Boys and girls sleeping together?

By Derika Downing
Critic Staff

The recent surplus of male students entering Lyndon State College this year has some LSC freshmen finding themselves in an unusual on-campus housing arrangement.

You may have heard that some freshmen have been living in co-ed suites, and you may have thought that this was just a rumor, but, as it turns out, it’s true—although it’s not really as dramatic or scandalous as it might sound.
“It was a big decision that we made last year,” Erin Rosetti, LSC’s Assistant Director of Residential Life and RHD at Rita Bole, said. “It was the first time it had been done. We considered the pros and cons. Students were informed directly of the situation. RAs spent time talking to them about the expectations of temporary housing assignment.”
Rosetti said this is the second year in a row that such arrangements have been made, due to the high male to female ratio of incoming LSC students. Some male students have to temporarily stay in suites that were originally intended for females, because there is an overabundance of male students and a dearth of females.
Rosetti emphasized that the co-ed suites (suites where male and female students live together) are “definitely a temporary situation.”
Rosetti said that LSC would “rather accommodate students on campus than have them stay at a hotel.” LSC is making efforts to set aside additional male housing, so that male students won’t have to stay in suites that were intended to be all-female. Rosetti said they “would have done something different this year,” but it’s difficult to find alternate housing situations.
They did change one traditionally female first-year suite to a male suite, so things are “pretty even now.” Some students are still on a waiting list for housing, but these are mostly students who did not take the opportunity to sign up for a room during housing selection at the end of last semester.
The students living in the co-ed suites have been handling the situation maturely.
“The biggest thing is respecting the use of the bathroom,” Rosetti said. The boys in the suite that was originally intended for girls have to use the private bathroom in the hall rather than the bathroom in the suite.