Madeleine McCormick | Assistant News Co-Editor

Traditionally at Buena Vista University (BVU), the suites have been a place where groups of five to six males or five to six females get to live together in their own “apartment-style” building, as opposed to living in the dorms with one other person and sharing a bathroom with the rest of your floor. If a student were to live in the suites, they have the luxury of sharing a room with one other person, unless they are a resident assistant (RA), and having their own bathroom, which is shared with a roommate.

The suites at BVU are comprised of three adjoined buildings: McCorkle, Briscoe, and Constitution. Recently, a decision has been made by Student Senate to allow both male and female students to live together. The idea for co-ed suites was given by the Student Senate members and presented to Dijon DeLaPorte, the Director of Residence Life for BVU.

DeLaPorte said that the way to be admitted into a co-ed suite is similar to living in any of the other suites; everything is based on points.

“According to the focus group that I held last week with the three current co-ed RA suites, the students who live in this area felt that they had more option when selecting their suite mates when they were not confined to the traditional single gender method,” DeLaPorte said.

DeLaPorte hopes that within years to come, students living in the suites will be able to give more feedback regarding their thoughts on co-ed living since the only students currently living co-ed include an RA in the particular suite.

Of course, the question that many students have about co-ed living considers how appropriate it is for men and women to be living in such close vicinity.

“Yes, I support the program. Having this proposal go through Student Senate illustrates this being an interest of this representative student body versus just an administrative decision that is made, which can add a new level of value to this proposal,” DeLaPorte said.

Applications for suite living can be picked up in the Student Affairs office beginning Feb. 20, and they are due Feb. 27 by 5 p.m. Notification of suite assignments will be sent out via email on March 4.

Graphic by Justice Gage