honestly people are going to end up living in co-ed arrangements in college anyways. Floor specific just makes it awkward to go to the bathroom at night. I remember my freshman boyfriend would never use the girls bathroom on my floor so I ended up at his place almost every night...mind you that meant I had to use the guys. It was never a big deal to me.

My second college had co-ed bathrooms...that took some getting use to, but didn't bother me. Everyone was adult about it 95% of the time.

Kids are gonna have sex kids are gonna sleep in each others rooms, doesnt really matter what the university does

I agree!

I went to a Jesuit University. Obviously, we had gender separated floors and even some buildings that were all male or all female.

At one point, they tried an experiment called "Christian Living Floors." They were mixed gender, but same sex per room. A priest, nun or novice would be the RA. After a couple of years the experiment was discontinued. One of the priest RAs said, "There's been a lot of living on this floor. But, little of it was Christian." LOL!

There was one invite only house, (that I was invited to join and turned them down and then regretted it) that was mixed gender, but again, same sex per bedroom. It was a good experiment, housed high GPA students who were there by vote and invitation, but no "rushing" and no hazing to join and it worked very well. It was similar to a Fraternity or Sorority, but without the... drama and without the "coolness" popularity and infamy and attention that those in the Greek Life seem to need. AFAIK, it is still there.

Some people aren't comfortable being around the opposite sex all the time. I'm barely comfortable being around my own sex in bathrooms and such, and being around men as well would have made my natural shyness much worse.

Like I said, I think it should be an option, not a rule, for the students who prefer it. I went to a women's college that by student vote had one floor of one dorm that was clothing-optional. They had signs on the doors announcing that this was the semi-nudist wing, and anyone who might be uncomfortable with that should probably use the bathroom on a different floor.

I think gender neutral housing is not only the most mature choice, it is also the most cost-effective, socially productive, and comfortable for trans* and genderqueer students.

Nothing wrong with it, except with separate gender dorms, people feel more comfortable (like being in their bedroom...which it is), but on the other hand, having had a mixed gender dorm myself....years ago, I think the guys kept it FAR cleaner, since we woman were there.

I had a similar experience my first year at Uni (Jesuit University, gender separated floors etc.) After that I lived in School Apartments. I was a vegetarian, and there were few choices for veggies back then on the meal plan. The apartments had kitchens and you didn't have to be on or pay for the meal plan. The apartments were separated by gender.

Maybe this is TMI, but I totally agree with the running across the hall to take a shower in just a towel. Also, going to the bathroom. I get backed up in a new environment anyway. Having guys around would drive me crazy. I used to occasionally stay in a FWB's floor and always ran back to my own floor to... use the facilities.

As for gender neutral- gender queer people, I'm not sure. It's a small percentage of the population, but they need to feel comfortable, too. Do gender neutral people feel more comfortable on a mixed gender floor? I don't even know, I've never asked any of my trans friends how they felt about dorm life and none of them had much negative to say about their experiences.

I did have a funny experience; since I went to a Catholic University, the floors and some of the buildings were one gender only. Members of the opposite sex had to be out of the dorm by 10:00 PM on weeknights, midnight on weekends. You would get written up if you were caught with someone of the opposite gender in your room, as would they.

Once I got "caught" with a gay friend in my room. I challenged the Write Up, by saying he was certainly not going to want to have sex with me (that was their fear of course) and that, to be fair, wouldn't his and other gay and lesbian students be written up if caught in the rooms of same sex students.

The guy and I were both going to write letters to the school newspaper asking this question )this school has a large G&L population) and the RA agreed to tear up the Write Up if we didn't write the letters. We both caved, as being written up was big deal, you could lose your housing if you had 3 write ups. The guy and I were just talking and lost track of time. That isn't something either one of us should have counted towards losing our housing.

But, we did tell everyone we knew and it became a huge discussion on campus. (Small Uni so news spreads fast.) The University has a very strong GLBT union, organization and presence and are well known and accepted at this University now. I don't know if our "campaign" had anything to do with it, but I think it was a start.