University of Virginia Library

Mannix Says Co-eds Offer
'Experiment' In Housing

By Rob Buford
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

A charge that the Housing Committee
may have been premature in its decision
concerning the assignment of women to
University dormitories next fall has been
levelled by Student Council vice president
Kevin Mannix.

Mr. Mannix also serves as a member of
the Advisory Planning Committee for
Undergraduate Women, which last week
formulated its own proposal on the
subject. He charged that, at its meeting
last Wednesday, the Housing Committee
"essentially adopted" a course of action
for the coming year without first hearing
the proposal of the Advisory Committee.

Fighting Wine

"Bruce Wine (Chairman of Counselors)
was the only one at the Housing
Committee meeting who contested the
action," said Mr. Mannix, explaining that the
Advisory Committee's proposals could not be
prepared in time for consideration at that
meeting.

Essentially, what the Housing Committee
did was to adopt a "compromise proposal"
suggested by Dean of Women Mary Whitney.
Under that plan first-year women would be
housed next year in the first-year Alderman
Road dorms in the same houses as men but
with men only on the first floors of the
affected areas.

Alternating Floors

The Advisory Committee, Mr. Mannix said,
saw no need for restricting men to the first
floors only. The group also agreed that there
should be no all-women dormitories. Women
could still be isolated by floors, perhaps by
alternating, with men on the first and third
floors and women on the second and fourth.

"The security angle is bothering some
people," said Mr. Mannix. "I see no such
problem," he said, referring to a plan by
Director of Security Wade Bromwell to
institute foot patrols in the dorm area next
year.

"The suites are self-contained," Mr. Mannix
observed, "and there should be no problems."

Stressing a trend toward co-ed dorms, Mr.
Mannix said that he feared the Housing
Committee "is sitting back and waiting,
watching the nation."

"Lead, Not Follow"

"We should lead, not follow," he continued,
saying the University has a real opportunity to
innovate in the area of housing with the coming
of co-education.

Mr. Mannix suggested that several housing
plans be tried next year through the implementation
of each of several possible plans on a
small scale. "We could do this experimentally
to find the best method for the future."

Mr. Mannix charged that "the Housing
Committee rejected all of this. There is too
much backing and filling. All they are thinking
about are the problems, not the opportunities,"
he added.