College dorms gender neutral

WORCESTER, Mass., April 2 (UPI) -- Colleges including the University of Pennsylvania, Clark University and Wesleyan University have begun allowing students of different sexes to share dorm rooms.

Oregon State University, Ithaca College and Clark University have also taken the step of allowing male and female students to room together in mixed-gender dormitories, the Boston Globe reported Wednesday.

"It's definitely a growing movement on campuses across the country," said Clark University Dean of Students Denise Darrigrand. "It's a new world, and gender has taken on all kinds of new definitions. It's about being more inclusive, and it's about keeping pace with the times."

Darrigrand said about 30 students at the school have taken advantage of the mixed-gender rooms.

Students and college officials said that while romantic partners sharing rooms is not unheard of, most of the male-female roommate pairings are just friends.

"The typical arrangement is friends, true friends who simply want to live together," said Jeffrey Chang, a Clark student who lives with a female friend. "They simply feel more comfortable together, and get along better day to day."