A male perspective: coed colleges

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by Steve Ashburn

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Following is an excerpt of a letter that appeared in the Thresher on Feb. 17, 1977, when Baker College and Hanszen College were coed, Jones College and Brown College were women's colleges, and Lovett College, Sid Richardson College,Wiess College and Will Rice College were all male.

I can certainly sympathize with the frustration of Rice women over the men's colleges. It seems to me that the residents of the men's colleges treat women as if they'd been in the army for four years, or stranded on a desert island ...The communication toward the women's side of the campus is filled with sexual innuendos, vulgar obscenities and such taunting phrases as you hear from teenagers entering puberty.

We're supposed to be adult men and women, attending a top-notch university and engaged in mature adult relationships

... Being a resident of Hanszen College, I can view this situation somewhat objectively. Each college has its own distinctive personality, and I believe that the introduction of women into a men's college would add more vitality, more diversity and make a more creative community out of college life.

... There are a lot of beautiful relationships to be made and a lot of creative potential to be tapped with the introduction of more coed colleges ... My only hope is that the transition to coed colleges does not meet with opposition like that of the Texas State Senator from Houston, who wants to rescind ratification of the ERA because he feels that it will lead to coed bathrooms. Rice as a whole can only benefit in the transition to more coed colleges.

Steve Ashburn

Hanszen '77

This item appeared in the Features section of the April 19, 1996 issue.

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