Mixed-gender floors are an important part of Iowa State’s residence hall system, and the director of the Department of Residence says these houses may become more common in the future.

“Gender mixing varies building to building, depending on the facilities,” said Randy Alexander, director of the Department of Residence. “The layout of the building, such as where restrooms are located, is also a factor.”

As the university renovates and constructs more facilities, Alexander said, it will create a greater variety of gender mixing in the halls, which will allow more of a co-ed environment.

“The whole issue depends upon what you consider the definition of co-ed,” said Alexander. “I believe that when you have a mix of both genders in a building, whether it is floor-to-floor or on different halves of the building, it is considered co-ed.”

Many on-campus students believe that mixing genders, such as a female and a male in the same room, or two females directly next door to two males, is a good idea.

“I wouldn’t care as long as they respect each other’s boundaries. It would be nice if we were able to have couples assigned to the same room,” said Beth Algner, sophomore in family and consumer sciences. “It would be nice to have couples who are engaged or in a serious relationship in the same room.”

Currently, most residence halls on campus are co-ed, meaning they have both males and females in the same building. A few of the halls such as Oak-Elm, Maple and Freeman are all female, while Birch-Welch-Roberts is all male.

According to Creighton Gaynor, hall director of Barton-Lyon-Freeman-Fisher/Nickell (BLFF/N), his co-ed halls are separated by floors, but the residents move around to socialize. He is supportive of the current co-ed structure of the residence halls.

“When they have to move around to socialize they are required to make more of an effort to meet people,” said Gaynor. “If the two genders were directly next to each other, then socialization would be easier and they would have a greater opportunity to experience gender issues more closely.”

The issue of having both genders next to each other causes controversy, because some residents do not like the co-ed environment.

“It has been brought to my attention that some female students, although they support visitation hours in the hall, they still prefer a single-gender environment,” said Alexander. “A lot of the women like to take a shower without bumping into a guy they don’t know in their bathrobe.”

Some students think that bumping into the other sex would be an added advantage.

“I am all for gender mixing in the dorms because it would help us to interact more with students on campus,” said David Wagener, freshman in sociology. “Plus, we might get to see one of the girls naked.”

Co-ed dorms typically have a male and a female bathroom on the same floor. In some instances, one sex is required to go to another floor to use the restroom.

While co-ed residence halls sound appealing to some, other students believe the mixing of genders will cause more problems.

“In the end it would cause some problems because privacy is a big issue,” said Michael Vos, sophomore in agriculture engineering. “The dorms do not have the facilities for that type of living style.”

Vos said sexual harassment is a frequently discussed topic on campus, and he believes more instances would occur if men and women lived next door to each other. “I think it will cause more friction in the long run because there is more of a chance for someone to peek,” he said.