Catholic Frosh Not Turned Off by Single-Sex Dorms, Apparently

Back in July, the president of the Catholic University of America, John Garvey, announced that the school would be departing the days of debauchery and sin by separating male and female students in residence halls (and so far, a threatened human rights lawsuit hasn't been filed).

At least it would have made it easier for the school to police the following clause in their student handbook:

The university affirms that sexual relationships are designed by God to be expressed solely within a marriage between husband and wife. Sexual acts of any kind outside the confines of marriage are inconsistent with the teachings and the moral values of the Catholic Church and are prohibited. An overnight visit with a sexual partner is prohibited as this type of behavior is incompatible with the mission of the university as well as with the rights of roommates and community members to live in an appropriate and comfortable environment.

The policy change could have been a letdown for the 1,000-odd incoming first-year students who had already been admitted and decided to spend the next four years of their life at Catholic.

But it wasn't enough to make them change their minds, apparently: According to a University spokeswoman, Catholic didn't see the usual summer "melt" of admitted students who decided not to show up to orientation for one reason or another. (As for logistics, the class will all fit into their separate spaces with only a little converting of doubles into triples and vice versa).

July would have been too late for students to choose another school, though, so they may have decided that a sex-lite college experience would be better than none at all.

The more important metric will be how many applications the school receives in the fall. Will Puritanical residence life rules be a turnoff? Or do the kids these days not care either way?

Catholic Frosh Not Turned Off By Single-Sex Dorms, Apparently was originally published by Washington City Paper on Aug. 24, 2011.

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