By Brittney Bruner
The dorms on the University of Louisville campus are co-ed, allowing girls and boys to live in the same housing residence.
Although the two sexes are separated, the use of community bathrooms and small living quarters promotes interaction between the sexes.
Adam Schworer, a freshman bioengineering major, is a resident at Unitas Tower, where the guys occupy floors two to six and girls live on floors seven to 11.
“I like the co-ed dorm a lot. It’s great seeing girls around the building,” said Schworer. “We interact a lot in the lobby and outside the building.
“Everything is fine except for the visitation policy. You have to sign a person in no matter what sex, all the time,” said Schworer.
Stevenson Hall’s less stringent visitation policies are suited for upperclassmen, though freshmen are welcome there as well.
Its 24-hour visitation policy and central location on campus are a plus for the students residing there.
Megan Reeves, a freshman Spanish major, seems to embrace all that co-ed first year dorms have to offer, and highly recommends traditional, co-ed living – especially Threlkeld – to all incoming freshmen.
“It’s not always convenient, but I think everybody should live and experience it at least one year in college,” said Reeves.
Being a resident in co-ed living quarters presents all types of opportunities for building relationships.
“I still meet lots of new people throughout the building – in the community bathrooms, whenever I go to the kitchen, in the lobby, everywhere,” said Reeves.
Besides providing opportunities to meet new people, these dorms also ensure a network of people that help with studies and may understand academically and socially what other students are going through.
“I’ve met tons of new friends by living in Threlkeld,” said Nathan Armentrout, a freshman computer engineering and computer science major. “Some of the guys have the same classes as I do so we get together and hammer out homework problems.”
Like Stevenson, visitation policies are less strict in Threlkeld than in other first year dorms such as Miller Hall and Unitas Tower.
Visitation is available non-stop to all residents as long as “sleepovers” don’t become habit and everyone signs in at the front desk.
Despite these rules, co-ed first year dorms not only provide excellent opportunities for students to excel academically and socially, but also help students possibly build lasting relationships.
