To the Editor,
I would first like to state that I sincerely agree with the opinions expressed in last weeks Bilkent News article by Damla Okay regarding personal rights and freedoms. I would like to present a two-part response to some of the points brought up:
1. Dormitory Administration's Attitude Towards Modern Social Development
Until the summer of 2006, it was impossible, due to the structural characteristic of our dormitories, for students of the opposite sex to come together to cook, study or even have conversations. The dormitory administration made the first step in changing policy in the summer of 2006, opening kitchens on the first floor of the dormitories for the use of both genders. Last summer, we took another successful step, changing the 77th and 78th dormitories, which house 1,100 students, into "co-ed" facilities.
These developments are significant indicators of how much importance the dormitory administration gives to making it easier for students of the opposite sex to come together in university life.
2. Personal Rights, Choices and Freedoms:
In the 77th and 78th dormitories, special areas have been established for both male and female students to eat, chat, and study together. Only dorm rooms, WCs and bathrooms are separated from co-ed areas with an electronic card system.
The rules aim to provide students the opportunity to live their dormitory lives according to their needs and desires with as few problems as possible. However, last month, in our 78th dormitory, some students breached rules adopted by dormitory administration, which are as follows:
1- Students are not to give their Bilkent University ID card or Dormitory ID card to another person to use.
2- Opposite sex students are not to intrude on areas specifically designated as non co-ed, such as WCs.
A posting was made to ensure that all students living in the dormitories understand the rules.
The announcement put up in the 55th dormitory co-ed kitchen window, as mentioned in the article, stating that, "Male students are only allowed in the common kitchen/dining room for the purpose of eating, and not for conversation or studying." was not written by the administration. We believe that another student or students with opposing views to their peers put up this handwritten, unsigned announcement.
Unfortunately it is impossible to keep every student happy when it comes to common areas. We aim to protect the rights and freedoms of all dorm students and make decisions based on common sense. In doing so, some auditing mechanism and restrictions are necessary. Unfortunately, while trying to protect the rights of one person, the rights of another person are sometimes inadvertently affected. In the process of rectifying conflict situations in a community, such as the dormitories, some undesired restrictions will inevitably be encountered.
Zeki Samatyalý
Dormitories Director
To the Editor,
I would like to express my support for the views expressed by Damla Okay in last week's Bilkent News about gender segregation in dormitories. While personally I think that there are serious problems involved with men and women living together (even if they are married to each other), these problems are not moral but practical: as a man I want to be able to leave the toilet seat up, leave my socks on the floor, and watch boxing matches rather than romantic comedies, all of which can be hard to do when there is a woman in the house. But if students - legal adults, as Okay points out - feel that the benefits of living with the opposite sex outweigh the disadvantages, then they should be free to do so. Of course, Bilkent is not obliged to provide students with the kind of housing they desire. Moreover, since the university relies on student fees, paid for largely by students' parents, it has to weigh up the possible negative publicity of co-ed dorms, given the widespread moral hypocrisy that Okay mentions. Nevertheless, even if fully co-ed dorms are unfeasible in the current moral climate, relaxing the current regulations would be an important sign of respect for students. Another possibility would be to have the building as a whole mixed, but with separate floors for men and women, an arrangement practiced in my own student days which has the advantage of providing socialization between the sexes while allowing male students to engage in their traditional caveman-like practices without female interference. A linguistic note: Okay is right to point out the incongruity of the phrase girl’s dormitory; after all, we do not refer to a male dorm as boy’s dormitory!
However, as I pointed out in a paper, "How Do You Know She's a Woman?" (in June Luchjenbroers (ed.) Cognitive Linguistics Investigations, Amsterdam, John Benjamins, 2006), this asymmetry between girl/woman and boy/man is a feature of linguistic categorization in Turkish, so Bilkent cannot be blamed for that. Perhaps "bayan yurdu" would be an acceptable term.
Robin Turner
FAE-FEASS
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