After much speculation by students about how Chatham University would handle the housing of its incoming male population, questions were answered on Thursday, November 20, when Heather Black, Director of Student Affairs & Residence Life, sent out a campus wide email addressing the issue.
The email, after explaining the decision making process and the results of a campus wide survey sent out earlier in the semester, said that Fickes Hall will be all women; Rea, Laughlin, and Woodland will be coed by floor; and the Chatham Apartments will be coed buildings with individual apartments being single gender.
Additionally, graduate students will no longer be housed in Woodland, but will still have the option to live in the Chatham Apartments.
Black later added that students will have a say as to whether they live in single-sex or coed accommodations, saying, “All incoming students will complete a preference sheet along with their roommate questionnaire.”
When asked, Black said that before making any decisions they did a great deal of research, saying, “we connected with approximately eight institutions that went coed in this past ten years such as Wells College, Regis College, Randolph College, Hood College, and Chestnut Hill College.”
Black was not able to provide any information about the housing situation at the Eden Hall campus for the 2015/2016 school year, instead saying, “I am unable to speak adequately on this subject at this time as we are in the planning stages.”
The email, did, however, include information about Chatham’s Living Learning Communities (LLC), saying that Fickes will house the Women’s Leadership LLC, and that Rea and Laughlin will house LLCs that are yet to be determined.
“We plan to do [the Women’s Leadership LLC] by floor unless there is overwhelming response,” she said, pointing out that, “All of our LLC events are open to the entire campus – commuters and residents. Students can choose to participate in an LLC event even if they do not live in the specific residence hall.”
Students’ reactions to the new living arrangements were mixed.
Sophomore Maryann Fix spoke for many students when she said, “I think it would have been nice if we were involved in the conversation.”
Senior Margery Deane and Sophomore Mary Ellen Watt-Morse, on the other hand, felt that the University made a good compromise.
“That is what most colleges have, where they divide floors by gender,” Watt-Morse said.
“I think it’s good that the guys aren’t completely isolated…[this arrangement] includes them, but still keeps the genders separate,” Deane added.
“At traditional colleges usually apartments can be coed,” Deane continued, “but I understand why the University didn’t switch directly to that.”
In response to this opinion, which was expressed by many, Black said, “students expressed interest in housing by floor, and having the apartments by gender still meets this need.”
Black also allayed fears of overpopulation of the residence halls, saying, “Our current undergraduate residence halls occupancy rate is 88 percent. With the adjustment made there should be sufficient housing for the increase in undergraduate students.”
However she went on to say that, “It is impossible to predict exact numbers and student interest so we will make appropriate adjustments in late spring based on students’ needs.”
Not all students were convinced, however, like Senior Sarah Ellis who said, “I think they’re preparing for too many men, especially because it is the first year.”
“They should stick with one [residence hall for men] and keep it that way,” she continued, pointing out that it would be a way to, “honor our history.”
I think you will find that Chatham really has no intent to “honor the past.” Not including current students in the housing discussion should be proof of that. Chatham has mortgaged its soul for men, female students’ wants, needs, or best interests be damned.
Any students that thinks Chatham cares about their opinions should just stop deluding themselves. All Chatham cares about is your tuition check clearing. They will not take your opinions into account during this transition. Trust that by the time your opinion is being asked the decision is already made. They only ask your opinion so they can pretend they tried to compromise.
Remember when the alumnae were constantly hailed as “crazy” for being so wary of Chatham’s administration? It’s because we have years of knowing what it’s like to be excluded from these big-decision conversations- a big reason why so many of us reacted with such surprise and anger. Because up through Reunion 2013 (the summer before the coeducation vote was announced), we were told that everything was fine despite our giving efforts being a bit down from prior years. An alumnae in a class or two older than mine even flat-out asked Dr. Barazzone if the school had plans to consider coeducation and was told that it wasn’t an option. This, mere months before the vote was announced.
My personal feelings about the co-ed transition aside, I’m curious: how many incoming undergraduate men have accepted bids of admission to Chatham for Fall 2015? Has anyone contacted the admissions office to ask this? I’d be curious to know the outcome and numbers based on this, as the plan for this housing transition seems like an overestimation on Chatham’s part.
It’s refreshing to see current students questioning the decisions that their administration is making. However, it still saddens me to see an all-women’s community confined to one residence all – another manner of marginalization.
All things considered, this seems a little like “over-preparation”. I echo Cait’s and Sarah Ellis’s thoughts: how many men is Chatham expecting to gain over the next year or few years? I’d venture, not many, if percentages from other schools dictate the trend of going coed. From my perspective, it would seem that allocating Woodland and the Chatham apartments for coed housing would suffice for the time being. Or even just one of the other dorms…I don’t see why they need to use both Rea and Laughlin. Why not do a model of First Year Women in Fickes (and do a similar program with the First Year Men in Woodland), then they can choose which dorms to participate in the following years? Keep at least some of the flavor of the old Chatham alive? Does such a model exist?
I wouldn’t send either my daughters OR my sons to Chatham anymore. There is really nothing that makes it stand out to an out-of-towner since it has gone coed. There are much cheaper, mediocre trade schools to choose from.
I always have been proud to be an alumnae of Chatham. My attendance at an all women’s college provided me with a comprehensive education. I believe men have no academic place in this college. I am appalled and ashamed of Chatham’s administration and trustees for making this foolish decision. You are ruining Chatham excellent reputation by allowing a few men into this school. I will no longer recommend Chatham to any young women.