Sleeping Together: The Debate Continues
The Crimson editorializes in favor of mixed-gender housing today. "There are many worthwhile reasons that students may have for living in a mixed-gender room," the paper suggests, such as the preference of gay and transgender students.
But the Crimson's bottom line is simply this: "We would like to remind the College administration, however, that this is our housing and not theirs. Just as their opinions on vegetarianism ought not to dictate our dining hall offerings, nor should their opinions on housing dictate our suitemates."
Well...yes and no. College is, of course, a transition phase between youth and adulthood, and the social and intellectual policies of any college constitute a guide to facilitate that passage. The analogy between vegetarianism and mixed housing is facile, as Harvard College has an interest in what goes on between roommates just as students do. It can not just assume a laissez-faire attitude towards social policy.
Let's consider one scenario: A male and female student who are best friends decide they want to room together, and get permission to do so. At some point, their friendship turns to romance, which ultimately ends badly. Later, the girl takes another lover, and when he finds out, the distraught roommate snaps and stabs her to death.
Okay, it's kind of an extreme example. But
Harvard roommates have been stabbed to death before, in a not entirely dissimilar dynamic....
(And certainly one can imagine that scenario,
sans violence, being quite common. Should Harvard be sanctioning the decisions of young lovers to live together in campus housing? Because in effect, that's what would be happening.)
I'm not raising this to argue against such housing—just to point out that the Harvard administration does have a real stake in this question.
I'm a little conservative on such matters, so my instinct would be that this is a problematic idea, and with some exceptions for special cases, probably a bad one. I just don't see a hugely compelling reason to invite all the potential consequences of mixed-gender housing for people who are—sorry, college students—not quite adults.
But heck, I could be wrong. Harvard students consider themselves proto-adults at an early age, so maybe they can handle such living arrangements. (Though I've never seen much evidence that Harvard students are more emotionally mature than their peers anywhere else, and sometimes I think
the contrary is more likely.)
Perhaps the thing to do is try it out and see what happens.....
