Upperclassmen at Hood College will have the option to live in the same dorm rooms as members of the opposite gender starting this fall.
The decision to implement gender-mixed housing comes after students expressed support for the concept, said Matt Troutman, Hood’s director of residence life and student conduct.
All genders can live together in pairs in the same rooms in Hood’s three upper-class residence halls — Shriner, Meyran and Coblentz.
Students who do not want to live in mixed-gender housing will get a same-gender roommate. Same-gender floors will exist for upperclassmen as well.
All first-year students will live on same-gender floors.
“As the leaders on campus, upperclassmen are often the first group of people that are offered, asked to try new policies,” said Caitlyn-Jean Ward, the incoming Student Government Association president. “As such, mixed-gender housing is being implemented with these students, who have had time to live in traditional housing. And that is important because they know how the college’s housing works and will be the most responsible and reliable in figuring out if this type of housing works on our campus.”