University of Virginia Library

Stuart Pape

The Battle Over Coed Dorms

Once again a battle is brewing
over the issue of coed dorms; this
time because President Shannon
has, at least tentatively decided
against accepting the
recommendations of the University
Housing Committee and the Office
of Student Affairs, with respect to
the use of the Gwathmey-Mary
Munford complex.

Unless he can be persuaded to
change his mind. President
Shannon's decision will mean that
all upperclass women who desire to
live in University housing, and are
able to garner a place, will live in
the Gwathmey-Munford dorm. No
men will be allowed to live there.
Consequently, after a year of living
either in coed dorms or a coed area,
the women who are now first-year
will be forced to choose between
the undesired non-coed setup and
more expensive apartments. Neither
choice has particular appeal.

Rest Home

In fact, many of the first year
women, unwilling to accept all the
stories told about the "different life
style" present in the
Gwathmey-Munford dorms have
journeyed over there themselves to
ascertain the true poodah. Much to
their dismay their worst fears are
being realized. Without intending to
disparage the residents of
Gwathmey-Munford, the first year
girls have characterized the place as
a "rest home" which has little
appeal to them.

Until recently, it was generally
accepted that coed dorms were to
be the rule in University dorm
living, rather than the exception.
The President's decision calls into
question that assumption. The
various reasons for the apparent
change in policy, offered by any
number of parties, are both
interesting for what they say about
University decision-making and
somewhat amusing in and of
themselves.

Explanations

The more serious attempts to
explain Mr. Shannon's decision
include:

1. President Shannon was
unaware that the plan to have the
Gwathmey-Munford complex all
women meant that no women
could live in Alderman Road
because of space allocations. This
seems difficult to believe, since it is
perhaps the major consequence of
the decision, and hopefully was
explained to the President before
the decision was made.

2. The Gwathmey dorm was
financed through the sale of bonds
and these bonds were advertised as
being for a women's dorm. If after
a year of use for that purpose,
Gwathmey was turned into a men's
dorm, thus making the two dorms a
ed area, the University would
look absurd. If the University
would look absurd, it would only
be in the eyes of the guardian of
the morals of the Commonwealth,
Mr. Bateman, and I doubt that even
he hoped for this rapid a response
to his bill regarding coed dorms.
Anyway, since when did the fear of
looking absurd enter into the
decision-making process here?

Security and Sacrilege

3. Women require greater
security precautions and the
Gwathmey-Munford area is better
suited for that purpose. This ignores
the fact that there have been more
security problems this year in that
area than over in Alderman Road.
Additionally, the presence of men
in the area would probably enhance
the security aspect as the women
would not be forced to walk
around late at night going to and
from the library, for example, by
themselves.

4. Gwathmey dorm is named
after the first Dean of Women at
the University and it would be some
type of sacrilege to have men living
there. Is this the type of substance
that University decisions are based
on?

Special Facilities

5. The facilities in the
Gwathmey dorm, where the men
would live were the complex
coeducated, has facilities
specifically designed for women. A
careful survey of the situation by
both the University Housing
Committee and some interested
students concluded that the extent
of "special facilities" were bathtubs
and a few rooms labelled ironing
areas whose special equipment
consisted of a few portable ironing
boards. If the girls living in
Alderman Road this year could
accommodate themselves to the
presence of urinals in the
bathrooms, one might expect that
the men could handle bathtubs and
ironing boards!

Not a single one of these reasons
or all of them together add up to
the kind of rationale for a
substantial and detrimental change
in the character of University
housing accommodations. The
reasons offered by the various
parties are so insufficient that one
ca only cone that another
reason, one which cannot be stated
in public, is the true cause of this
decision.

Financial Considerations

Along this line, it has been said
that it is quite possible that a
wealthy individual who makes a
habit of sorts out of donating
money to the University is opposed
to the use of Gwathmey dorm for
men and has used the threat of not
donating any in the future to
impose his wishes upon the school.

When this in mentioned, one's
first impulse is to say in effect,
"well, screw him." Unfortunately
the problem does not lend itself to
such an easy response. Any
university president faced with the
financial crisis that plagues nearly
every school in the country, must
think twice before making a
decision that will cost or
potentially cost his University a
large sum of desperately needed
money. This is even more so at a
state university where one might
expect the state legislature to be
more than a little upset with the
actions of a university president
who missed an opportunity to latch
onto some additional funds.

Shannon's Dilemma

It would be nothing less than a
Pyrrhic victory to allow men to live
in Gwathmey only to learn
two years from that that
decision University a large
sum of ey that sibly would
have built additional housing which
will undoubtedly be badly needed.

Most students like to think that
the University exists for them, after
all what is a university without
students? Indeed, coeducating the
Gwathmey- Munford - area would
appear to be in the best interests of
the students here now, particularly
those in the first year class who will
be most directly affected next year.
But, then again, how about the
student who comes here five years
from now and can't even live in any
type of University housing after his
first year.

While my inclinations are to side
completely on the side of the
students in this question. I can
certainly sympathize with the
position of President Shannon, if
the real reasons for this decision are
financial. At any rate, these are the
kinds of problems that put gray
hair on the head of many a
university administrator.