It’s been a long time since Jack, Janet, and Chrissy regaled television viewers with the ribald humor surrounding their then-unconventional living arrangement on the 80s sitcom Three’s Company. While today’s audience may enjoy the show in its own context on Nick at Nite, if it were created today, viewers wouldn't laugh at the wacky neighbors' smirks and raised eyebrows, and the characters certainly wouldn’t need to undergo any of their usual shenanigans to conceal Jack’s raging heterosexuality.

 

As college students contemplate who will share their quarters this coming fall, mixed-gender rooming is gaining popularity. Members of Generation Y want more say about who they will room with on campus. Some schools that offer mixed gender rooming options include Stanford University, Brown University, Oberlin, Clark, and University of California at Riverside, which has been doing so since 2005.

 

What are some of the reasons behind this recent push for gender neutral housing? And, how much of a demand really exists?

 

Mary Anne Knapp, LCSW, ACSW, clinical social worker at Penn State’s Center for Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) acknowledges that this university lifestyle choice has been catching on, but is by no means a universal change. “Penn State Residence Life is aware of the new trend to offer some coed rooms at other schools and there have been discussions but as of this time there are no plans to offer these. There hasn’t been much expressed interest by students at Penn State,” Knapp tells demo dirt.

 

With younger people expressing more openness about their sexuality than past generations, being out has given them the freedom to discuss options that would make them and their potential roommates comfortable. Sarah Lawrence College Director of Residence Life, Carolyn O'Laughlin says that the decision to allow coed rooming options has had positive results for many students.

 

“The impetus for our change in policy came in 2004 when a small group of transgender students came forward with concerns about the housing process. In the fall semester of that year, all gender housing options were available to all students,” O’Laughlin explains. 

 

“While transgender students were the first to bring it to our attention, we have found that all-gender housing options improve choices for everyone. The focus is on having the ability to choose a roommate with whom one would feel most comfortable. The additional choice has helped a number of our students have a better experience at SLC,” she explains. “Additionally, all-gender housing allows transgender students to meet one of their most basic needs, shelter, without outing themselves or being forced to live in a situation that makes them uncomfortable.”

 

Penn State’s gay and transgendered student population also voiced campus living concerns, leading to change. “In meeting with gay and transgendered students there has been an interest in more private bathrooms. In January there will be some coed residence hall floors (not rooms) that will have locked bathrooms to allow for more privacy,” Knapp says.

 

Overall, the trend has been that more students, no matter their sexual orientation, have been pushing for increased privacy, Knapp adds. “Also for upper class students there have been more single rooms built in recent residence hall buildings since more students would prefer not to share a room. These are usually reserved for upper class students. First year students generally have a roommate to avoid isolation as they are coming on campus,” she states.

 

As more schools offer mixed-gender housing, does this mean that the youngest adult cohort is more comfortable with the opposite sex than previous generations? O’Laughlin says that while today’s young people may be more accustomed to socializing with the opposite sex, it all depends on the individual.

 

“There are certainly more options and opportunities regarding opposite-sex interaction growing up than there have been in the past,” she explains. “Current students are perhaps more used to being in all-gender environments than past generations, but I imagine that if this option existed for previous generations there certainly would have been some who would have chosen it, as they too may have felt more comfortable with a specific person as a roommate, regardless of that person's gender.”

 

Overall, today’s students of higher education are enjoying more choice than ever when it comes to housing and roommate options. “In general, the coed dorm room choice at other schools seems to reflect the idea of offering more choices to consumers in general,” Knapp says.

 

“It seems clear that this is a generation of college students who want more choices.  All-gender housing options do allow for more choices,” O’Laughlin adds.