As of next year, John Carroll University will no longer offer same-sex dormitories. Pacelli Hall will be converted from an all-female dormitory to a co-ed housing option for the 2010-2011 academic year.
With the recent decline in requests for living in a same-sex dorm, we feel the administration made the more practical choice. For the 2008-2009 school year, 70 out of the 1,793 students requested the single-sex option and for 2009-2010 school year, 40 students out of 1,683 on-campus residents requested this option.
For next year, it was the best option; however, in following years, the administration should continue to take note of the want for single-sex dorms.
Students who are already members of the JCU community may have concerns about the changing policy and should speak up if they have a strong feeling about the elimination of single-sex dorms.
JCU is not the only Jesuit university to make this change, as Xavier University in Cincinnati and Loyola University Chicago have both switched to strictly co-ed dormitories.
The administration made a strategic choice and the correct one, but must remember to keep the students’ opinion in mind as they continue housing development in future years.
