The university has lifted the ban on coed occupants for suites that contain double rooms, the Office of Residential Life announced at Monday night?s Students? Association Senate meeting.
While that decision will open more coed options to upperclassmen, next year?s freshmen will find that only the third floors of Burton and Crosby Halls will remain single-sex.
Six-person suites in Hill Court that contain a double and all suites in Towers are now open to mixed groups. The people assigned to the double room must be of the same sex, however, according to New York state law.
?Over the years, a lot more groups that are coed would really like the ability to pick suites that are coed,? said Laurel Contomanolis, associate director of Residential Life.
Sometimes students have been shut out, Contoma-nolis said, when all the suites with six singles had already been chosen.
Currently, 19 Hill Court suites are coed. Contoma-nolis estimated that 21 or 22 mixed groups participated in the room draw for this year.
Coed housing options will also change on the Residential Quad. Because Burton and Crosby Halls will house only freshmen next year, their single-sex status of more than 10 years will end.
?There are very few students who actually want single-gender housing, but there?s enough that we need to provide an alternative for those people,? Contomanolis said.
According to figures from previous years, only 40 to 45 freshmen are expected to request single-sex housing, Contomanolis said. The two third-floor halls combined can house 40 to 50 people. If additional freshmen wish for single-sex housing, more single-sex floors may open.
Many current residents of Burton and Crosby feel that this is a positive move. A large number originally did not want to live in single-sex housing or chose it for other factors.
Some were randomly placed in their dorm.
?I wanted a double on a coed hall,? said freshman Aaron Severs, who added that he now likes living in Crosby.
Others settled for a single-sex dorm over even more undesirable locations such as the Graduate Living Center.
?I had a choice between GLC and Crosby and I chose Crosby because of location,? said sophomore Pete Avitable, who would have rather lived in a coed dorm.
?It was either Burton or [Susan B. Anthony Residence Halls] and we heard Burton was nice,? sophomore Kathy Bailey said.
Still others chose their dorms for different reasons ? they wanted a sink in their room or a better chance at getting a single. Whatever their motivation, few actually wanted to live with only members of their sex.
?We certainly don?t need a whole building,? Contomanolis said.
Upperclassmen who desire single-sex housing will have the option of arranging a single-sex suite.
Contomanolis said that rising sophomores will have a chance to take advantage of the relaxed restrictions as well.
Some Towers suites and six- and four-person clusters of doubles will be reserved for the sophomore lottery as well.
Six-person groups, that include both upperclass and sophomore students, should consult the Office of Residential Life to determine the proper room draw to attend, Contoma-nolis said.
Groups will participate in the room draw based on the class years of the majority of the occupants.
If the suite is more than half upperclassmen, they will compete in the upperclass suite draw. If it only includes one or two upperclassmen, the group will be directed to the sophomore lottery.
These groups will not have an advantage, however, because the upperclassmen will be allocated the same number of points as the Class of 2004 ? thus giving them the same chances as any sophomore to get these spaces.
?We were concerned because this was the group that?s the transition group,? Contomanolis said. ?Do I think it?s cast in absolute stone yet? No. I think it?s pretty close.?
— Additional reporting by Pranav Chandra.
