Outside of Cunningham Hall, which has now been co-ed housing both women and men because around 100 male students have been without a home.
By SHEALYN PRATT
For the first time in over four years, student residential housing is co-ed and houses both men and women in the same building.
Ament Hall has been under construction since early May and is expected to be finished mid-September.
Director of Marketing and University Relations, Kelsey Martin said right now they are doing the finishing touches.
“Once all of the inspections are completed is when male students can move in,” Martin said.
With around 100 male students without housing, Cunningham Hall, formerly known as South Hall, has been housing both male and female residents for three weeks.
Raley Hooper, a female Cunningham Hall resident, said the difference in the dorms is noticeable.
“They’re smelly after practice and always in the way,” Hooper said. “Their laundry is always in there, (the washers) they just leave it in there for hours and there’s just men everywhere.”
Hooper also expressed her frustration about little to no notice about this change.
“We never received an email saying that boys will be living here,” Hooper said. “It was just that Ament was being redone and there will be limited male housing.”
A male resident of Cunningham Hall plays pool in the commons area.
The men living in the dorms have a higher opinion on living in Cunningham Hall.
Tahriq Knighten, a male Cunningham Hall resident, said that it doesn’t bother him.
“It honestly feels like a regular apartment building and there aren’t really many distractions,” Knighten said.
Despite some male residents having a good outlook on their current housing situation, many of them are upset about having to move during the middle of the semester.
This will be the third move in three months for any male resident that stayed on campus, in Fryer Hall, during the summer months.
“I’m very irritated about moving again because it’s a lot,” Knighten said. “Moving can be a little annoying, but I’m okay with it and just looking at it as a new experience.”
With this being a rare occurrence for Northwestern students, Martin was asked if there was any concern for safety issues.
“A lot of the entire college experience is about flexibility and being able to make your own decisions and common sense decisions,” Martin said. “I think this could be a level of that and giving the students some responsibility to be flexible and be smart in their decisions.”
Martin also mentioned there being no issues brought to administration’s attention for the renovation of Ament Hall or the renovation of what is formerly known as South Hall in 2022.
“We haven’t had any issues in both situations.” Martin said.
Regardless of many Northwestern students’ varying opinions on the matter, you can’t help but ask, “is this a small town issue?”
Studies show that around 90% of dorms in the United States have co-ed dormitories, with genders being separated by floors. Brown University introduced versions of coeducational housing in late 1969, per the students request. By the 1970s, co-ed housing became fairly popular nationwide.
Be that as it may, 55 years of nationwide co-ed housing doesn’t make it any less new for several Northwestern students.
“It’s supposed to be Barbie’s dreamhouse,” Hooper said.
Once construction is completed and the boys are back to their “Mojo Dojo Casa House,” male residents can expect a renovated space. Consisting of new air conditioning units, fresh paint, new flooring, new furniture in the lobby area, laundry rooms on each floor, updated fire alarm systems and more.