News Year in Review

Zeke Goes Co-ed
Compiled by Nina Lalli from articles by Alyson Dame, Elizabeth Walker, Linnea Butterfield

College Considers Making All-Male Zeke Co-ed

The Housing and Dining Committee met to consider making Zeke Hall a co-ed dorm early in December, 2000. 
Assistant Director of Residential Life and Services Sandra Hougland wrote the proposal. “It’s been my experience over the years that the male-only sections fill last, even in buildings other than Zeke, whereas the women, for the most part, seem to be happy with being placed in same-sex areas,” she said. 
The opening paragraph of the draft said, “Based on historical occupancy data, on-going lack of interest in all-male housing options and past and present programmatic issues, I [Hougland] am proposing that Zechiel Hall be designated upper-class co-ed housing by floor.” 
The Dec. 8 meeting marked the first reading of the proposal. “According to the charter of the Housing and Dining Committee, all proposals must have two readings before taking effect,” Hougland said. The proposal was required to pass the Housing and Dining Committee, the Student Life Committee and the General Faculty Committee –– in that order –– before it took effect. 
Making Zeke co-ed had already been proposed twice in the last decade. “The discussion of making Zechiel Hall co-ed has been ongoing and continues this year as well,” Dean of Students Peter Goldsmith said. 
This year, 17 students requested to be in Zeke. Over the past seven years, an average of 21 students each year have requested Zeke. There are 43 beds in the hall. “This lack of interest makes it extremely difficult to do any constructive programming in the hall,” the proposal said. 

Majority of Zeke Residents Express Disapproval of Proposal

Junior Phillip Grasso said students who did not want to live in Zeke shouldn’t be placed there, but added, “that goes for all program houses,” although Zeke is not officially a program house.
Grasso lived in Zeke this year and did not support the proposal. “I’ve read the proposal and I think it makes a lot of assumptions,” he said. “I believe that if there is going to be a space for women only, there should be a space for men only. Part of the proposal says that making Zeke co-ed would build community. I say there is a sense of community in the building.” 
Grasso described Zeke as having, “a different sense than the rest of campus,” but added, “I would say that about Baldwin or Barrows even. But Zeke definitely has a different character.” Grasso chose to live in Zeke because he could get a single there. “I thought it would be more fun. I knew exactly what I was getting into.” 
A former Zeke resident, who wished to remain anonymous, supported the proposal but saw the importance of an all-male space on campus. “There is a need for an all men’s house, I think that definitely is a value. But it is a poor disguise to say that Zeke is a space for men. It’s obviously dominated by jocks.” This former resident did not apply to be in Zeke. “By and large, [Zeke residents] are not there by choice,” he said. 
The former resident said he had been kept up by early morning parties on weeknights. “If it was co-ed, the whole environment would be different, I think [residents] would have a lot more respect for women. I think they would respond to women more than they would to a guy, or even Security,” he said. 
David Lightfoot is a first-year who chose to live in Zeke Hall. “When I came here on my recruiting trip I had a lot of fun here. It seemed like I had a lot in common with the people. There was a lot looser of an atmosphere,” he said. 
Lightfoot thought the atmosphere of Zeke was misunderstood. “I think some people are afraid to come here, honestly. But that’s mostly people who haven’t been here. People who have been here know it’s cool,” he said. 
Upon hearing about the proposal, Lightfoot said, “Would any girls want to live here? I’m not against it really, but I don’t see any good reason to [make Zeke co-ed],” adding, “It’s the only sanctuary for testosterone left on campus.”

Housing and Dining Holds First Meeting About Zeke 


The future of Zeke was up for debate. Supporters of the proposal cited low number of requests to be placed in Zeke as an inefficient use of space on a campus with increasing housing crunches. Opening it to female students was presented as a way to solve the problem of under-utilization. 
Assistant Director of Residential Life and Services Sandra Hougland, who wrote the proposal, said, “The primary reason the proposal has been brought forward is supply and demand. Part of our decision is basically student satisfaction.” 
Clayton Koppes, Dean of the College and acting President at the time said, “The athletic director is in favor of a change, the football coach is, the Student Life division is: they think it’s the way to go. It’s probably a desirable move.” 

Safe Space for Male Athletes? 

Zeke is not a program house, although it accommodates primarily athletes. Sophomore resident Miguel Villafana said, “One of the stereotypes is that it is the jock’s place. This is missing the point. It is just as much a male community as Baldwin is a female community.” But he emphasized the importance of Zeke as a support system for athletes on a campus where athletics are looked down upon by many students. 
Junior Rick Pierce, residential coordinator in Zeke, stressed the unique spirit of the dorm. “There is a sense of community. Not an open community such as those that form in Dascomb or North, but a deeper community, one that’s built on the football field and the basketball court,” Pierce said. 
Pierce criticized the proposal as short-sighted and narrowly focused. He cited the College’s commitment to building the football team as reason to expect Zeke’s popularity would increase in the future. 
The proposal also cited the lack of constructive programming. Pierce defended this. “It’s hard to program in Zeke during the first semester. The majority of programs happen second semester when the football players are not playing football.” 
The College has other all-male housing options, but these are sections in co-ed dorms. Excluding Zeke, four percent of College housing is found in male-only sections, as opposed to 11 percent for females. But Hougland stresses that there is high demand for these female spaces. 
Following approval by the committee, the Student Life Committee and the General Faculty Committee must also pass the proposal. 
The proposal’s opponents stressed the need for an all-male dorm and criticized the focus on Zeke as a haven for jocks. But Donita Pace, area coordinator for Zeke, feels that the athletic aspect must be seen in combination with its position as a men’s dorm when debating the suggestion to make it co-ed. 
“It is hard to separate Zeke as a jock house and Zeke as an all-male space. It’s like a different world. And I don’t think it’s because it’s an all-male space. Most men on campus don’t want to live there. I’m not sure that making it co-ed for female athletes addresses some of these issues. I don’t know if there’s any proposal that can do this,” Pace said.

Decision In: Housing and Dining To Make Zeke Co-ed Dorm

A proposal passed Thursday Feb. 23 by the Housing and Dining committee will make Zechiel Hall co-ed beginning fall 2001.
For many years, Zeke has been filled largely with students who did not request to live there. Zeke is intended to be upper-class housing, but many first-year athletes, often prompted by their coaches, request to live in Zeke.
Hougland wrote the proposal as a solution to the lack of interest in Zeke. 
“I wanted people to address the issue. I certainly could live with whatever decision the committee makes, I think that’s how it should be decided,” she said before the final meeting. “We’re pleased about 12 students in Zeke, and that is out of 43,” Hougland said.
The original vote was passed with very little discussion on Dec. 8. 

Zeke Men Upset at Lack of Voice at Meeting

Grasso was the only Zeke resident present. He was concerned that the unique community in Zeke was being overlooked, and that Zeke residents had not been involved enough in the conversation of the proposal. 
Hougland mentioned that the meeting was publicized and that area coordinators had known about the proposal. “We cannot be knocking on every door publicizing the meeting,” Hougland said.
Pierce went to the first meeting where the proposal was discussed. “I made a speech and I feel like I was pretty much ignored,” Pierce said. 
He had gathered about 30 signatures from Zeke residents who wanted to live there next year, but missed the meeting because he did not know about it. “I was not invited, no one I know was invited. I’d like to think that my petition and another speech would have made a difference, but in reality it probably wouldn’t have made a difference,” Pierce said.
The vote passed six to one, with three abstaining. Assistant to Director of Residential Life Ehrai Adams was the only one who voted against the proposal. “I voted no because I heard some powerful arguments for the maintenance of an all-male residence hall and I support that philosophically,” Adams said. “I do not have any concerns with the vote to have Zeke co-ed but I just wanted to support an expressed need on this campus despite whatever problems there might be with it being all male.”
First-year Zeke resident Ryan Silakoski was one of the many Zeke residents upset by the news. “Personally, I think its wrong for them to do that if there’s still going to be an all women’s dorm. I think the reason they are doing that is because they want to lower the level of partying and that really doesn’t happen as much as they’d like to think.” Solakoski also said that coaches closely monitor partying by residents who are athletes.

End of All-Male Zeke Sparks Vandalism

In what seemed like a last attempt to demonstrate against Residential Life and Service’s decision Dec. 8 to turn Zechiel Hall into a co-ed residence hall by next year, vandals caused destruction throughout the building. The vandalism occurred throughout the weekend of Feb. 24. 
According to Security Director Robert Jones, no final estimate of damages had been given as of March 2. 
The damage consisted of torn-up ceiling tiles, broken light fixtures and graffiti. Repairs began immediately on broken emergency lighting. The graffiti written included Zeke (written ZKE in imitation Greek letters) with the sign for male beside it, comments like “fuck res life” and “Donita is a whore.” 
The staff member referred to in the graffitti declined to comment. 
According to Kim LaFond, director of Residential Life & Services and a liaison between administration and Zeke residents, “[The staff member] is in an administrative position. She oversees Zeke. She is doing a fine job for the students she serves and for the College as a whole. Perhaps the person(s) who did the spray-painting had to focus their anger on someone and that someone was [the staff member]. [She] did not make the decision to have Zeke go co-ed. The Housing and Dining Committee made that decision.” 
Sandy Hougland was quoted in the Feb. 16 issue of the Review as saying only 12 of 43 residents in Zeke were pleased by the present conditions. 
However, Richard Pierce summarized residents’ responses to the elimination of an all-male space on campus and said, “everyone [here] feels strongly about it.” 
Pierce said the act of vandalism was a reaction of frustration, partly due to the fact that he felt excluded from the meeting in which the decision was made.
Koppes said, “The only effect of vandalism is bringing their cause to disrepute. The only consequence of vandalism is costing the college more money, which detracts from everyone.”

Search is On For Vandals 

LaFond commented on the search for the perpetrators, saying, “I do not know who did the vandalism at Zeke. We are still in the process of investigating the incident and it would be unfair for me to say that the vandalism located in the Zeke community was caused by someone who resides in Zechiel residence hall. We are taking this situation one step at time. Right now, we are still gathering information. I strongly believe that someone on this campus knows who did the vandalism. I would hope that the person(s) involved would step up and accept responsibility. The College community has suffered enough.”
LaFond added, “We are currently investigating some leads involving the incident at Zeke. We will take this investigation one step at a time. Once those involved are found, judicial action will follow. Suspension? If those involved in the Zeke vandalism were found in violation of College policies, sanctions certainly would be issued.”
First-year Zeke resident Brook Whitmore was away the weekend the vandalism was committed and came home to find his hall violated. “It was pretty crazy, something definitely went down. People get rowdy sometimes,” he said. Whitmore said he didn’t think the problem was internal. “I definitely don’t think it was someone from Zeke. I also think there’s a lot of anger and animosity towards Zeke because of what’s been going down recently,” he said.
Goldsmith was wary of jumping to conclusions. “We do not yet know who is responsible for the damage. It would be unfair and unreasonable at this juncture to presume that all of the residents of Zechiel participated in the damage or, for that matter, approved of it,” he said, adding, “If there are misogynist messages affiliated with Zeke, as we know there are, then that community needs to consider how it reflects on all of them — regardless of whether it’s warranted — and hold one another accountable.”
Administrators met with Zeke residents on the night of Feb. 25 to talk about alternatives. Residential Life and Services proposed all-male theme housing.
Theme housing would require a lengthy application process and an advisor. 



See Perspectives section for editorials and letters regarding this story, pg. 25.