Letters to the Editor | Yes, we chose to be in Strong

It’s not about the bathrooms—it’s about being able to maintain and preserve a female-empowered space on campus.

Strong House does not seek to “protect” women by isolating them from the male population. We don’t dislike men, we’re not hyper- conservative, and we won’t discriminate against self-identified women based on physical anatomy or sexual orientation.

Why do we love Strong the way it is? It’s simple: Strong provides a supportive environment in which women are encouraged to mature as individuals and contributing members of a larger community, through examples set by their peers. Strong is a forum in which residents can discuss issues facing today’s women. In the words of House President Heidi Genrich ’08, “In a masculine world, Strong offers a space for the independent female voice to develop and strengthen.” Essentially, Strong combines the positive aspects of same-sex and coeducational colleges: the solidarity of a female-empowered space within the diversity of a coeducational college.

Strong’s all-female house team is also a huge benefit; student and community fellows are regarded more as helpful role models than residential advisors. They are a laudable model of female leadership, and an example of how independence can work within the frame of cooperation. The Strong house team is also a singular example of female leadership on campus: while the student body is 60 percent female, less than 50 percent of student leadership positions are filled by women. These statistics are especially troubling considering the College’s feminist history of educating women equally to men both inside and outside of the classroom.

But now the College’s feminist ideals are being challenged to make housing easier. Although the majority of Strong freshmen would prefer to see Strong made co-ed, the majority of the entire dorm would prefer it to remain same-sex. We believe this is because many of the women of Vassar College come to recognize the benefits of an all-female space over time and choose to live in Strong because it offers something that the other dorms do not. Furthermore, though this year’s freshman class prefers co-ed housing, this option shouldn’t be taken away from future Vassar women. Additionally, we have met several freshmen who wished to be placed in Strong and were not; their places were filled by students who would have preferred co-ed housing. We believe that this is an oversight on behalf of Residential Life that is unfair to both parties. Furthermore, Strong is not an “affinity-based” dorm as women are not a minority, but constitute half of the world’s population.

So why should Strong remain all-female, as it has for the College’s last 145 years? Because it still serves a purpose: “While developing the whole student academically, socially, and personally, we want to find and celebrate the different strengths of Strong women.” This is the mission statement of Strong House—it is this ideology that bridges the divide between the dorm as an institutional building and the dorm as a second home in which women can thrive.

Pardon the pun, but Strong House produces strong women. During our three months of residence in Strong, the house has already instilled in us confidence, independence, and the knowledge that we can make a difference. Strong has inspired—and enabled—us to write this article. To help us keep Strong House just the way it is, please join the Facebook group SOS: Save Our Strong! and contact Genrich to sign the petition.

And, for the record, the bathrooms in Strong are co-ed.

—Jennifer DiMauro ’10 and Katharine Olla ’10